Meat&Poultry - November 2014 - 55

INGREDIENT ESSENTIALS * ADVERTORIAL

Do You Know Where Your Rosemary Comes From?
The future global food supply chain
will demand full traceability, one that
starts even before the farm. Given the
complexity of the chain, full traceability
is challenging, yet definitely necessary in
order for the food system to be trusted
by all involved. This includes consumers
trusting the retailers, who trust the manufacturers, who trust the suppliers, who
trust the growers and producers.
According to Will Fisher, executive director of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Global Food Traceability Center
(GFTC), full traceability will be the norm
in the near future. "Most people think
that traceability is all about food safety,
but we quickly learned there is much
more to the picture, which is why traceability is such a critical component of
the global food chain," he says. "In addition to ensuring food safety, traceability
prevents product fraud, illegal fishing
and sustainability." It ensures trust in all
aspects of the food supply chain.
Traceability is only as good as the
weakest link. "It is important for everyone
in the supply chain to understand the
value of collecting and maintaining product information that supports, at the very
least, one-step-forward, one-step-back
traceability," says Tejas Bhatt, program
director of the GFTC.
Vertically integrated businesses eliminate multiple steps in product tracking,
allowing for improved response if a recall
is necessary, which mitigates economic
loss. Vertically integrated ingredient
suppliers, such as Kemin, Des Moines,
Iowa, control their rosemary production
process...from breeding to growing to
extracting to formulating. This process
control from seed to extract provides
assurance for meat and poultry manufacturers that there is traceability from the
food ingredient back to the plant seed.

Kemin controls 100% of its rosemary supply chain-from plant to final extract-and in
doing so, provides meat and poultry manufacturers with a safe, consistent and sustainably
grown supply of natural, clean-label ingredients.
"We do our own breeding and seed
selection, as well as cropping system
development," says Dr. John Greaves, vice
president-specialty crops. "We work with
our growers on a daily basis, going as far
as to make sure their fields are properly
irrigated to ensure we have consistent,
quality crops we can rely on.
"All the way up until the time our
customer-the food manufacturer-receives our rosemary extract, we know everything about it," he says. "If there is any
question at any time, we can take you to
the field and show you where that batch
of product originated. We know when
it was harvested, the field conditions,
how long it was grown for, all to a level
of familiarity that makes our customers
really comfortable about buying this
ingredient."
Dr. Greaves agrees that traceability is
so much more than ensuring food safety.
"Most people don't realize that about

"Our growers talk to each
other on a regular basis and
that develops a community
of excellence."
- Dr. Rod Reed, manager-field
agronomy services

80% of the rosemary used in the world-
either as a spice or for extraction-is harvested wild. A company sends out crews to
Mediterranean mountainsides in southern
Europe and North Africa under license from
sovereign governments and they hack
away at plants. This disrupts the ecology
and the environment, contributing to the
erosion of soil. It also produces variation in
rosemary quality."
Kemin enhances the agro-ecosystem by
contracting with family farmers in Texas
and New Mexico to grow its proprietary
rosemary varieties. This partnership not
only increases the quality and quantity
of crops but improves farming practices,
promotes healthy working conditions and
builds community relations.
"Our program can only succeed if we
have good relationships with our farmers,"
adds Dr. Rod Reed, manager-field agronomy services. "Our growers talk to each other
on a regular basis and that develops a community of excellence."

The sustainability angle

As the world's largest supplier of rosemary extract, the sustainability component
of traceability is very important to Kemin.
The crops have been conventionally bred
to have a seven to 10 year lifespan, during
which time they yield beneficial molecules
at each harvest, all with a minimal carbon
footprint. The company currently has more
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Meat&Poultry - November 2014

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