09 May 2017

Dubai’s smart track and trace technology system for food products will go live this month starting with five-gallon bottled water, Hany Hashem, General Manager of secure identification, traceability, and authentication solutions company SICPA told Salaam Gateway.

Switzerland-based SICPA was appointed by Dubai Municipality (DM) in August last year to implement the new system that will enable the authority to monitor and trace a wide range of products using smart labelling and laser engraving. DM has jurisdiction over the city's public services, including health, safety and environment.

“We are now preparing to launch the first project which is the smart track and trace for five-gallon refillable water carboys. We are deploying our system to the pilot factory as we speak. We should be live in a couple of weeks,” said Hashem.

Due to Dubai's climactic conditions, the water carboys can only be refilled a maximum of 35 times, which the smart labelling system will help track. DM is limiting refills to 33 to better protect the safety of the bottled drinking water. 

“For the water project, we go live this month then we start deploying at the rest of the water factories in Dubai which are included in this project. By early July all the water factories included in the project will be live with the smart system,” added Hashem.

HALAL PRODUCTS

According to him, the plan for the smart tracking of halal products will follow after the bottled water project. “For halal, we are using a phased approach where we target by end of this year to have all the domestic halal producers in Dubai covered,” Hashem said.

SICPA is working with the Emirates International Accreditation Centre (EIAC) on the halal smart track and trace system.

An EIAC spokesperson told Salaam Gateway the halal factory involved in the pilot project will be announced soon.

“We are now building the [halal track and trace] system and its different components in our head office in Switzerland. We target to run the first application of the Smart Halal Label in June,” said Hashem.

SICPA said the exact date for the start of the halal project will be confirmed and announced by EIAC.

(Reporting by Emmy Abdul Alim)

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