Traceability standards and vertical coordination

Traceability plays a strategic role in assuring the safety and quality characteristics of food products, in managing supply chain risks, preventing unfair practices, and in providing an efficient distribution of liabilities among the agents of food supply chains. In recent years, an increasing number of traceability standards within the food system is observed, especially in relation to the sustainability of food supply chains. The aim of this chapter is to analyse the different existing traceability standards within the EU, and the effects that they imply on the dyadic relationships and the organization of food supply chains. In specific, the present chapter introduces, firstly, the concept of traceability and the costs and benefits associated to the implementation of this standard. Secondly, the legal framework on mandatory and voluntary traceability standards is presented. Third, an evaluation of the effects on vertical coordination due to the introduction of different traceability standards is presented. In the last section an attempt to classify different existing standards on the basis of their organizational consequences is.