The ability to follow products, materials, or data through relevant stages of a supply chain or lifecycle.
Traceability is a pillar concept for Minespider because it links compliance language, evidence chains, and real-world movement through supply chains. The strongest clean legal definition comes from EU food law, but the concept generalizes well across minerals, batteries, and product-passport systems.
Regulation (EC) No 178/2002
"traceability" means the ability to trace and follow a food, feed, food-producing animal or substance intended to be, or expected to be, incorporated into a food or feed, through all stages of production, processing and distribution;
Reference: Article 3, point 15
Regulation (EC) No 178/2002
The traceability of food, feed, food-producing animals, and any other substance intended to be, or expected to be, incorporated into a food or feed shall be established at all stages of production, processing and distribution.
Reference: Article 18
This term matters when teams need to connect origin, custody, processing, movement, and status information across multiple actors and systems. It affects how records are structured, how claims are verified, and how investigations, withdrawals, or compliance checks can be supported later.
For Minespider, traceability is not just a reporting term. It is a design constraint for trustworthy data flows: who supplied what, what changed, where it moved, and what evidence supports each step.
Direct discussion of why traceability matters in supply chains.
Read on MinespiderBattery-focused example of the traceability challenge in practice.
Read on MinespiderShows traceability in operational and technical context.
Read on Minespider