Red Meat Industry Services has launched a new traceability platform.

By Vida Booysen, senior journalist at African Farming and Landbouweekblad

After three decades of unsuccessful attempts to get a feasible national traceability system, Red Meat Industry Services (RMIS) has introduced a traceability platform developed over the past 18 months. It was a joint initiative by industry stakeholders, government institutions, and technology partners such as GS1 South Africa and Gendac.

The platform – of which the second phase has just been launched – integrates with existing digital management software systems in the value chain, said Dr Philip Oosthuizen, chief operating officer of RMIS, at the SA Stud Book 2025 Trailblazer awards event.

The platform is built on three non-negotiable principles: trust, choice and data security. “Trust is the foundation of participation,” Oosthuizen stressed. “Without trust in the traceability platform, in the data used, and in the relationship between the industry and farmers, any traceability system will fail.”

RMIS learnt this lesson from the failure of previous systems designed around a one-size-fits-all approach. “South African farmers demand flexibility. They want multiple options and the freedom to choose what works best for their specific context.”

Oosthuizen said it is deliberately called a “platform”, not a “system”. “We integrate with multiple recording systems, but this is the industry’s traceability platform that sets standards and shares information for traceability.”

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How It Works

The RMIS platform follows a three-phase approach:

Phase 1: Identify locations. Each production unit in the red meat value chain, from farms to abattoirs, is assigned a unique production unit number – a “global location number”, or GLN – linked to the GS1 global standard.

Phase 2: Capture data. Farmers choose one of the accredited record-keeping systems in the industry and use their GLN on that system.

Phase 3: Share information with the platform. Animal movements between production units are recorded, and the minimum movement data is shared with the platform.

Minimal Data, Maximum Impact

The simplicity lies in what the system does not ask for. Only four essential data points are required:

Location identifier (GLN)
GPS coordinates of loading
Animal identification (tag)
Movement record

“We integrate with existing digital software systems to avoid additional administrative burdens and costs for farmers and the value chain,” Oosthuizen said.

In his presentation, he emphasised the practical benefits of the platform. For example, it can map disease outbreaks such as foot-and-mouth disease in real time and send targeted notifications via WhatsApp to affected areas.

Traceability improves market access for livestock and products, especially for export markets that demand increasingly strict standards. It also plays a major role in combating livestock theft, as the system helps to identify and track stolen animals.

Also read: RMIS report: What farmers, feedlots and abattoirs need to know

Data Protection that Works

For farmers, data security is one of the biggest concerns about a national traceability system. RMIS has addressed this by decentralising data storage, granting only limited and dedicated authorisation for system access, introducing strict security measures against misuse or data leakage, and creating transparency around how data is used.

“Farmers are concerned about how their data is being used or potentially misused,” Oosthuizen said. “Trust in the system depends on ethical data handling and consent to share information; confidential data cannot be allowed to leak.”

Accessible Technology

For farmers already using integrated systems, the process is simple – often just the click of a button to share information.

“The biggest challenge is still bringing in small-scale operations and farmers without existing digital systems,” Oosthuizen acknowledged. For this reason, RMIS has developed an application that allows participants who do not use digital management systems to record and share animal movements with the platform.

“Traceability is not just about tracking or disease control,” he said. “It’s also about creating a sustainable foundation for the livestock sector.”