It is hoped the technology will allow industry players share consistent and standardised information about food ingredients and finished products.
AFGC CEO Tanya Barden said it would help businesses meet the increasing costs of operating in a highly regulated industry.
“AFGC’s ePIF is a tool developed by the food industry in Australia and New Zealand to obtain and share information needed to meet obligations under regulatory requirements and industry codes in regard to food ingredients and finished products in a consistent and standardised manner,” said Barden.
She added that it built on a decade of industry knowledge. ePIF features updated content on issues like origin labelling and health star ratings and is being translated into a range of business-to-business software solutions.
Regulatory demands
“This initiative has been developed to streamline the process of recording and reporting product information via the secure online portals, making it easier, faster and more flexible to use,” said Barden.
“ePIF, as the first part of the AFGC Approved Food Data System, will be a valuable asset for industry at a time of increased demand by regulators for increased access to information regarding all aspects of the supply chain.”
The technology was launched at the Australian Institute of Science and Technology convention, held alongside the FoodPro show, in Sydney.
Delegates also heard that Australia’s $126bn food, beverage and grocery sectors’ value to Australian manufacturing has increased by over 30 per cent in seven years, according to research released by AFGC.
The industry now employs over 300,000 Australians and the sector’s growth of $29bn was almost three times higher than the next largest manufacturing subsector – machinery and equipment and fabricated metal.
“While domestic conditions remain challenging, food and grocery processing is an area of strong export growth with an 11% surge in food and beverage exports to $26bn last year. These results show a huge potential for future growth,” said Barden.