Due to the significant impact the Avian Influenza (AI) outbreak is having on many poultry keepers and farmers in England, Defra have announced that they will support in principle the freezing down of certain poultry products and the subsequent sale of them as ‘defrosted’ in the run up to Christmas.

This will mean that producers and processors have the option of slaughtering their birds early, which will reduce the risk of AI infection between now and the normal slaughtering time.

This will only apply to whole birds or crown of turkey, duck and goose, capons, and 2-3-bird roasts, as well as stuffed whole and crown of turkey, goose, and duck. No other poultry products such as chicken or processed products are included in the derogation.

Birds can be defrosted for sale to consumers between the dates of 28th November and 31st December 2022 only and should not be sold beyond this date. The use of a ‘use by’ date of 31st December, at the latest, will ensure this.

In compliance with food labelling regulations (particularly EU Regulation 1169/2011 (FIC) ) the designation “defrosted” must be prominent on the front of pack (principal field of vision). There must also, where appropriate, be in-store signage and online information for consumers.

The FSA’s view is that this flexibility does not in itself present any increased food safety risks to consumers, provided that, in accordance with food law:

• industry freezes and thaws the product under suitable conditions;
• these conditions are monitored;
• there are measures in place to ensure that product sold as chilled has been

thoroughly defrosted;

• the shelf life for defrosted product is appropriate.

Trading Standards Officers are being asked to apply a flexible and pragmatic approach in respect to this and Food Business Operators should consult with their Primary Authority or Trading Standards Officer in making these changes.

We would like to remind BFFF members that we have a series of co-ordinated Primary Authority partnerships with several different regulatory authorities. These include Cambridgeshire County Council Trading Standards and South Cambridgeshire District Council Environmental Health. If you or businesses wish to discuss this latest announcement or the challenges with Avian Influenza, please let deniserion@bfff.co.uk know and we can arrange that for you.

Note: This derogation is for England and is awaiting confirmation in Wales. The Scottish Government are also considering the situation and should be communicating their decision shortly. It will not be available for affected products in NI due to the NI Protocol.

TraceGains Gather Users Gain Access to Speed and Agility Solutions to Combat Supply Chain Disruption Without Enterprise License

TraceGains, the world’s only networked ingredients sourcing platform, today announced it has opened global access to its Networked Ingredients Marketplace with the introduction of TraceGains Gather^™. This revolutionary solution is at the forefront of supply chain management platforms, enabling food and beverage brands to capitalize on speed and agility to remain competitive amid shifting market conditions and fluctuating supply. TraceGains Gather removes the roadblocks of broader enterprise software decisions from end users by giving them immediate individual access to solutions that empower them to overcome today’s challenges and perform their jobs.

“TraceGains Gather is an open marketplace for information exchange, and it’s doing for the consumer goods supply chain what user-centric solutions like LinkedIn, Slack and Zoom have done for their respective industries. It empowers users to tap into a vast and growing network of people and information to immediately collaborate without friction,” said John Thorpe, Principal Product Manager at TraceGains. “Offering free access for foundational capabilities eliminates the enterprise software purchase decision, and users are able to be productive as soon as they sign up.”

Since the beta launch in July, TraceGains Gather has amassed 50,000 users across nearly 20,000 consumer goods companies. The impact of this growth means TraceGains Gather is already achieving the “network effect,” resulting in faster, more efficient information exchange across a democratized business ecosystem capable of evolving faster than legacy systems. TraceGains and TraceGains Gather also integrate with legacy ERP and PLM systems.

“TraceGains is our playbook for driving supply chain initiatives through strategic sourcing, particularly now that we’re getting back to business and focused on growth,” T. Marzetti’s Sr. Manager of Technical Supply and Raw Materials Erin Tarr said. “The TraceGains Networked Ingredients Marketplace helped us cut sourcing from months to weeks without adding staff. Now, Gather gives us a uniquely rapid way to communicate with our R&D groups and collaborate with procurement teams.”

Recent supply chain disruptions have created upheaval for companies and consumers alike. TraceGains data shows that ingredient shortages forced nearly 40% of brands to modify nearly two dozen product formulas. Rising costs pushed another 65% to raise prices, while 49% stopped production of certain products altogether. If left unchecked, inefficient supply chains could cost companies $800 billion in lost growth, according to Kearney, a global management consulting firm.

TraceGains designed Gather for speed and agility. Increasingly, procurement, R&D, regulatory, quality assurance, and legal teams need to collaborate more efficiently in order to keep pace with their dynamic markets. Markets move faster than ever, and TraceGains Gather allows teams to move at market pace.

“R&D professionals use TraceGains Gather to significantly shorten their time to market, while ensuring the integrity of label claims and without disrupting manufacturing,” said Thorpe. “This rapid access to detailed ingredient specifications enables brands to quickly design products or re-formulate existing ones amid changing market and sourcing challenges. It’s quickly becoming where the supply chain works.”

By harnessing the power of its flagship Networked Ingredients Marketplace, TraceGains Gather helps teams uncover new partnerships, share information quickly, and easily source ingredients from new suppliers with confidence while boosting diversity among supplier relationships – all through one integrated platform. These features include:

• Networked Ingredients Marketplace – With access to the industry’s most powerful network of ingredients and suppliers across food, beverage, and dietary supplements customers have access to millions of ingredient documents at the click of a button, right down to the detailed specification data companies need for reformulation and new product development.
  
  
• Networked Intelligence – This cross-functional solution helps consumer goods companies manage the increasingly complex web of formulations amid constantly changing ingredient accessibility and status updates. By automatically flagging impending ingredient shortages, potential safety recalls, and other risks customized for each enterprise’s supply chain, Networked Intelligence offers manufacturers and suppliers a complete, integrated view into ingredient-level risks that can take days or weeks to manually track.
  
  
• Customer Manager – Through the Customer Manager tool, suppliers can communicate with new and existing customers on requests, list their items and information on the Marketplace, manage communications in one place, and more. Users can also maintain quality documents in the document library, the single source of truth that lets entire teams move faster with instant access to technical specifications.
  
  
• Collaborative Workspaces – With this tool, users can create, view, and manage shared workspaces with internal teams or strategic partners, including researching Marketplace items, creating “watch lists” for ingredients or suppliers, collaborating on projects, and more.

“We work with more than 250 suppliers worldwide who serve our network of some of the largest food brands in the United States,” said D’yana Gerda, Food Safety & Quality Assurance Analyst at Camerican International, a division of the Gellert Global Group and global provider of high-quality canned and frozen foods. “With TraceGains Gather, we ensure that our distributed teams have access to the same ingredient-level data in real-time, an imperative for our business in even the simplest of times, but especially now with the ongoing bottlenecks in global supply chains.”

For more information on TraceGains Gather, visit tracegains.com.