The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) has launched the first element under the AFGC Authorised Food Data System initiative, which is harnessing digital disruption to empower companies to source and manage information on their products better.
AFGC CEO Tanya Barden says the element, ePIF, provides a technological asset for industry to meet the increasing costs of operating in a highly regulated industry by enabling companies to track product information across its entire value chain.
“AFGC’s ePIF is a tool 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,” she said. “ePIF, which is version 6.0 of the PIF, builds on a decade of industry knowledge. It 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.”
In delivering these solutions, the AFGC is partnering with established food-industry software providers such as Hamilton Grant, Bizcaps Software and Oak Barrel Software. The AFGC is also engaging GS1 Australia to align data standards to promote interoperability, ensuring that the one set of data can be used for multiple solutions.
“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,” Ms Barden said.
“The AFGC has invested considerable resources to bring ePIF to life and we will continue to support its implementation and development as a resource to industry in Australia and abroad.”
