Traceability is the ability to read from records where a product and its inputs came from and where they went, across production, processing and distribution. In Türkiye the definition for food and feed is set in Law No. 5996, which also obliges each business to run a system of its own. For medicines the Pharmaceutical Track and Trace System (İTS), and for medical devices and cosmetics the Product Tracking System (ÜTS), apply the same principle at pack or unit level through a central register run by the state.
What is the legal definition of traceability?
Law No. 5996 on Veterinary Services, Plant Health, Food and Feed defines traceability as the ability to trace and follow plant products, food and feed, the animal from which food is obtained, or a substance intended or expected to be incorporated into food or feed, through all stages of production, processing and distribution.
The European Commission explains the definition in the EU General Food Law with the same two verbs: food, feed and ingredients must be traceable, meaning they can be "traced and followed" through all stages. The two verbs describe two directions. Tracing is the search backwards, towards the source; following is the search forwards, towards where the product went. The definition was written for food, but it describes the same two questions for any product group, from cosmetics to chemicals.
What are the three directions of traceability?
Backward traceability shows which raw material, which supplier and which production batch the product in your hand came from. The source of a quality complaint is searched for in this direction.
Forward traceability shows which warehouse, distributor or customer a batch went to. A recall runs in this direction.
Internal traceability stays inside the plant: it links which input batch became which product batch. In practice this is the link that breaks most often. The incoming raw material record and the outgoing shipment record are kept separately, and when the production record that connects them is missing, both the backward and the forward record are left incomplete.
What does "one step back, one step forward" require?
The traceability obligation in the EU General Food Law is summed up by this principle. Every business must be able to identify the direct supplier that delivered to it and the direct customer it delivered to. Retailers selling to final consumers are exempt on the customer side.
There is also something the principle does not require: there is no single central record that sees the whole chain. Each link knows only its two neighbours. Whether a recall can be traced end to end depends on each business recording its own step completely and passing it on to the next under the same batch number.
Which sectors have a dedicated tracking system?
Food and feed. Article 24 of Law No. 5996 requires food and feed business operators to set up a system that lets them track the food or feed under their responsibility, any substance added to it and the animal from which the food is obtained, at all stages of production, processing and distribution, and to provide this information to the Ministry on request. Products placed on the market must also be labelled or identified in a way that ensures traceability. The form of the system is left to the business.
Medicines. İTS, run by the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (TİTCK), was set up in 2010. Each pack is tracked individually through the data matrix code printed on it, and every entry and exit of the pack in the supply chain is reported to the central system. TİTCK lists among its aims preventing counterfeit and smuggled medicines and making sure a medicine is sold only once.
Medical devices and cosmetics. ÜTS covers medical devices, cosmetic products and certain biocidal products that come into contact with the human body. Medical device registrations through ÜTS began on 12 June 2017. TİTCK describes the system's goal as unit-level traceability from manufacture or import to the end user.
The real difference between food and medicines is who holds the record. In food the obligation is for the business to keep its own record; for medicines and medical devices every movement is written into the state's register.
Which components does traceability rely on?
Every traceability set-up rests on three components. The first is the number that identifies the product at batch or unit level. The second is the barcode, data matrix code or RFID tag that carries this number on the product. The third is the event record that notes what was done, where, when and by whom each time the product changes hands. We cover the choice between batch and serial numbers and the GS1 identifiers in a separate article. The steps for setting up a product tracking system are described in the article on the Tagvex blog.
Does traceability show that a product is genuine?
It does not. A record tells the story of the product's route; it does not prove that the physical product in your hand belongs to that record, because the record is tied to a label and a label can be copied. Unit-level numbering reduces the risk by making it visible when the same number is read in two places. Verifying the product itself takes a separate layer; we explain the distinction in the article on tracking and verification. How we set up traceability and verification together is described on the tracking, tracing and verification service page.
