Despite the fact that our country’s production conditions and producer profile do not have many advantages in terms of production (soil, water, climate, conditions), the level of education of producers is low, the agricultural enterprises are in the form of small family businesses consisting of 3-4 profits and the producers can make healthy production There is a lot of problems in production due to reasons such as not being able to get the service sufficiently. The ‘Good Agricultural Practice’ defined in the EUREPGAP Protocol established by large retailer organizations in Europe and the companies that supply goods to these organizations is not applicable in our country. With unconscious practices, the residual residue problem in our export of fresh fruit and vegetables has become very important in recent years.

The development of exports in our region may only be possible by making the production systematic and organized so that production can meet market demands. In this case, the concept of food safety emerges. The provision of food safety begins with agricultural production first. In the field and farm-based production processes, many risks arise in terms of food safety. To reduce these risks, the methods used in the production stages increase the cost and sometimes become ineffective. The application of farmer’s traceability tools is of great importance in an approach aimed at ensuring quality and food safety and reducing costs through the elimination or minimization of the risks involved in the production process.

Traceability will become mandatory in the EU since 2005. In terms of food safety, the product traceability project is also an improved project. Traceability is provided by the EAN-UCC System. Haspak Ltd.Şti is operating in TOBB at MMNM’s Food Traceability Project in terms of food safety. A computer software and an automation project have been carried out in order to be suitable for this purpose. Experiments were conducted during the spring season, and deficiencies were identified and corrected. In the next season (2004-2005 production season) MSG will work with Ziraat ve Danışmanlık in the framework of the projects in which the company has been running.

This program includes the transfer of production-related data to the packaging in a healthy manner and the monitoring of the product by the final consumer. Traceability is provided by the barcode number (EAN-UCC Barcode System) which is internationally validated to the production unit. This module enables a healthy information exchange by creating a chain between the Producer-Consultant and the Packing Facility and ensures that the records in the EUREP-GAP protocol are kept more convenient and that any information is easily accessible. At present MSG has been granted to producers of Ziraat registered producers (as mentioned above) traceability. Records related to production are made through this number.

EAN-UCC System

The identification and numbering standard developed under the management of EAN International is referred to as the EAN-UCC System and constitutes the infrastructure of electronic trade all over the world. The EAN-UCC System, which is briefly referred to as an information standard identification and application system, is being developed and managed worldwide by EAN International, headquartered in Brussels. Local EAN Numbering Organizations affiliated with EAN International are the enforcers of identification and numbering standards. The EAN Numbering Organization in Turkey is the National Commodity Numbering Center TOBB-MMNM within the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey.

Numbers issued by EAN Numbering Organizations and barcodes containing these numbers are valid throughout the world; They can be used without any changes in all international commercial transactions and supply chain applications. The main purpose of the EAN-UCC System is to identify (“identification”) commercial goods (goods and services) and transport units that are moving in commercial and industrial environments. Besides the system, commercial products and transportation units, as well as locations and fixtures are defined. The number used for identification purposes applies throughout the world and allows a single merchandise, place or fixture to be recognized by a single number all over the world.

Numbers used for identification purposes are also represented by barcodes. Barcodes provide automatic data entry in Automatic Data Collection (OVT) applications within the scope of information systems. For this purpose, barcode readers are used. Thanks to OVT applications, which eliminate the need for manual data entry into information systems, productivity gains are achieved by achieving the accuracy and speed required by business environments.

The compatibility of these three components

Identification of commercial products,
Barcoding of products,
The movements of products traded between trading parties are monitored in electronic environment using OVT technologies and EVD applications.
Organizations implementing the EAN-UCC System can easily perform their transactions electronically, without the need for transaction and data repetition, thanks to the standards provided by this system; Speed ​​and accuracy are gained in business processes such as transportation, sales, warehousing where the number of transactions and movements is very high. As a result, the productivity of doing business is increasing.

Numbering of Commercial Products

Commercial products are commodities or services that are ordered, sold, distributed, relocated or purchased at any point in the Supply Chain, so that all identifiable information is required, in particular the price. As can be understood from this definition, all the physical goods defined with their properties (name, unit, price, storage conditions, buying and selling conditions, etc.) from the raw material to the final consumer’s product are treated within the scope of the commercial product whose characteristics and price are determined.

Identification and numbering of merchandise and their symbolization with barcodes gives the accuracy, ease and speed to many logistics applications such as the sales operations at the sales points as well as the delivery of the goods in the factory, distribution center, warehouse environment, inventory management and goods shipment. The definitions, numbers and barcodes of commercial products enable the automation of purchasing, inventory management, ordering, sales and point-of-sale operations throughout the Supply Chain and distribution channels through which the commercial product operates, thus enabling transactions to be carried out electronically .

With the EAN-UCC System, each different commercial product on the world is given a unique number that identifies this product worldwide; This number is referred to as GTIN (Global Trade Item Number). GTIN is a number that identifies the product and does not contain any information about the product specifications. The GTIN of the product remains the same as long as there is no change in the definition of the product. GTIN given to commercial products in the EAN-UCC System is a 14-digit (numeric) number consisting of all digits. This number appears visibly on the commercial product as a bar code symbol and is also used in standard message records in EVD applications performed in electronic environment. Commercial products are defined in the EAN-UCC System by the numbers EAN / UCC-8, UCC-12, EAN / UCC-13 and EAN / UCC-14, each of which can be considered as a subset of the 14-digit GTIN and barcodes .