Food traceability technologies and foodborne outbreak occurrences

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the relationship between the frequency of publication on food supply chain (FSC) traceability and the occurrence of foodborne diseases outbreaks. Design/methodology/approach A systematic review of the literature was carried out to locate the main articles published in the literature, followed by a content analysis in order to list the main food traceability technologies and their evolutions. Finally, a Spearman’s ρ correlation analysis between the frequency of publications on FSC traceability and the annual occurrence of foodborne outbreaks in the five largest food exporting countries in the world was performed. Findings In these analyses, the tools of radiofrequency, deoxyribonucleic acid, wireless sensor network, hazard analysis and critical control points and Internet of Things are the most researched technologies, and they are relevant in the evolution of traceability in the FSC. With correlation coefficients above 0.700 at 0.01 significance levels, this evolution of food traceability technologies has been one of the factors reducing the number of food outbreaks in the USA and Germany, countries with greater development of the health system and food control. Originality/value This paper provides an evaluation of the food traceability technologies and the effects of their evolutions in the occurrence of food outbreaks. This may help in the proposal of public policies related to food and outbreak control.