At Taranaki Bio Extracts transparency is central to the way we do business. All of our raw materials are fully traceable from origin to export – We have a 100% traceable system with a window across every step of our supply chain. It’s audited under our Risk Management Programme (RMP) giving our customers a quality guarantee in our ingredients when they partner with us. Enhanced traceability of our ingredients makes it easier to track down the source of quality variation and, in turn, minimize the chances that they happen again. By tracking an ingredient through its entire production cycle, you can better understand the factors and production conditions that went into making the finished ingredients.
Our traceability journey starts from the birth of New Zealand cattle – they receive an electronic NAIT (National Animal Identification Tracing) tag – this is part of an electronic tracking system that means movements of every farmed animal in the country are recorded from birth to processing – the animal is traced through it’s entire life with every location being recorded. It also includes the details for the person in charge of the animal. If you send animals off your property, you must record a ‘sending movement’ with NAIT within 48 hours. If you receive animals on to your property, you must confirm you have received them within 48 hours. You also need to record things like deaths and missing animals.
Why we need NAIT and E-Cert?
NAIT enables New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to respond immediately in case of a serious biosecurity outbreak or natural disaster. From our perspective the traceability provided is vital for us as food manufacturer’s for our food safety and quality assurance programmes.
After the animal has been processed an eligibility declaration (ED) arrives with all raw material from our export quality processors. This is part of a national online certification process known as AP E-Cert. It is unique to New Zealand, providing a traceability standard for our ingredients up to export, and ensuring premium quality. AP E-Cert is the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries’ secure online application used for raising and issuing export certificates for destination countries that require official assurances.
The purpose of AP E-Cert is to track the market eligibility and status of animal products from the time of production through to export. This means export certificates can be approved. AP E-Cert also tracks the movement history of animal products as they are transferred between premises within New Zealand using eligibility declarations and documents.
Taranaki Bio Extracts uses AP E-cert because we process and store animal products for export that will need an export certificate, and because product traceability is required for export. Whenever products move between premises you must enter information in AP E-cert. This information must be entered correctly to ensure products are eligible for the market it’s destined for and a final export certificate can be approved.
Alongside the traceability of our meaty beef bones, we similarly track the sources of our raw vegetables and herbs and any other raw materials that are used to create our broths, stocks and extracts. It means our premium ingredients are fully traceable from paddock to manufacturing customer, providing complete assurance of their quality.
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References: https://www.mpi.govt.nz/