Fruit and Vegetable Industry Session N°14

Digital traceability and supply chain transparency: policies for food safety and market access

Food safety in fruit and vegetable supply chains depends not only on preventing contamination, but also on being able to identify products, trace their movement and, when problems arise, identify their source and take appropriate action. EU food law requires businesses to be able to identify their immediate suppliers and the businesses to which they have supplied products, allowing products to be traced through the food chain when necessary.[1]

For businesses supplying international markets, the ability to produce reliable information about a product’s origin, handling and compliance can also determine whether a shipment reaches the market and whether a buyer continues to work with a supplier.

The European Union (EU) shows the scale of the challenge clearly. In 2025, its Alert and Cooperation Network, recorded 10,490 notifications, 11% more than the year before. Fruit and vegetables were again the largest group, making up 18% of notifications, and pesticide residues were the most common issue among them[2]. For exporters, processors and traders, this is not just a paperwork problem. Food-safety incidents and difficulties in demonstrating compliance can result in rejected shipments, loss of customers and financial losses.

Digital tools can help businesses collect, manage and share traceability information across the supply chain.[3] For example digital records, QR codes, barcodes and, in some cases, blockchain can help, but technology alone does not guarantee food safety or compliance. They depend on the requirements they need to support and on the ability of different actors to understand and use the information. Policies and regulations, standards and buyer requirements therefore all influence how traceability and transparency systems are designed and used. [4]

This session will examine how policies and regulations, standards, and buyer requirements shape digital traceability and supply-chain transparency in the fruit and vegetable sector, what these requirements mean in practice for businesses seeking to access international markets, and how greater coherence between systems could support both food safety and market access.

[1] European Commission, 2026. Food traceability in the EU: Transparency, safety and trust.

[2] European Commission,2025,  Alert and Cooperation Network (ACN) Annual Report 2025.

[3] GS1, 2021. Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Traceability Guideline

[4] GS1, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Traceability Guideline.