Jan 16, 2025 by Mark Dingley
The 2024 Food & Drink Business (F&DB) Top 100 list highlights Australia’s leading food and beverage manufacturers. These companies share a common focus on quality, sustainability, and operational excellence. A key enabler behind these successes is traceability. By ensuring supply chain transparency, these businesses not only meet strict compliance standards but also gain a competitive edge in a marketplace where consumers demand accountability.
Here, we highlight five diverse companies from the F&DB Top 100 list that are leveraging traceability to drive success and stay ahead of the curve.
Traceability is a cornerstone of Nestlé’s supply chain strategy, ensuring food safety, product quality, and ethical sourcing. By tracking the journey of products from farm to consumer, Nestlé delivers greater transparency that builds trust with customers and partners alike. This focus on traceability also supports their broader sustainability objectives, reducing environmental impact and aligning operations with increasing consumer demand for responsible business practices.
Leveraging their Digital Manufacturing Software (DMO), Nestlé streamlines production processes, eliminates manual interventions, and enhances supply chain visibility. Cloud connectivity and real-time dashboard visualisation enable teams to make faster, data-driven decisions, driving efficiency and productivity across operations.
Image credit: Nestle Australia
As a global leader in dairy, Fonterra exemplifies how traceability ensures product quality and safety. With exports to over 140 countries, Fonterra uses its Global Batch Trace system to monitor its supply chain from farm to consumer, helping the company comply with international standards and maintain trust in its premium products. This system allows consumers to easily verify the authenticity of a product and ensure it is safe to consume, whether it is on the store shelf or in their kitchen.
Image credit: Fonterra
JBS Australia, one of the largest meat processors in the region, is leading the way with large-scale traceability innovations. The company’s Smart Farm Assurance Program and Blockchain-based Beef Traceability Program provide end-to-end visibility of its beef products. This initiative allows JBS to trace every cut of meat from paddock to plate, ensuring food safety, animal welfare compliance, and supply chain efficiency. Consumers can access detailed information about their product, including its origin, processing, and quality, enhancing transparency and trust.
Image credit: JBS Foods Australia
Arnott’s Group, the iconic Australian food manufacturer, uses traceability to improve supply chain transparency and sustainability.By adopting Microsoft Sustainability Manager, Arnott’s can monitor its emissions profile and track progress toward key environmental targets, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and optimizing resource use. This technology helps Arnott’s turn sustainability goals into measurable progress while maintaining accountability across its operations.
With traceability systems like these, companies can identify opportunities for improvement, ensure compliance with sustainability standards, and meet growing consumer expectations for responsible manufacturing.
Image credit: Arnotts
Founded in 2012 by Sarah and Emmet Condon, Remedy Drinks has rapidly expanded from a kitchen operation to a purpose-built, 18,000m² fermentary in Melbourne's Dandenong South. Remedy Drinks prioritises traceability to ensure the quality, consistency, and authenticity of their live-cultured beverages. Their operations leverage advanced traceability systems, including iDSnet, to streamline product identification, data management, and labelling accuracy across their supply chain.
In a featured video case study, Remedy's Operations Manager Julia Blair says,‘We are able to meet all of our customer scanning needs, ensuring each case we sell is easily identifiable, enabling an efficient supply chain’. The integration of iDSnet enhances efficiency, eliminates manual errors, and provides real-time visibility into production.
Image credit: Remedy Drinks
These examples demonstrate that traceability is not just a compliance necessity – it’s a strategic driver of success. Traceability enhances brand reputation, protects product safety, decreases risk of recall and ensures businesses can adapt quickly to market demands or disruptions.
At Matthews Australasia, we empower manufacturers with cutting-edge traceability solutions. From automated coding and labelling systems to real-time data integration, our technologies are built to help businesses excel in quality, compliance, and efficiency. By partnering with Matthews, manufacturers can confidently navigate the complexities of today’s food and beverage industry.
Inspired by the achievements of these leading companies? Discover how traceability can transform your operations. Contact Matthews Australasia today to start building a transparent, efficient supply chain that drives results.