Current Status and Potential Economic Effects of Food Traceability in Australia

Australian Governments and agricultural industries are advocating for a wider use of food traceability to assure domestic consumers and food importers that our products are safe, clean and sustainable. Improvement in traceability functions will need to be driven by financially sound commercial reasons. The role of Government in this regard is relatively limited. Two illustrative case studies have highlighted the potential economy-wide benefits of the widespread use of food traceability. They have shown that the benefits of an avoidable loss of productivity growth of labour in the Australian economy of 0.1 per cent due to improved food safety (resulting from increased adoption of food traceability) could potentially lead to an estimated rise in GDP of 0.06 per cent relative to what would otherwise be the case. These effects are expected to result from widespread adoption of traceability reducing the incidence of foodborne illnesses. Furthermore, an assumed expansion in Australian farm exports by 1 per cent over the medium term from the widespread adoption of traceability technology along the food supply chains could potentially lead to an estimated rise in GDP of 0.11 per centrelative to what would otherwise be the case.