Why traceability really matters
Every food that arrives on our table has a complex journey: fields, farms, processors, wholesalers, distributors. The European Union defines "traceability" as the ability to follow a food through all these stages (Regulation EC No. 178/2002). It is not a detail: in the event of a warning or recall, knowing immediately where a product comes from can prevent waste, economic damage, and health risks.
In practice, however, traceability is often fragmented. Each step of the supply chain uses different systems and documents; intermediaries can be numerous, and information gets dispersed. This increases the time and costs of investigations and can facilitate fraud or tampering. Analyses of food recalls show that managing alerts remains a significant challenge for safety. At the same time, recent reports document thefts and fraud along the food supply chain, linked precisely to the difficulty of verifying the origin of products.
For consumers, origin is one of the main criteria for choice: the majority of European citizens state that it is "very important" to know the source of what they eat. However, the longer and more intermediated the supply chain, the more opaque this information becomes. According to analyses by the European Commission, the transmission of price and quality signals deteriorates as the number of intermediaries increases.
In recent years, digital solutions aimed at making the supply chain more transparent have grown: blockchain systems, collaborative platforms, smart labels. In theory, they allow for the immutable recording of every step, but they require significant investments and often remain limited to pilot projects.
Another approach does not seek to better record each step but to reduce the steps themselves, restoring the direct relationship between producer and consumer. This model — digital short supply chain — combines geolocation, secure payments, direct chat, and order tracking into a single system. The result: fewer nodes in the chain, more visibility, and faster times to trace the origin of a product.
Ortio, che connette consumatori e produttori agricoli, applica proprio questo modello. Come Airbnb mostra case su una mappa, Ortio mostra produttori agricoli e i loro prodotti geolocalizzati. Ogni scheda riporta chi produce, dove e con quali certificazioni. E grazie alla chat diretta i consumatori possono chiedere dettagli sulle pratiche agricole, sulle date di raccolta o spedizione.
This setting not only enhances the shopping experience but, in fact, resolves many traceability issues: each order already contains the key information (product, date, manufacturer, location). In case of need, one can immediately trace back to the source without going through intermediaries and call centres.
Transparency is just one of the advantages of Ortio over large-scale distribution. The model allows for higher margins for producers, a wider choice for consumers, and greater sustainability through the reduction of waste and unnecessary transport. But for those looking at food innovation, the most interesting aspect is precisely this: traceability "by design", which transforms a regulatory obligation into an added value.
Traceability is often perceived as a technical or bureaucratic requirement, but in reality, it is a strategic factor of security, trust, and sustainability. Understanding how it works and what its critical issues are means understanding an important part of our food system. Digital platforms and short supply chain models are showing that there is a different way to ensure transparency: fewer intermediaries, more data, and more direct relationships. Ortio represents one of the concrete examples of this transformation, demonstrating that technology can bring the field closer to the table and make traceability immediate.