Food source verification has never been more important. Food is one of the most mobile commodities traded internationally. Consumers are asking more questions and demanding answers.Whether the commodity is spices (insect contamination), beef (E. coli), strawberries (Hepatitis A, salmonella), fish (mercury) or any of thousands of foods traded globally, consumers and buyers are demanding new standards of quality, safety and nutritional value.

Spurred into action by food crises in the global beef industry, there is an international consensus that producers and food industry stakeholders require a reliable methodology and technology for verifying food production. Viewtrak Technologies is the company best positioned to meet this need.

Viewtrak has developed the technology to track food production simply and cost-effectively. The first application of this technology is Beeftrak – an integrated food-source management, marketing and source verification system from the producer to the consumer.

Viewtrak's Beeftrak solution is compatible with the new international beef labeling regulations now being put into place in many countries. It is the first product to incorporate the three elements essential to successful delivery of traceability and food source verification:

Lifetime product identification: Beeftrak leverages unique lifetime identification of cattle from government programs and producer/breed groups to identify cattle with machine-readable and human-readable eartags that stay with the animal from birth to processing.

Information Collection Tools and Interfaces: Product information is collected and verified in the field or plant with handheld or stationary data collection tools. Beeftrak also interfaces with existing information systems to facilitate data transfer.

Integrated Information Management: The Viewtrak data management platform offers Beeftrak subscribers 24/7 Internet access to lifetime data on individuals or lots of animals to determine best practices, forge alliances throughout the beef supply chain and take advantage of value-added opportunities.

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In the event of a food crisis such as hamburger disease, mad cow disease, or foot-and-mouth disease, trace-back to mitigate health effects is swift and easy using the Beeftrak food-source tracking and verification system. Furthermore, Beeftrak strengthens the entire beef supply chain, increasing opportunities for efficiency and profitability:

• Breeders find out how their sires' and dams' progeny perform
• Cow-calf operators buy the best seedstock, have access to value-added opportunities such as branded beef programs and improve production using Beeftrak's powerful management reports
• Feedlot operators buy known performance lines and avoid duplicating treatments such as vaccination or parasite treatments
• Processors can access uniform lots of superior quality and known origin
• Retailers can substantiate quality, safety and origin of the beef they sell
• Consumers can choose beef with characteristics they prefer
• Lenders and buyers have access to better information about market value and ownership; this results in lower borrowing costs to producers
• Pharmaceutical companies and related agricultural interests can ascertain how products and practices relate to results, and producers benefit from product development and improvement

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