THE AUTHENTICITY AND TRACEABILITY OF FOOD - CONSUMERS PROTECTION FORM

The quality of food is closely related with food safety, highlighted by their authenticity and traceability. Essentially the food it is a carrier of information, his quality reflecting off the capability of the body to decode them and so to provide a healthy lifestyle. Each individual, as well as the community, is preoccupied by the great problems of food, eating and the food behaviour, seeking the right solutions to the questions: what, how, when, and where do we eat to satisfy our physiological necessities. Food and food behaviour are essential determinants of our numerous pathologies, appreciating that many of the severe diseases may be prevented by lifestyle changes where the food is playing a key role. For authentic products, in this article there are presented information regarding benefits of traceability of products. The traceability of food products can be obtained by registering the ups and downs of the physical flux obtained during the production process. The objective of traceability is to obtain total control on products by individual and group identification to intervene in case of post-processing defects or any inconvenience. In traceability the "one step back, one step ahead" principle is applied. This means that any company has the obligation to have all the necessary information regarding the product, including the nature of raw and auxiliary materials and to possess information regarding the date and delivery destination. For the accomplishment of this wish, the individual identification of the goods, products, locations and place is indispensable. The traceability of the product is based on the identification code. It is monitored the changes that have occurred during the production processes, transport, storage and distribution flux.