food supply chain Archives - Page 4 of 6

Mandatory Dairy Product Labeling in Russia to Begin in Two Months

Posted on April 2, 2021August 16, 2023 by rfxadmin

It’s going to be a busy year for dairy product labeling in Russia. (If you missed our earlier overview, be sure to check it out.) In fact, it’s going to be a busy year for product labeling in Russia generally. A quick look at our blog reveals that the National Track and Trace Digital System, or Chestny ZNAK, is not relenting on its goal of transforming Russia’s supply chain by 2024:

But let’s stay focused on dairy product labeling, which is scheduled to commence on June 1 for two product categories, then will be phased in for two other categories later in the year.

Dairy product labeling in Russia: background

The Chestny ZNAK pilot for dairy product labeling from July 15, 2019, to December 31, 2020. The dairy supply chain has a unique configuration because Chestny ZNAK will share track and trace duties with the “Mercury” electronic veterinary certification system, which tracks animal products in Russia.

Dairy product labeling requires a DataMatrix code containing four data points: a 14-digit Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), a 13-digit serial number, a 4-digit verification key, and an expiration date.

Other dairy product labeling requirements include the following:

Product packaging must have a blank field up to 15×15 mm to accommodate the DataMatrix code.
Caps on PET bottles must be able to accommodate either printing or labeling with a laser.
Manufacturers can have unusually shaped cartons or bottles tested to determine if the form factor affects dairy product labeling and scanning accuracy/reliability.
Aggregation is required; the parent-child relationship must be maintained between the aggregation and the individual units within it.

If you want to learn more about Russian dairy product labeling, download our “Russia Chestny ZNAK and the Dairy Industry” white paper. It’s fully updated for 2021 and really drills down into the details.

While we’re at it, if you want to learn about product labeling and serialization for all of the industries regulated in Russia, download our “Overview of Chestny ZNAK Compliance for Key Industries.” This is also fully updated for 2021 and is our most comprehensive publication about Russian supply chain compliance.

The June 1 dairy labeling requirements

Mandatory dairy product labeling begins June 1 for cheeses and ice cream and other edible ice with or without cocoa. Only serialized products can be sold after this date. However, products produced or imported into Russia before June 1 may be sold until the product’s expiration date.

Companies were permitted to begin labeling these cheese and ice cream products as early as January 20, 2021. They were also allowed to transfer dairy product labeling data to the Government Information System for Marking (GIS MT), which catalogs all labeled goods in Russia’s supply chain. To transfer data to GIS MT, you must be registered with Chestny ZNAK.

The table below shows Russia’s product classification codes (OKPD2) and the corresponding Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) Combined Nomenclature of Foreign Economic Activity (TN VED) codes for labeling these products. This information comes from Chestny ZNAK.

Final thoughts

rfxcel is the leader in Chestny ZNAK compliance. Not just for dairy product labeling — for labeling requirements in all regulated industries. We know these regulations can be tough to decipher. To help, we have useful resources, like the stories we linked above, our Chestny ZNAK refresher course, our white papers, and our webinars.

These are great places to start, but the best way to ensure you’re prepared to comply with Russia dairy product labeling requirements is to talk with us directly. When we say we’re the leader in Russian compliance, consider our credentials:

We’re an official integration, software, and tested solution partner with the Center for Research in Perspective Technologies (CRPT), which operates Chestny ZNAK.
We were recently accredited as an IT company by the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications, and Mass Media.
We’re one of the few providers with active implementations in Russia.
We’ve tripled our workforce in Russia over the last year.
Our Moscow-based team provides our clients, which include major global consumer goods and pharmaceutical companies, the quickest time to market while fully automating their compliance reporting.

We’ve also demonstrated that our solutions, including our signature rfxcel Traceability System (rTS), Compliance Management (rCM), and Serialization Processing (rSP), can meet the stringent Russia dairy serialization requirements and ensure you stay compliant. In fact, we had to prove this to the CRPT to be named an official partner. rTS works seamlessly with Chestny ZNAK, including a Russian-language user interface that makes integration and startup much quicker.

So contact us today learn more about how we can help you with dairy product labeling and other Chestny ZNAK compliance. No matter how far along you are in your preparations to comply, you should talk to us — even if you’re already working with another provider. Our powerful software ensures companies in any industry remain compliant with Russia’s complex regulations.

Russia Chestny ZNAK Bottled Drinking Water Pilot Ending Soon

Posted on April 1, 2021August 16, 2023 by rfxadmin

A year ago today — April 1, 2020 — Russia started its Chestny ZNAK bottled drinking water pilot. Chestny ZNAK is Russia’s National Track and Trace Digital System, which is transforming how the country runs and regulates the supply chain for everything from pharmaceuticals to fur. It’s managed by the Center for Research in Perspective Technologies (CRPT).

If all goes as planned, the Chestny ZNAK bottled drinking water pilot will wrap up on June 1. Let’s take a quick look at the pilot and what we can expect going forward.

The Chestny ZNAK bottled drinking water pilot

As we said, the pilot (or “experiment,” as these projects are called in Russia) began on April 1, 2020, and is scheduled to end just two months from now, on June 1. The bottled drinking water category includes mineral and carbonated waters, waters without sweeteners or other flavoring, and non-carbonated water. The table below shows the Eurasian Economic Union Combined Nomenclature of Foreign Economic Activity (TN VED) code for the products that must be labeled, as provided by Chestny ZNAK.

BOTTLED DRINKING WATER Pilot: April 1, 2020–June 1, 2021
TN VED Code	Description
2201	Beverages and spirits and vinegar: waters, including natural or artificial mineral waters and aerated (i.e., carbonated) waters, not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter nor flavored; ice and snow

BOTTLED DRINKING WATER

Pilot: April 1, 2020–June 1, 2021

TN VED Code

Description

2201

Beverages and spirits and vinegar: waters, including natural or artificial mineral waters and aerated (i.e., carbonated) waters, not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter nor flavored; ice and snow

Like pilots for other industries, the Chestny ZNAK bottled drinking water pilot tests end-to-end tracking and tracing of marked goods from manufacturing sites or import/customs locations to final sale to consumers. It’s also designed to determine the best approaches for marking and tracing products, including testing methods of applying codes to different types of packaging, such as PET bottles and bottles with irregular shapes.

Chestny ZNAK, which is now in its fourth year of operation, generally requires products to be labeled with a 2D DataMatrix code containing four data points: a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), a serial number, a verification key, and a verification code (i.e., crypto code).

The DataMatrix codes being used in the Chestny ZNAK bottled drinking water pilot must contain three data points: a 14-digit GTIN, a 13-character serial number, and a 4-character verification code. An optional fourth data point can include information such as the minimum retail price and expiration date. Product packaging is required to have a blank field up to 15×15mm to accommodate the code.

The pilot’s goals include the following:

Supply chain actors order DataMatrix codes and apply them to products.
All labeling information is transferred electronically to Chestny ZNAK.
Products in shipping packages are aggregated; codes for each unit in the aggregation are also aggregated.
Marked products enter circulation.
Products are tracked and traced in the supply chain, and stakeholders exchange Universal Transfer Documents (UTDs) to record transfer of codes.
Consumers purchase goods, which are withdrawn from circulation at checkout via point-of-sale cash registers and scanning devices.

Final thoughts

The CRPT has not announced when mandatory marking of bottled water products will begin. If the pilot ends on schedule, there will likely be a final report and review period, so it could be late 2021 or even early 2022 before you’ll have to comply.

Regardless, the time to think about compliance is now. If you want more details about the Chestny ZNAK bottled drinking water pilot — or any of the regulated industries — start by downloading our white papers. We’ve updated all of our Russia white papers for 2021 and included even more details about what you need to know and do to be compliant.

You should also contact us. We’ve been prepared for Russia’s regulations since 2018. Here a just a few of the reasons why we’re the leader in Chestny ZNAK compliance:

We are an official software and integration partner of the CRPT.
We’re accredited as an IT company by the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications, and Mass Media.
We are one of only a few providers with in-country implementations; clients include global consumer goods and pharma companies.
Our powerful software ensures companies in any industry will remain compliant while mastering their supply chains with end-to-end traceability and rich, actionable data mined right down to the unit level.

We’ll be posting more about what to expect with Chestny ZNAK requirements in 2021. There’s definitely a lot going on — including pilots for biologically active food additives and beer getting under way now — so check back often.

Food Traceability Gets Precise: The State of the Art

Posted on March 23, 2021August 16, 2023 by rfxadmin

In recent years, the food industry has been under increasing pressure to trace products from farm to table. When COVID came onto the scene, the need for food traceability only intensified, as consumers wanted assurance from retailers and their supply chain partners that they could rely on the safety of their food.

Food traceability, however, is only as good as the degree to which it is executed up and down the supply chain. In order to improve supply chain management, facilitate feedback for food quality and safety, and differentiate your food product from your competitors’, you need to get precise in your traceability efforts.

Precision food traceability

Precision food traceability refers to the in-depth tracing of supply chain data and critical tracking events (CTEs) backward (to the source of the product) and forward (everywhere a food product has been used) to facilitate the quick and effective review of every action taken related to a product at each stage. With the ability to pinpoint a particular food product’s movement and characteristics, precision traceability not only offers detailed information about a product’s freshness, nutritional values, and logistics, it also supports proactive, informed decision-making should a food safety event occur.

Serialization is an essential tool in a precision food traceability system. The process of creating a unique code for each product, serialization delivers granular data about the food product to provide significantly more end-to-end visibility. With the ability to track the product at every stage, item-level traceability makes it easy to capture key data elements (KDEs), which could be used to trigger an investigation and reduce traceback time in the event of a food safety issue.

For example, let’s say you want to track a harvest operator’s location beyond the primary farmer and farm. Serialization gives you access to data down to the person who picked a vegetable, and from which row, ranch, or plot. For meat products, you can quickly trace back to not just the exact animal, but also to its pen location, feed, and even medicines.

With the ability to track outcomes (e.g., quality inspections and safety test results) and associate them to the product beyond the original facility, you can look back at any event in a product’s lifecycle even after it’s been shipped from the original facility. Precision food traceability makes it possible to track customer feedback and connect it to supply chain data points to deliver a complete picture of the product’s safety and performance. You can also evaluate how you’re doing on a sustainability front by tracking post-consumer activity, such as recycling and waste.

Specific uses for precision food traceability

On its journey from farm to table, a food product may be exposed to disease-causing organisms and food safety hazards. As the volume of international trade expands, so does the potential for transmission of pathogens or chemical contamination.

We all know problems can arise anywhere in the supply chain. Containing ingredients — perhaps from all over the world — and processed in different facilities and handled by wholesalers, retailers, and transportation companies, a food item is handled by many actors before ending up on the consumer’s plate. A precision food traceability system is paramount to ensuring food safety and minimizing the impact should an event arise.

Precision food traceability makes it easy to investigate food safety issues, identify the source of contamination, assess the scope of impact, and resolve the problem quickly. With the ability to trace back to the health of the animal, feed production, rearing, transportation, and more, you can quickly identify the source of infection or prohibited additives and take preventive and control measures to avoid the introduction of the contaminant.

Beyond safety, precision traceability also supports profitability. With detailed food traceability data, you can intelligently evaluate your operations, optimize efficiencies, analyze yield, and even apply consumer feedback to measure return on production investment. Precision traceability can also reduce food waste by tracking and recording data through every stage of the supply chain.

Final thoughts

Maintaining food safety is critical to your overall success and, more important, consumer health. The better and more precise your tracing system, the better equipped you will be to isolate the source of an issue and address quality control problems, quickly and efficiently. By minimizing the production and distribution of substandard and perhaps even illegal products, you reduce the risk of recalls, negative publicity, and liability, and have a “firewall” to protect your brand in the process.

Keeping tabs on every event related to your food supply can seem daunting but rfxcel can help. Offering the most complete and flexible raw materials and finished goods traceability solution in the food and beverage industry, we can help optimize your supply chain operations, meet compliance requirements, track products, and increase business value.

CRPT Partner in Russia’s Supply Chain: Traceability and Compliance

Posted on March 19, 2021August 16, 2023 by rfxadmin

The Center for Research in Perspective Technologies (CRPT) operates Russia’s National Track and Trace Digital System. Known as Chestny ZNAK, the supply chain system was established by Federal Law No. 425-FZ, signed on December 29, 2017. rfxcel has been prepared for these regulations since 2018, and is now an established CRPT partner.

Let’s take a look at what it means to be a CRPT partner, including the benefits it brings to our customers.

What is the CRPT?

The CRPT is a public-private partnership akin to the European Medicines Verification Organization. Its many responsibilities include generating the serial numbers and verification codes (i.e., crypto codes) required by Chestny ZNAK.

Business giant USM is the CRPT’s principal partner, with a 51 percent stake. USM was founded in 2012 and has interests in many of Russia’s key sectors, including metals/mining, telecom, technology, and internet. According to USM, Chestny ZNAK is the country’s first public-private partnership in the IT sector and the first of its kind at the federal level. Private investments totaling more than 200 billion rubles ($2.5 billion) are expected over the next 15 years.

rfxcel as CRPT partner

Last year, rfxcel earned official CRPT partner status in 10 of the 11 industries for which the organization has chosen partners: medications, footwear, tires, light industry, perfumes, dairy, bottled drinking water, bicycles, wheelchairs, and tobacco. Furthermore, we are the only official CRPT partner for several of these industries.

To be named a CRPT partner, a solutions provider must prove it can work with Chestny ZNAK, comply with its strict serialization requirements, and support companies that do business in Russia.

For example, to be named an official integration, software, and tested solution partner for medications, members of our Moscow team met with the CRPT to demonstrate the rfxcel Traceability System, answer technical questions, and share examples of compliance reports. After an internal evaluation, the CRPT notified rfxcel that it had validated its solution and designated the company as an official partner on its website.

What does being a CRPT partner mean for our customers?

The benefits we bring as a CRPT partner are pretty straightforward. First and foremost, we have proven that our signature rfxcel Traceability System integrates seamlessly with Chestny ZNAK and meets regulatory requirements for key industries.

Russian law calls for serialization, aggregation, unit- and batch-level traceability, crypto codes, and electronic reporting and records management. Our rfxcel Serialization Processing and Compliance Management solutions ensure you’ll comply with these mandated labeling and reporting requirements. Plus, our solutions have a Russian-language user interface that makes integration and start-up much quicker.

The other benefit of being a CRPT partner is that we’re trusted. The CRPT knows our solutions, knows our team in Moscow, and knows that we take compliance very seriously. They know our customers include major pharmaceutical and consumer goods brands. They know we’re committed to making the transformation of Russia’s supply chain smooth and effective, and support the mission “to guarantee the authenticity and declared quality of goods being purchased by customers.”

So, when you work with rfxcel in Russia, you’re working with a CRPT partner that is equipped to deliver quick integration and compliance today, tomorrow — always.

Sneak peek: another recent rfxcel accomplishment in Russia

We’ll share more details about this soon, but earlier this month we received accreditation as an IT company from Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development, Communications, and Mass Media. The Ministry develops and implements national policy and legal regulations for a range of industries, from telecommunications to Internet governance.

That’s all we’ll say for now. The official IT company accreditation is another reason why we continue to be the leader in Chestny ZNAK integration, operability, and compliance.

Final thoughts

We are proud of being an official CRPT partner. It’s proof that our software ensures companies in any industry will remain compliant while they do business in Russia.

Contact us today for more information about how we can help you succeed with Chestny ZNAK. And be sure to download our white paper about Russian compliance. Fully updated for 2021, including information about new pilots for beer and beer-based drinks and biologically active food additives , it’s an easy-to-understand guide to Russia’s strict supply chain regulations for every industry.

Exploring Meat Traceability in the Food Supply Chain: Getting to Know Your Protein

Posted on March 10, 2021August 16, 2023 by rfxadmin

Today’s consumers demand transparency, particularly when it comes to the meat they consume. They want more information about how and where the livestock was raised and processed — not just from a nutritional standpoint, but also with regard to food safety practices, animal care practices, environmental impact, and worker safety. Put simply, they want meat traceability.

Consumers are making an emotional connection to the foods they buy and consume; they want to feel good about where their money is going and what they are putting into their bodies. While this trend has been growing over the past several years, it has gained significant traction recently. Add the pandemic into the mix, and you’ve got an even greater demand for transparency amid an environment driven by heightened health and financial concerns.

The supply chain saw significant disruption during the pandemic, as high infection rates in processing plants led to a marked curtail in operations in pork, beef, and poultry plants—and in some cases, plant closures. In fact, roughly 65 percent of meat processing plants experienced outbreaks and 20 percent were forced to temporarily suspend operations, which, in a consolidated meat industry, had a ripple effect across the country. As the outbreaks played out publicly, consumers grew even warier of the origins of their meats.

Adding more complexity to the issue, bad weather over the past year meant smaller corn and soybean harvests, making it harder and more expensive for cattle, hog, and poultry farmers to feed their herds. The last time the industry saw such high grain prices was during the 2012 U.S. drought.

As meat supplies diminished, consumer demand grew, with more people stuck inside and forced to cook and eat at home. The result: price inflation at the grocery stores, making it more expensive for consumers to feed their families. As they pay more for the foods that nourish their families and read headlines about the pandemic’s effects on the food supply chain, their demand for transparency has only become greater.

Meat traceability is more essential than ever

As we usher in a new era in food safety, meat traceability is no longer a “nice-to-have” — it’s essential. With increasing consumer demand for more information about where their protein is coming from, clear documentation from the farm to the end product is a must.

The Global Food Traceability Center defines traceability as the “ability to access any or all information relating to a food under consideration, throughout its entire life cycle, by means of recorded identifications.” This goes beyond the information itself; it’s about linking the information throughout the supply chain and ensuring coordinated processes and end-to-end meat traceability.

The good news is that tech-enabled meat traceability doesn’t have to be complicated, and its benefits are vast and powerful. From increased meat quality, improved food safety, and fewer product recalls to better inventory tracking and superior customer service, traceability delivers a range of benefits that go far beyond simply responding to consumers’ demand for information. With visibility across the entire supply chain, manufacturers can document and link the production, processing, and distribution chain of their protein products, which results in greater organizational efficiencies, reduced market and operational risks, a stronger competitive advantage, and a better brand image.

Final thoughts

While challenges continue to emerge amid a rapidly evolving global landscape, brands have an opportunity to tell a story that evokes a positive emotion and inspires a purchase. Consumers want to know that their meats were produced ethically and safely, and, of course, pose no risk to themselves or their families. As more and more people scan labels and packages for information about where their food came from and how it was made, transparency will play an increasingly crucial role in a meat producer’s brand image. It really comes down to trust: If consumers don’t trust your brand, they’ll be more than happy to buy another company’s product. Meat traceability satiates a consumer’s need for information, which builds trust with your brand.

From farm to table, rfxcel’s food supply chain solutions have you covered. Our award-winning Traceability System (rTS) is the basis of a modernized, digital supply chain with fully customizable and scalable solutions that yield complete end-to-end meat traceability. It is the foundation of a digital supply chain and a successful food recall management system that operates with surgical precision.

Offering the most complete and flexible raw materials and meat traceability solution for food and beverage, we’ll help you to optimize your supply chain operations while catering to the consumers’ increasing demand for information about the meats they consume.

New Russian Serialization Pilot for Biologically Active Food Additives

Posted on March 10, 2021August 16, 2023 by rfxadmin

A new Russian serialization pilot for biologically active food additives was announced last month. It’s scheduled to run from April 1 of this year to March 1, 2022.

The government has not said much more than this about the pilot. It has revealed a lot more about the Russian serialization pilot for beer and beer-based drinks, which it announced last October. Read our blog post about that to get all the details.

Let’s take a look at what we do know about the Russian serialization pilot for biologically active food additives. After that, we’ll give you a sneak peek at what we’re doing to make sure stakeholders in every industry regulated by Russia’s National Track and Trace Digital System, known as Chestny ZNAK, know exactly what to do to comply with the strict requirements.

Russian serialization pilot for biologically active food additives

As we said above, the Russian government hasn’t said much about the new pilot, which was formalized through a draft decree entitled “On Conducting an Experiment on the Labeling of Biologically Active Food Additives by Means of Identification in the Territory of the Russian Federation.”

Chestny ZNAK has shared a list of what products will be labeled and their corresponding Eurasian Economic Union Combined Nomenclature of Foreign Economic Activity (TN VED) codes. It’s also been reported that the Center for Research in Perspective Technologies (CRPT), which operates Chestny ZNAK, will provide equipment to pilot participants.

Here are the products that will be included in the Russian serialization pilot for for biologically active food additives. It’s a long list. Be sure to scroll down to our “Final Thoughts” to read about our plans for Russian supply chain compliance!

BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE FOOD ADDITIVES Pilot Dates: April 1, 2021–March 1, 2022
TN VED Code	Description
1210 20 9000	Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits; miscellaneous grains, seeds, and fruit; industrial or medicinal plants; straw and fodder
1212 21 000 0	Locust beans, seaweeds, and other algae, sugar beet and sugar cane, fresh, chilled, frozen or dried, whether or not ground; fruit stones and kernels and other vegetable products (including unroasted)
1504 10 1000	Fish liver oils and their fractions with Vitamin A content not exceeding 2500 iu/g
1504 20 900 0	Other fish fats, oils, and their fractions, other than fish liver oils, other than solid fractions
1516 10 900 0	Other animal fats and oils and their fractions
1517 90 990 0	Other edible mixtures or preparations of animal or vegetable fats or oils or fractions of different fats or oils of this chapter, other than edible fats or oils
1702 90 950 0	Other, including invert sugar and other sugar and sugar syrup blends containing in the dry state 50% by weight of fructose
1704 90 550 0	Throat and cough lozenges not containing cocoa
1806 31 0000	Other product containing cocoa, in blocks, slabs, or bars, filled
1806 32 100 0	Cocoa and cocoa preparations (other preparations containing cocoa, not filled, but with added cereal grains, fruits, or nuts in blocks, slabs, or bars)
1806 32 900 0	Other preparations containing cocoa, but not filled, in blocks, slabs, or bars
1806 90 700 0	Preparations containing cocoa and intended for manufacture (preparation) of drinks
1806 90 900 0	Other preparations containing cocoa
2101 12 920 1	Preparations with a basis of extracts, essences, or concentrates of coffee
2106 10 800 0	Other protein concentrates and textured protein substances
2106 90 590 0	Other sugar syrups with flavoring or coloring additives
2106 90 920 0	Other food preparations not containing butter fat, sucrose, isoglucose (i.e., high-fructose corn syrup), glucose, and starch, or containing less than 1. 5% by weight of butter fat, 5% by weight of sucrose or isoglucose, 5% by weight
2106 90 980 3	Mixtures of vitamins and minerals for use as a balanced dietary supplement
2106 90 980 9	Other food preparations not elsewhere specified or included
2106 90 9801	Sugar- (sucrose) free chewing gum and/or with a sugar substitute product
2202 90 100 9	“Others” under Code 2202: “Beverages and spirits and vinegar”
2202 99 190 0	Other beverages not containing preparations of headings 0401 to 0404 or fat obtained from preparations of headings 0401 to 0404: 0401: Milk and cream, not concentrated nor containing added sugar or other sweetening matter 0402: Milk and cream, concentrated or containing added sugar or other sweetening matter 0403: Buttermilk, curdled milk and cream, yogurt, kephir (a.k.a. kefir), and other fermented or acidified milk and cream, whether or not concentrated or containing added sugar or other sweetening matter or flavored or… 0404: Whey, whether or not concentrated or containing added sugar or other sweetening matter; products consisting of natural milk constituents, whether or not containing added sugar or other sweetening…
2936 21 000 0	Vitamins A and their derivatives
3002 90 500 0	Cultures of microorganisms
3204 19 000 0	Synthetic organic coloring matter and preparations based thereon, including mixtures of coloring matters of the subheadings 320411 to 320419: 320411: Disperse dyes and preparations based thereon 320412: Acid dyes, whether or not premetallized, and preparations based thereon; mordant dyes and preparations based thereon 320413: Basic dyes and preparations based thereon 320414: Direct dyes and preparations based thereon 320415: Vat dyes (including those usable in that state as pigments) and preparations based thereon 320416: Reactive dyes and preparations based thereon 320417: Pigments and preparations based thereon 320419: Tanning or dyeing extracts; tannins and their derivatives; dyes, pigments, and other coloring matter; paints and varnishes; putty and other mastics; inks
3503 00 100 9	Other gelatin and its derivatives
3507 90 900 0	Other prepared enzymes not elsewhere specified or included

Final thoughts

Our team in Russia fields many, many questions about Chestny ZNAK, and industries that must comply with the supply chain regulations. They love hearing from people and helping them understand the rules for doing business in Russia.

If you follow our blog (and we know you do), you know we’re the leader in Russian compliance. You also know we write a lot about Russian supply chain regulations. Most recently, we covered the pilot for beer, updated labeling requirements for cheese and ice cream products, and “notification mode” in the pharma supply chain. We also did a Chestny ZNAK refresher course.

For even more information, visit our solutions for Russian compliance page, download our latest Chestny ZNAK white paper, and contact our team to schedule a quick demo of our solutions for Russian compliance.

rfxcel Enters into Acquisition Agreement with Antares Vision Group

Posted on February 19, 2021October 28, 2022 by rfxadmin

The combination of rfxcel’s industry-leading traceability software platform and Antares Vision’s solutions for intelligent track and trace will create significant value for customers.

Reno, Nevada, Feb. 19, 2021 (EINPRESSWIRE). rfxcel, a global leader in digital supply chain traceability solutions, today announced that it had entered into an acquisition agreement with Italy’s Antares Vision Group, a leading global provider of intelligent track and trace, inspection, and smart data management solutions for the life sciences and food and beverage sectors.

rfxcel CEO Glenn Abood said the agreement marked the start of an expansive era for the company he co-founded with Chief Strategy Officer Jack Tarkoff in 2003. “This is an exciting new chapter for rfxcel,” he said, “a time for the company and our customers to look to the future.

“Becoming part of Antares Vision Group will give us new ways to strengthen our relationships with our customers and provide them with enhanced solutions as they do their important work in the life sciences, food and beverage, consumer goods, and government industries. Plus,” Abood continued, “the integration of our companies’ capabilities will enable us to drive into new markets and geographies as the undisputed leader in supply chain track and trace solutions. It really is a ‘win-win’ for our global teams and our customers.”

The Antares Vision Group will leverage rfxcel’s capabilities and signature rfxcel Traceability System (rTS) software suite to help customers accelerate their transition toward digital and sustainable supply chains characterized by full transparency and visibility. Together, the companies will provide a full stack, end-to-end digital supply chain solution that will optimize and streamline customers’ operations while providing complete end-to-end visibility, from product ingredients and raw materials to the end customer experience.

rTS is a digital supply chain visibility platform comprising up to eight discrete solutions that work in concert to harmonize, optimize, automate, and monitor virtually every aspect of supply chain operations, including serialization, regulatory compliance, Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled monitoring, and raw materials and finished goods traceability. rfxcel also offers a Mobile Traceability app that extends the power of rTS to users at every node of the supply chain, from remote fields and warehouses to retail outlets.

Emidio Zorzella, chairman and CEO of Antares Vision, said he and co-founder Massimo Bonardi were “delighted” about the agreement with rfxcel. “Demand for traceability and serialized products and services has increased significantly over the last few years,” he said, “and this transaction accelerates our ability to offer best-in-class propositions in all our key reference sectors, life science and food and beverage. We look forward to welcoming the management and employees of rfxcel to the Antares Vision Group and working together to serve our customers across the world.”

Abood added that both companies shared the same goals and Antares Vision would help rfxcel accelerate its plans. “The rfxcel management team is delighted to join with Antares Vision to offer customers the most complete end-to-end solution for track and trace on the market today.”

For more information about the acquisition agreement or the companies’ solutions, contact Herb Wong, rfxcel’s vice president of marketing and strategic initiatives, at hwong@rfxcel.com or 925-824-0300.

About rfxcel

Founded in 2003, rfxcel provides leading-edge software solutions to help companies build and manage their digital supply chain, lower costs, and protect their products and brand reputations. Blue-chip organizations in the life sciences (pharmaceuticals and medical devices), food and beverage, worldwide government, and consumer goods industries trust rfxcel’s signature Traceability System (rTS) to power end-to-end supply chain solutions in key areas such as track and trace, environmental monitoring, regulatory compliance, serialization, and visibility. The company is headquartered in the United States and has offices in the United Kingdom, the EU, Latin America, Russia, India, Japan, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region.

About Antares Vision

Listed since April 2019 on the AIM Italia market of the Italian Stock Exchange, Antares Vision Group guarantees the protection of products, people and brands through inspection systems for quality control, track and trace solutions for anti-counterfeiting and supply chain transparency, smart data management tools for maximized efficiency and digitalization of the supply chain, from the point of production to the end consumer. The Antares Vision Group is active in the life science sector, including the pharmaceutical, medical device, and hospital segments, as well as in other industries, including, primarily, food and beverage, cosmetics, and in consumer-packaged goods. The Group reaches over 60 countries worldwide with complete and flexible solutions, hardware, and software, with related services: it has five offices in Italy (Brescia, Parma, Piacenza, Latina and Vicenza), 15 foreign branches (Germany [2], France [2], USA [3], Latin America [2], India, Russia, Hong Kong, China, Croatia, and Serbia), three Innovation and Research Centers (Italy) and a worldwide network of more than 40 partners. With the 20 years of experience in vision technologies of the two founding partners, the Antares Vision Group is the supplier of 10 of the 20 leading pharmaceutical companies in the world (by turnover), with more than 25,000 inspection systems, which ensure everyday product safety and quality, 6,500 quality controls, and more than 3,500 serialization modules on lines installed all over the world. With the aim of continuing and supporting the growth and development strategy, during 2019, Antares Vision finalized participation agreements with T2 Software, a Brazilian company specialized in smart data management solutions, and Orobix, an Italian company leader in artificial intelligence services, and acquired 100 percent of FT System, leader in control and inspection in the beverage sector. In 2020, Antares Vision acquired 82.83 percent of Tradeticity, a Croatian company specialized in software management of traceability and serialization processes, 100 percent of Convel, an Italian company specialized in automated inspection machines for the pharmaceutical industry, the assets of Adents High Tech International, a French company specialized in software for serialization and traceability, and 100 percent of Applied Vision, a global leader in inspection systems for glass and metal containers in food and beverage. In 2019, Emidio Zorzella and Massimo Bonardi won the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” award for innovation. For more info: www.antaresvision.com.

rfxcel Ready to Help Dairy Industry Comply with Russia’s 2021 Serialization Regulations

Posted on February 12, 2021October 28, 2022 by rfxadmin

rfxcel’s track and trace solutions ensure companies operating in Russia’s dairy market can comply with dairy serialization regulations being rolled out in 2021

Reno, Nevada (Feb. 11, 2021). rfxcel, the global leader in digital supply chain traceability solutions, today announced that it was prepared to ensure companies operating in Russia’s dairy market could comply with serialization regulations being rolled out in 2021.

Mandatory serialization of cheeses and cottage cheese and ice cream and food ice is set to begin on June 1, 2021. These are the first dairy products required to be serialized in Russia’s National Track and Trace Digital System, known as Chestny ZNAK. Companies were allowed to begin labeling these goods as early as January 20, but the regulations will not go into full effect until June.

Furthermore, dairy products with a shelf life of more than 40 days and fewer than 40 days are required to be serialized beginning September 1 and December 1, respectively. The regulations apply to several product categories, including milk and cream, buttermilk and fermented milk products, and dairy products for baby food.

rfxcel CEO Glenn Abood said the company had been preparing for the dairy regulations since an industry pilot was announced in 2019. “The long and short of it is that we’re always prepared to help companies in any industry navigate Russia’s strict and complex regulations,” he said. “We committed ourselves to being the leader in Chestny ZNAK compliance when the system was created a little more than four years ago, and our team in Moscow has followed its rollout, the evolution of the regulations, and the pilots for different industries, including dairy. We knew what was coming, so we’re ready to go.”

The dairy pilot ran between July 2019 and the end of 2020. During that time rfxcel earned official partner status in 10 of the 11 industries for which the Center for Research in Perspective Technologies (CRPT), which operates Chestny ZNAK, had chosen partners. It also tripled the size of its Moscow-based team and continues to be one of only a few solutions providers with active implementations in Russia.

Abood said the CRPT designations and success of the Moscow team had solidified rfxcel’s status as the leader in Russian compliance. “We’ve taken our rfxcel Traceability System, which includes solutions for serialization and compliance, into Russia and enabled companies in the pharmaceutical and consumer goods spaces meet deadlines, adapt to changes, stay compliant, and keep their supply chains moving. It’s been quite exciting, actually, and we’re looking forward to helping dairy companies have the same kind of success.”

Enacted by Federal Law No. 425-FZ on December 29, 2017, Chestny ZNAK was designed to protect consumers by keeping fake and substandard products out of the market. As envisioned, by 2024 it will transform the Russian supply chain and affect virtually every industry, from pharmaceuticals to baby food.

To learn more about rfxcel’s operations in Russia and its solutions for dairy, pharma, consumer goods, and other industries, contact Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Initiatives Herb Wong at hwong@rfxcel.com and visit rfxcel.com.

About rfxcel

Russia Dairy Serialization Update: Mandatory Labeling for Cheese and Ice Cream

Posted on January 22, 2021October 9, 2023 by rfxadmin

Some important updates to Russia dairy serialization were made public on January 13, 2021. The regulations pertain to cheese and ice cream products, as well as products with certain shelf lives.

Supply chain laws governing the country’s National Track and Trace Digital System, which is known as Chestny ZNAK and covers a dozen industries, have been continually tweaked and refined since it was created a little more than three years ago. Let’s take a look at what’s new for the dairy industry.

New rules for Russia dairy serialization

The Russia dairy serialization regulations were put forth in Decree No. 2099 of December 15, 2020; they will go into effect for different products at different times.

The first products to fall under mandatory labeling are cheeses, ice cream, and other edible ice. Companies can begin labeling these goods and transferring data to the Government Information System for Marking (GIS MT), which catalogs all marked goods, as early as January 20, 2021, but they must be registered with Chestny ZNAK to do so.

Mandatory labeling begins for these cheese and ice cream products on June1, 2021. Only serialized products are allowed to be sold after this date. However, products produced or imported into Russia before June 1 may be sold until the product’s expiration date.

Deadlines for cheese and ice cream stakeholders

The Russia dairy serialization regulations for cheese and ice cream products apply to manufacturers, importers, wholesalers, and retailers. Here are the key dates:

June 1, 2021: Manufacturers and importers must begin labeling and transferring product data to GIS MIT.
December 1, 2021: All stakeholders must transmit information about the retail sale of goods to Chestny ZNAK. (This occurs via point-of-sale cash registers connected to the internet.)
September 1, 2022: Using Universal Transfer Documents (UTDs), stakeholders must transmit information on the turnover of goods (including wholesale sales) and the withdrawal of goods.
December 1, 2023: Unit-level serialization of products with a shelf life of more than 40 days begins. Each product’s unique identification code must be indicated in the UTD.

Labeling of other dairy products with a shelf life of more than/less than 40 days

Manufacturers, importers, wholesalers, and retailers must comply with the Russia dairy serialization regulations for these products, which include the following:

Milk and cream
Buttermilk, fermented milk products (e.g., curdled milk and cream, yogurt, kefir (a fermented milk drink)
Butter and other fats and oils made from milk, milk pastes
Milk whey and other dairy products not included in other groups
Dairy products for baby food
Drinks containing milk fats

Mandatory labeling of products with a shelf life of more than 40 days begins on September 1, 2021. Products with a shelf life of less than 40 days must be labeled beginning December 1, 2021. Only serialized products may be sold after these dates. However, products produced or imported into Russia before these dates may be sold until the product’s expiration date.

Furthermore, for both categories:

December 1, 2021: All stakeholders must transmit information about the retail sale of goods to Chestny ZNAK. (This occurs via point-of-sale cash registers connected to the internet.)
September 1, 2022: Using Universal Transfer Documents (UTDs), stakeholders must transmit information on the sale and withdrawal of goods.

And for products with a shelf life of more than 40 days:

December 1, 2023: Unit-level serialization Each product’s unique identification code must be indicated in the UTD.

Mandatory labeling will not apply to the following products:

Baby food for children under 3 and specialized dietary therapeutic and preventive food
Products packed in a non-industrial manner/method in retail organizations
Products with a net weight of 30 grams or less
Products produced or imported into Russia as advertising/marketing samples not intended for sale
Products to be exported outside the EAEU
Products for sale in duty-free shops
Products being stored by manufacturers (i.e., not intended for distribution)
Products acquired under a transaction, information about which constitutes a state secret

Final thoughts

As the leader in Russia dairy serialization solutions, rfxcel knows the regulations can be a challenge to decipher. To help, we offer useful resources online, like this refresher course and white papers and webinars that explain the requirements.

These are great places to start, but the best way to ensure you’re prepared to comply with Russia dairy serialization is to talk with us directly. Consider our credentials:

We’re an official integration, software, and tested solution partner with the CRPT.
We’ve demonstrated that our solutions, including our signature rfxcel Traceability System (rTS) and Compliance Management (rCM), can meet the stringent Russia dairy serialization requirements and ensure you stay compliant.
rTS works seamlessly with Chestny ZNAK, including a Russian-language user interface that makes integration and startup much quicker.
We’ve prepared for Russia dairy serialization and Chestny ZNAK since 2018.
We’re one of the few providers with active implementations in Russia.
We’ve tripled our workforce in Russia over the last year. Our team in Moscow provides our clients, which include major global consumer goods and pharmaceutical companies, the quickest time to market while fully automating their compliance reporting.

Contact us today learn more about how we can help you with Russia dairy serialization and Chestny ZNAK compliance. No matter how far along you are in your preparations to comply, you should talk to us — even if you’re already working with another provider. Our powerful software ensures companies in any industry remain compliant with the complex regulations.

Food Traceability: What’s the Latest for 2021?

Posted on January 14, 2021August 25, 2023 by rfxadmin

As we all know, the pandemic has revealed shortcomings in the supply chains of virtually every industry. And though the vaccine supply chain has dominated headlines over the last several months, food traceability has been top of mind for companies and governments alike since the earliest days of COVID-19.

Let’s take a look at the state of food traceability — what it is, how it works, and its future as we kick off 2021.

What is food traceability?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines food traceability as “the ability to follow the movement of a food product and its ingredients through all steps in the supply chain, both backward and forward.”

That’s a spot-on definition, but we’d like to add a few things. First, food traceability in 2021 means you can follow your products in real time. Yes, you can see where they’ve been and know where they’re going, but you can also see where they are right now. And with powerful tools like our rfxcel Integrated Monitoring (rIM) solution and Mobile Traceability app, you’ll have access to real-time information about environmental conditions (e.g., temperature, humidity, light, tilt, and shock) and location.

With this rich, actionable data, your food traceability capabilities expand exponentially. Not only can you take immediate action if there’s an environmental concern — a temperature excursion, for example — but you can course-correct if your vehicle is approaching a traffic jam or encountering other obstacles or delays. You can also tap data to combat theft and make recalls more efficient. (We wrote about modernizing food recall management late last year; check it out here.)

The other thing we’d like to add to the FDA’s definition is that, today, food traceability should be occurring in a digital supply chain. If you’re still pushing paper in 2021, it’s time for you to contact us and start thinking about upgrading to a digital supply chain powered by the rfxcel Traceability System (rTS). Our award-winning platform will transform your supply chain and how you use it. From ingredients to finished goods, rTS will bring state-of-the art food traceability to your operations.

Furthermore, rTS turns every one of your products into a “digital asset” that you can use to nurture and protect your brand and engage consumers. Complete food traceability, starting at the harvest and ending in your customers’ homes, builds an ironclad product provenance and a compelling story you can promote and share. Today’s consumers, especially with the health and safety of their families foremost in their minds, are demanding more from brands — more information, more transparency, more quality, more interaction. As we wrote last fall, food traceability is creating a new kind of “consumer kingdom,” and it’s a digital supply chain that’s making it possible.

Food traceability: An FDA priority

In “Modernizing Food Recall Management,” we talked about the FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety. Announced in April 2019, it’s “a new approach to food safety, leveraging technology and other tools to create a safer and more digital, traceable food system.”

Then, in July 2020 the Administration released the “New Era of Smarter Safety Blueprint,” which included a Food Traceability Proposed Rule designed to “help the FDA rapidly and effectively identify recipients of foods on its Food Traceability List to prevent or mitigate foodborne illness outbreaks and address credible threats of serious adverse health consequences or death.”

Next, to ring in 2021, the Administration on January 12 “made clarifying edits” to the Food Traceability List and published a FAQ for the Food Traceability Proposed Rule.

The Food Traceability List contains the foods that have additional traceability recordkeeping requirements per the Proposed Rule. The January 12 edits did not add or remove items from the list; instead, the FDA changed the descriptions of some commodities. For example, “fresh” was added to several fruits and vegetables “to clarify the scope of those commodities.” Revisions also clarified what cheeses fell under the category of “cheeses, other than hard cheeses.” See the FDA’s four-page memo for all the changes.

The FAQ for the Food Traceability Proposed Rule addresses questions the Administration has received about the Proposed Rule. Its primary goal is “to assist stakeholders who are considering providing feedback during the comment period, which has been extended until February 22, 2021.” If you want to submit a comment or review the comments that have been submitted, go to regulations.gov (Docket ID: FDA-2014-N-0053).

Final thoughts

Companies and governments around the world have been compelled to re-examine the security, efficiency, and resilience of their supply chains. Food traceability is vital to public health and safety, so it should rightfully remain a top priority.

rfxcel was founded on the principle of helping consumers know where products come from and being able to confirm that they’re safe and legitimate. With rfxcel’s Traceability System, Integrated Monitoring, Mobile Traceability app, and other solutions for food traceability, you’ll increase food quality and safety, modernize and improve recall management, optimize inventory tracking, and improve every aspect of customer service and interaction.

In other words, food traceability in a digital supply chain from rfxcel will ensure you’re doing everything possible to safeguard your customers, your brand, and your bottom line. No matter where you do business — the United States, Europe, Asia, South America, the Middle East — we can help make sure you’re ready for whatever 2021 (and beyond) has in store. Contact us today to arrange a demo.

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The June 1 dairy labeling requirements

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The Chestny ZNAK bottled drinking water pilot

BOTTLED DRINKING WATER

Pilot: April 1, 2020–June 1, 2021

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Precision food traceability

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What is the CRPT?

rfxcel as CRPT partner

What does being a CRPT partner mean for our customers?

Sneak peek: another recent rfxcel accomplishment in Russia

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Meat traceability is more essential than ever

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Russian serialization pilot for biologically active food additives

BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE FOOD ADDITIVES

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About rfxcel

About Antares Vision

About rfxcel

New rules for Russia dairy serialization

Deadlines for cheese and ice cream stakeholders

Labeling of other dairy products with a shelf life of more than/less than 40 days

Final thoughts

What is food traceability?

Food traceability: An FDA priority

Final thoughts