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Lotpath is the home of food supply chain transparency. Lotpath enables suppliers of food to share vital information about their products with consumers, retailers, trading partners, and regulatory agencies. Lotpath enlightens consumers by providing information about the source and safety of their food supply. Lotpath is a community of people interested in the production and consumption of food.
Lot Numbers
Food suppliers assign lot numbers to products that they produce. Lot numbers may also be referred to as batch or serial numbers. A lot number represents the harvesting or processing of a particular product at a particular time and location. Lot numbers are essential for effective supply chain traceability. Lot numbers are the key by which suppliers put information into Lotpath and by which users extract information from Lotpath.
Suppliers
Suppliers range in size from small family farms to large multinational corporations. All food follows a path through the supply chain. This path may be as simple as a drive to the local farmers market or it may involve multiple raw ingredients, sources, processes, and distribution routes. Regardless of the path, there is a wealth of information that is collected along the way. This information may include agricultural practices, locations and dates, sanitation and safety data, quality measurements, nutritional information, packaging information, and delivery details. Lotpath stores food product information in a flexible and extendible format. Lotpath employs global supply chain standards to push information in and extract information out.
Suppliers put a mark on their products that indicates that information is available for the food item in Lotpath. Lotpath is technology neutral. Suppliers may use various product marking technologies including human readable labels and machine readable tags. The lot number is printed on the product or encoded in a tag, enabling access to Lotpath.
Suppliers have full control over the information that is made available to Lotpath users. Innovative technology developed by Lotpath allows suppliers to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive or confidential information. This transparency management capability allows suppliers to fulfill retailer and regulatory requirements without revealing proprietary information to unauthorized parties.
Retailers
Lotpath enables retailers to obtain auxiliary information from food suppliers beyond purchase and shipping information. Information required by retailer specific supplier programs can be provided by suppliers through Lotpath. In addition to obtaining lot specific information from suppliers, retailers can also use Lotpath to find new product suppliers.
Industry Programs
There are many industry programs with an interest in food including regional commodity marketing organizations and agricultural practices organizations. Lotpath lets industry programs manage food supplier's program memberships and participation levels. When Lotpath users search for lot specific information or browse for supplier products they will see information about the industry programs in which food suppliers participate.
Consumers
Lotpath provides a rich user experience for consumers. Lotpath is accessible from various devices including home computers, mobile phones and in-store kiosks. Consumers can view detailed lot information for products they have purchased, or are considering purchasing. They can use the advanced search capabilities in Lotpath to find products and suppliers that meet their purchasing preferences, whether it's locally grown, organic, fair trade, allergen free, or other preferences. Consumer search history and purchasing preferences are stored in Lotpath. Consumers can provide feedback to suppliers in the form of ratings and comments on food products. As Lotpath develops new innovations, more information and services will become available to consumers.