The Lebanese Frozen Food Market

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Based on the interview objectives, the following questions were asked.

Examples of interviewees’ answers:

1. What do you think of the reason why the company implements traceability management?

"Several food safety incidents happened, so the company paid great attention to food safety" (King Food, Spinneys, TSC Sultan).

"To improve the reputation of the enterprise and product brand; the vital goal is to increase the net benefit" (King Food, TSC Sultan).

"First, it is important to improve product quality; second, it shows the company’s commitment to consumers, therefore consumers will understand the product life cycle". (C-FOOD, Spinneys).

"We were looking for improvements in terms of food safety and cost saving towards customer satisfaction". (Spinneys, TSC Sultan).

"To be market leader we have to differentiate from other competitors".( TSC Sultan,C-FOOD,Spinneys,)

2. Has the company’s economic benefit changed after its implementation of traceability management?

"Market share is expanded, annual sales increased 2% (King Food)

"There is not much change" (C-Food).

"The frozen food waste was significantly reduced; After implementing the traceability system, we start with receiving notifications about the expiration date 3 months before, so we increased implemented a marketing promotion thus a large quantity of food waste was reduced".(Spinneys,TSC Sultan).

"Previously the checking was done manually, so we reduced the cost of labor and cost of waste and improved the food safety of our product.(Spinneys,TSC Sultan, King Food)

3. What is the change of product price after the implementation? What dose traceability costs include?

"We didn’t change prices since the savings was much bigger than the cost of implementation. However, the traceability cost includes the system updates, maintenance and training people".(Spinneys, TSC Sultan, C-Food, King Food)

4. What are the difficulties or problems and the causes during the system implementation process?

"Workers have complained about the system, because the large amount of information collection, amount of label painting and the time that they have to sacrifices for training"(Spinneys, TSC Sultan, King Food)

"high cost include label cost and the hardware equipment cost (equipment costs are high since are imported and customized); the operations are increased such as painting labels and other tools; (King Food)

6. What do you think of the Traceability management implementation success?

"Both reputation and net benefits have been improved through the implementation of the system was successful" (Spinneys, TSC Sultan).

"Brands and reputation are improved, frozen food are safety and well evaluated by the consumers that the objective of Traceability system"(King food,C-Food)

"If the traceability system can achieve complete tracking, information can be automatically collected and transmitted to the database, bring the whole industry chain doing a good job, the system implementation is successful" (Spinneys,TSC Sultan).

"First, traceability system is necessary for enterprise that provide benefits to enterprise and workers; second, users can find the information that they need and the information credibility is high; third, through traceability applied, the products are more trusted by consumers"( Spinneys,TSC Sultan).

7. In your opinion, what are the main aspects for the traceability system success?

"Customer satisfaction, and net benefit" (Spinneys, TSC Sultan)

"Evaluation of success mainly have three measures including operation time, benefits to enterprises, and information satisfies users’ need" (King Food)

"Providing an accurate data, easy to use and enterprise benefit increase" (C-Food)

According to the interview we listed the following aspects of success that we concluded after the implementation of Traceability management in the frozen food industries:

Brand and reputation improved (Spinneys, TSC Sultan ).

Companies’ benefits increased (Spinneys, TSC Sultan, C-Food, and King Food).

Food safety enhanced (Spinneys,TSC Sultan )

Products are more trusted by consumers (TSC Sultan, Spinneys , King Food)

Information satisfy users’ need (C-Food)

consumers can simply, quickly and accurately obtain the required information (King Food)

Data accuracy (Spinneys, TSC Sultan)

Information automatically collected and transmitted (King Food)

System user satisfaction (Spinneys, TSC Sultan, C-Food, King Food)

: Questionnaire:

To investigate the frozen food industries on their attitudes toward traceability implementation and benefits, we used a questionnaire with 5-point Likert scale (from 1 = "very unlikely" to 5 = "very likely") was used.

To obtain quantitatively perceived benefits of implementing traceability system, a questionnaire with 6 sections and 15 questions was used for interviewing frozen food industries. The first section of the questionnaire asked for general information about the companies and the traceability system used and their attitude toward improving the current traceability system. In the other sections, the interviewees were asked to quantitatively estimate their benefits from the traceability system with regard to market, recall, liability, process improvements and labor cost savings.

According to the questionnaire we succeed to identify and to extract the cost reduction and the estimated saving amount due to the implementation of traceability management.

In the table.9 we will reply on the hypothesis by showing the significant saving that was made once they implemented the traceability management, taking into consideration that the system used by the conducted companies was very simple.

In another way, if the companies improve their system the saving amount expect to be doubled.

Please note that we focused in our question to identify two main issues.

First to know the impact of traceability on the quality of food and second the cost saving that will outcome from this implementation.

First of all, we found a positive relationship between the traceability management and the company’s benefit.

Since all frozen food industries they informed that their market share was grew due to the implementation of traceability system. It’s also because these companies implemented an effective traceability system that apparently brings new opportunities to the food market. "Spinneys" and "TSC Sultan" was the most two companies that the market share was grew.

Second we can found a remarkable and significant saving amount from the product recall,

That will lead us to say that the main benefits

Please note that all conducted companies were very confidential regarding the product recall and about the savings due to the reduction of liability claims. Most of conducted companies were conservative in both issues.

Electronic traceability systems are considered as fast systems compared to the paper-based. Therefore, all the companies expect to reduce their labor cost. It has been shown that the electronic-based traceability system can avoid doubled time for checking.

At the end we can conclude that according to the total saving amounts "Spinneys"

,"TSC Sulltan" and "King food" have the highest saving amount with a percentage above 4.5% comparing to the C-Food that the total amount was only 480 000 000$ or 2.4%.

However C-Food has the highest rate for the business improvement with more that 1% comparing to other industries.

In this chapter we studied how the frozen food industries (Spinneys , TSC Sultan,C-Food, King Food) monitor and implement the traceability management within their cold chain. Therefore we used two kind of research method, questionnaire and interview for extracting the benefits of implementing a traceability management and transforming them into numbers.

Moreover we counted on the SPSS for analyzing all variables founded from questionnaire and Interview.

: FINDINGS

Part. 1: Data Analysis and profitability:

4.1. The Lebanese frozen food Market:

Nowadays families are more looking to spend less time while cooking in the same time getting healthy food. The frozen food respond to this problematic by reducing the time spent for cooking and providing fresh food since it retains vitamin longer time than fresh food which reflect positively on the health of end-users.

4.1.1: PEST [1] Analysis for the Lebanese Frozen food industries:

Political:

The instability of political situation in Lebanon is escaping all international industries to invest in Lebanon.

Moreover the demographic position of Lebanese market with a risky region between Israel and Syria do not let this sector to growth.

The lack of control of the Lebanese government and the fact that many distributors and retailers are not following and respecting the international rules of frozen food lead to many problem in the Lebanese food sector; starting by the food safety that lead to contamination and price increase that lead also to sales decrease.

Economic:

Economically food prices are increasing; therefore most of distributors are importing frozen food to sell it in a price less than fresh food.

However from the same graph we can deduct a negative ratio in 2010 and 2011 due to scandal of food in the Lebanese market. Therefore grocery supermarkets start modifying frozen food package and providing more promotions for looking more attractive.

Therefore the efforts of Grocery market improved a little bit the sales turnover in the last 2 years (2012-2013).

A real competition appears in the food sector between retailers and large manufacturers in terms of offering the lowest price. All brands presented by retailers are considered the half of sales in 2009 and the national brands takes the rest of sales. The supply on the Lebanese market is huge therefore sizes for both still stable.

Social:

A remarkable awareness and social responsibility from a part of Lebanese people result in using frozen food instead of fresh food which reduce the food waste since the life time of frozen food is longer than fresh food.

The frozen food industry responds to the need of customers by focusing on diversified products, attractive packaging with simple and fast method of preparation.

Technological:

The educational situation in Lebanon that is considered developed helped to improve the technological food sector.

Moreover there has been some investment in Lebanon in order to acquire capital equipment relevant to food activities

The cold chain must be respected:

The frozen process is selected in peak condition and freshness then preserved by rapid freezing. To preserve quality and safety of this process, temperature requirements must exist for each major stage of the cold chain. It is recommended that stabilized food temperatures are maintained at –18oC or colder, the process restrains the bacteria responsible for spoilage at ambient temperatures. Any defect in the process will create large ice crystals, which may damage the food structure and cause deterioration in Product Quality; in this case product must be rejected. That's why Spinneys and TSC, assign a high cost to control the cold chain products.

The required service:

The supply of frozen food to large communities is an important service because the products must be delivered when and where needed at any moment.

Therefore all facilities that we questioned them are equipped by all necessary logistics to deliver their product upon request.

SWOT analysis [2] :

SWOT analysis of King Food (Burger King) and C-Food (Siblou):

Nowadays, the global market of fast food is highly competitive on the Lebanese territory due to the change that occurred on the habits: the daily meals of families are today "frozen food" and "fast food".

King Food (Burger King) SWOT analysis:

Strengths:

Recognized Brand: "Burger King" has a Powerful image in the Lebanese market since it’s a recognizable brand.

Established Market Share: "Burger King" is a market leader in fast food and hold more than 20% shares that expecting to growth which reflects an increase in the profitability.

Geographic Diversification: Burger King operates more than 12,150 restaurants across the United States and in 76 countries across the world. The Burger King brand in Lebanon currently operates 20 restaurants across the country.

Superior Growth Plan: Approximately 90% of Burger King Restaurants are owned and operated by independent Franchisees, many of them family-owned units that have been in business for decades, Burger King in Lebanon is a franchise system is managed by King Food S.A.L.

Weaknesses:

Burger King is present a Junk food, which results in a large percentage of childrens and adults over-weight. All restaurants are mostly located in the large cities and less in the village. The image reflects the "American way of life."

 

Opportunities:

Burger King sponsoring its biggest new product launch in years by introducing the Tendercrisp, Premium Chicken Burger and accompanying the launch with a marketing campaign called "cheat on beef

Threats:

The Economy and political situation: The challenging Lebanese economy and politics continues to hamper the company’s financial strength.

Changing Consumer Eating Habits:The combination of the economy and better health information has influenced people to eat at home and to select for leaner lower calorie foods.

Therefore the sales have been little bit decreased comparing to the last 2 years.

C-Food (Siblou) SWOT analysis:

Strengths:

Recognized Brand: "Siblou" has powerful image in the Lebanese market since it’s considered as trustful and well know brand.

Established Market Share: "Siblou" is the leader of pre-cooked frozen products and have a yearly increase in profit by 15%.

Geographic Diversification: "Siblou" is currently available in over 27 countries covering the Middle East, Europe & Africa. In each country they are represented by an exclusive agent, very professional in the FMCG distribution.

Superior Growth Plan: "Siblou" is a Lebanese company that has many branches in Arab countries; they plan to expand into further markets in the future aiming at full global coverage, breaking consumer boundaries to satisfy the ever changing culinary needs.

Weaknesses:

"Siblou" does not advertise their products like their competitors do. Muslims who are not familiar with Siblou products would hesitate to try out their meat/chicken as they are not sure whether it is halal or not.

Opportunities:

"Siblou" could improve their sales by producing more advertisements on their products. They could also distribute their products in new cities and some rural areas. Siblou could try to open new outlet which will greatly improved their sales.

Threats:

The Economy and political situation: The challenging Lebanese economy and politics continues to hamper the company’s financial strength for Siblou.

The financial decline was driven in part by continued adverse political and economical conditions, including record levels of unemployed.

Changing Consumer Eating Habits : The combination of the economy and better health information has influenced people to eat at home and to select for leaner lower calorie foods.

Therefore the sales for "Siblou" have been little bit decreased comparing to the last 2 years since a part of people are more looking to organic and fresh food instead of frozen food.

We deducted for all what we saw in the interview and above figures that the most important factor for the traceability management was"Top management support", thus it was weighted by 0.20 and since nothing can be done without their support; in the second place it comes the supply chain management and specially the logistics part which is: Inventory, warehousing and distribution with a weight 0.18, the importance of traceability comes within this chain and how much these companies are treated the traceability management; third we found that the staff training is a very important factors for having an effective traceability management since the company always try to improve their employee skills for getting better results, the weight was 0.15.Four

Spinneys, Sultan TSC ‘s top management support are superior as evidenced by a rating of 4; Spinneys , King Food’s business plan and vision are also superior with rate of 4;King Food’s training is superior than other with a rate of 4.

Spinneys’s "Communication" and "education" are good, as indicated by a rating of 3;

C-Food is the weakest firm overall, as indicated by a total weighted score of 1.85.

The CPM analysis supported our previous findings.

Accordingly we concluded that the traceability management is key factor for the company especially for the frozen food sector since they are dealing with sensitive products.

Traceability management is mandatory to prevent problems and to reduce costs as well as improve the food safety even it’s not an obligatory by the Lebanese government but it must an essential factor for the company growth.

In this thesis we classified the frozen food industries into 3 categories:

1-Distributors; 2- Wholesalers; 3- chain restaurant.

Based on our analysis we found that companies that have a direct contact with customers B2C (business to customer) are more affecting by the traceability management.

Therefore, C-Food is less affecting by the traceability system since there are dealing B2B(business to business).

However in all cases all companies that are implementing the traceability management within their supply chain are procuring a lot of money.

The new strategy right now is to invest more in this sector, some industries they are aware about this matter and there are planning to improve their traceability system.

The challenges of the food industry in Lebanon:

In a fragile economic context like Lebanon, what they really concern customers is the price. In the grocery markets as "TSC Sultan" and "Spinneys" the national frozen food are facing a big competition from other international products in terms of price, example of frozen food brand: "Siblou", "Hawa Chiken", "Shuman", "Tanmia" and others, which reflect a tough competition. It was then that the company C-food with its leading brand "Siblou". They knew how to manipulate the Lebanese market, to become the most brand used by all ages groups.

The effectiveness and efficiency of the supply chain:

Supply chain should be efficient and effective. In this case, efficient means to minimize resource use to accomplish specific outcomes; and effective, in terms of designing distribution channels.

Efficiency is measured by delivery performance, product quality, backorders and inventory level, whereas effectiveness is measured by service quality and the service needs. The implementation of supply chain requires integration of processes from sourcing to manufacturing and to distribution across the supply chain.

Therefore these importers knew how to manage the relationship with their suppliers and to develop a significant value throughout the supply chain. Increased collaboration of these groups with their suppliers is an opportunity that can increase responsiveness to the market and therefore the overall performance of all players in the supply chain.

The purpose of major distributors as "C-food" and "King Food" is to monitor and to control the cold chain by importing and distributing their own products using the services of forwarders.

For example C-Food is sourcing a part from their frozen products from the International suppliers and shipping them by using an effective shipping method with agreed liners in order to store them into frozen warehouses by implementing the international norm for the cold chain.

Finally, for successful transportation and supply chain oriented ;The questioned companies are implementing various strategies: starting by the customer oriented logistics network , where the company are more looking to the benefit of customer even if it will cost them a little bit more in order to create loyal customers and considering them as partnership.

Interview and Questionnaire analysis:

Interview analysis:

According to the interview, we can conclude that the main purposes from the implementation of traceability management in the frozen food industries are" "Improved enterprise brand and reputation" and "food quality and safety".

In Lebanon you cannot find that as well as there are no regulation and rules that control this matter.

Accordingly we categorize that any implementation of traceability management is not mandatory by the government but the market needs and consumers they oblige the private sector that always present the best in all terms towards customer satisfaction.

SPSS analysis:

Referring to the table.7 we can conclude that the first five factors are more related to the food safety and customer satisfaction which explain the importance of the traceability management.

Profitability of implementing the traceability management:

Compliance with regulatory or industry requirements.

According to the LIBNOR [3] ,the norm ISO 22000" FOOD SAFETY MANAGEMENT" is not considered as a Lebanese standard which means that it is not mandatory for all Lebanese frozen food industries to implement this standard as well as all subsidiaries specially the ISO 22005:2007 that focuses on traceability in the feed and food chain.

However and according to the ISO [4] , the norm ISO22005-2007 is mandatory and it’s implemented in more than 50 countries all over the world.

The importance of obliging all food industries and specially the frozen food industries to apply this norm is to trace the product and to have an expectation that, in the event of an incident, suppliers can execute a recall for their implicated products.

Limiting recall scope.

If the Lebanese frozen food industries implement the traceability it will allow them to have greater precision in the identification and withdrawal of product in case of a recall or withdrawal of product thus reducing costs and demonstrating control of product.

The cost of recall can be significant if they are not implementing the traceability management;

In 2011 the Lebanese frozen food market faced a serious contamination scandal that affected many industries. Due to this scandal many small industries were closed and big losses affected many large companies.

According to the minister of industries, losses due to recall products were around 100 million dollars directly and indirectly.

Internationally, the corporate recall by Coca-Cola in 1998 cost the company $66 million directly, with indirect costs in addition. "The poor handling of a serious incident within a company can cause irreparable damage to the company, to the brand or even the industry, and certainly to the reputation of those in key positions".

Within the industry, traceability is recognized as a key system with regards to incidents and alerts. While traceability can seek to monitor systems in place to minimize the risk of problems, it also equips frozen food industry in dealing with any incident.

Accordingly the traceability system can reduce the food waste which means it can alert the management in case of expiry date.

Taking an example from "TSC SULTAN":

TSC sultan are implementing a traceability management system dedicated for food which is divided into two main parts: fresh food and frozen food.

Upon the importation of fresh or frozen food, all data related to these products will be saved on the system. The required information is:

Gender of product, destination, supplier name, date of receiving the product and its expiry date. For each gender this information will be saved as well as other related data like the temperature for the frozen food.

These data are checked and monitored in daily basis for fresh food and in weekly basis for frozen food. Based on these data the management can use many marketing strategies towards reducing the cost by minimizing the food waste:

Product Promotion: offering another product when you purchase this item.(i.e: if you buy 1 kilo of tomato you will get another 1 kilo of tomato).

Price Promotion: discounted prices(i.e: frozen fish 1 kilo for a price of 30$ instead of 45$)

Mixed promotion: when customers purchase a number of volume from this item they will get an additional discount.

The above strategies as well others are used before the expiration date.

As per the operation manager of "TSC Sultan" this task has an important profit to the organization for around 170 000$ per month.

Effective quality management.

The traceability management allow to identify sources of problems within a supply chain that can greatly increase an organization’s ability to address issues affecting product quality. This issue can be profitable for frozen industries by reducing the time for finding the problem.

According to the purchasing manager of "King Food", in some cases the traceability system they are using can help them to find within a short period to detect the problem and can directly fix it before the delivery process to the end users.

On the other hand, if they aren’t implementing this system they will have more losses in terms of customers, market share and market reputation.

Food safety support:

Food safety programs can be enhanced when sources of contamination as unsafe handling, can be quickly and effectively identified and addressed. The traceability management can be a good support for all frozen food industries by providing a good support.

This strategy is used by "King Food" which reflected positively on their customers by providing a trustful product.

Therefore the percentage of customers was increased in the last 3 years for more than 8%.

At the end, we noticed about the profitability of the supply chain that was achieved through the market study by highlighting on the preferences of the power of purchasing and the customers power. The key to profitability lies in the proper management of traceability and transport, based on the correct distribution for the grocery market and brands of frozen products on the Lebanese territory. The success of this distribution is based on the responding of customers, who are now habituated to the use the fast food.

Costs of implementation of traceability systems

The cost of implementation of the traceability systems is likely to vary enormously between business and sectors depending on the type of technology adopted, the amount of information required to be stored and the complexity of the food chain.

For example for large grocery market as "TSC Sultan" and Spinneys they have more advantage to increase the internal traceability.

However for small producers as "Minimarket" it will be for them more expensive and might considered as only more paperwork.

It is clear that traceability comes at a cost. But the costs of not having it, or having inefficient systems in place may be severe both for governments, consumers, individual companies and the food industry as a whole.

Training of staff and management is an important traceability cost. Basically, it is a cost of implementation, but it also could be an operation cost when, for instance, there is an upgrading of the traceability software, new software functions are added or new staff is hired. The cost of ‘External consultants’ is particularly important for firms that do not have specialized personnel and expertise within the firm. The external consultants primarily deal with the design and implementation of the traceability software (e.g. IT – engineer), understanding and complying with traceability, labeling and hygiene regulations and assistance for certification and audits and, to a lesser extent, with tasks after implementation. The cost of ‘Materials’ is associated with using pallets, boxes or labels required to conduct physical handling of traceability. For instance, a high level of precision requires lots to be kept separate using different pallets and/or boxes as well as unique identification through labels. Finally, ‘Certification and audit’ costs are associated with the adoption of traceability certification standards (e.g. ISO 22005:2007) by food operators.

According to the questionnaire that we asked to "Spinneys" they informed us that the cost of implementing an advanced and effective traceability system is around 2 million dollars. However the ROI (return on investment) is around 1.3 years since the monthly profit is around 128 000$.

Results of studies in the US show significant loss in company value (and shareholder losses) when companies are implicated in a recall involving serious food safety hazards. Where less serious hazards are involved e.g. mislabelling, there was no evidence of an implication for stock value. Decisions relating to the implementation of traceability systems are therefore often made with reference to business risk and to protect brand value. The probability of an incident occurring and its consequences may be assessed using a risk matrix, e.g. Figure 5.

Through our research the goal was to reveal the key factors for the implementation of traceability management with the Lebanese frozen food throughout an efficient and effective supply chain management.

According to the information collected from several sources, we deduced that importers and franchises adopt the same strategy in the supply chain of transporting their raw materials of frozen food. They are outsourcing this service to a third party whether are liners as "MSC" or Forwarders as "Expeditors" to transport their goods.

Why the traceability management of frozen food?

Since the consumption habits have changed and are more going to the frozen and fast food, with the supply chain of frozen foods is more complex and more challenging. The complexity and time factors are more critical for this kind of food comparing to other products. Thus it’s now mandatory to apply efficient and effective standard for monitoring the cold chain.

Our detailed study, illustrate how the frozen food industries developed their strategies and traceability management for goods in order to satisfy consumer needs. Taking into consideration the profit and the market share gained, to preserve their reputation and market power.

The main results:

Based on the above explanation, the answer to this problematic is YES; All Lebanese frozen food industries that I questioned, are implementing the traceability management and it’s considered as key factor for the profitability of company.

Even though, the norm food safety is not mandatory by the Lebanese government.

Accordingly I suggest that based on this study, the Lebanese government considers the food safety management and particularly the traceability management in food industries as a must for all food industries and obliges them to implemented in their system.

This implementation must be done for all food industries whatever was the size of company since the results will be much more than the cost invested.

Learning acquired:

According to our researches and studies it’s obvious that the main goal for all industries is making much more profit and gaining more dollars.

Moreover to fulfill their customers need by implementing a modern traceability management within the cold chain which can guaranty a big profit and in the same time improves the food safety.

Personally, the traceability management implemented within these companies allowed us to apply strategies learned, to monitor the cold chain and to maintain a certain level of food safety. The mission of these entities that belong to different dimensions, it is not only the profits and gains in the market share, but also to reflect a positive image on the frozen food for achieving the customer satisfaction.

Despite the difficulties and obstacles encountered my research, by spending a large period by searching through the web in order to collect all related data for the theoretical par as well as reading many books for the same purpose in order to be able to ask all question to our interviewees that were very helpful and positive

Supply chain managers at "KingFood" and "C Food".

Operation managers at "TSC Sultan" and "Spinneys".

However through our discussions, we understand how the implementation for an effective and efficient traceability management within a cold chain can reflect positively on the safety of food and increase the company profit.

Research Limitations and Extension of the Research:

One of the limitations of the study is the small sample size used in the interviews and surveys. This is due to the difficulties to communicate with business managers. Another reason is that food traceability is a sensitive issue, so business managers were more unwilling to be involved.

Factors affecting Traceability system are dynamic and complex , thus any attempt to apply the findings in different context should be cautious and fully aware of the limitations.

Traceability system is not a short-term project lasting only two or three months, but a long-term program which may last for one or several years.

In the future research, more stakeholders and producers should be involved in data collection through interviews or case studies. A larger scale of questionnaire surveys could be administrated to enhance the findings.

Moreover, according to the economic increase that result an increase in the transportation and the number of shipment which reflect negatively on the environment.

Moreover the absence of government and the political conflict that reflects also on the food safety.

Conclusion:

This research acknowledges that much research has been carried out on the supply chain management with the Lebanese frozen food industries but little research has focused on the implementation of traceability management in frozen food industries and its benefits.

Since previous analyzes were often based on the traditional terms in order to explain the instruments used in the cold chain within a company.

However today, new technologies and new strategies are used in order to improve the company performance in all terms.

Thus, we tried in our research to show the relation between the implementation of traceability management and the company profitability and food quality throughout the cold chain.

First, we treated, the theoretical aspects of our research, by focusing on the methods of implementation of efficient traceability management along a supply chain. Then we defined protocols and tactics for achieving this implementation.

Second, we deeply focused on the agri-food traceability; Starting by the warehouse and inventories management.

After that we explained the tools used by sub-contractors and distributors. Finally, we clarified the traceability management within different supermarket chains.

Subsequently, we demonstrated the practical side of the research, by providing an overview of the agri-food traceability in supermarkets such as Spinneys and TSC Sultan. Then, we concentrate on the supply chain of company and the implemented traceability whether for frozen food or for the order process.

We first show the history of these companies and their various suppliers and then we passed by the methods of packaging and storage, to finish with the control and cold chain distribution business.

Third, we analyzed the success key factors through the supply chain of frozen and the proper positioning of supermarkets on the market. To achieve the research objectives, this research adopted both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Extensive literature review was conducted to establish initial understanding of Traceability System implementation success and associated critical success factors. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with four companies to further explore and confirm the measures of Traceability System implementation. A self-administrated questionnaire was designed to collect primary data of main factors influenced from the implementation of Traceability System.

A questionnaire was used in the quantitative analysis. Descriptive and factor analysis were conducted using SPSS 16.

We demonstrated the main purposes of our subject by achieving all goals, then the learning acquired throughout the researches. The study extensions that is the environment protection; accordingly we asked about: the negative impact of on the environment within the Lebanese market?

In conclusion,