Transformation Event

Transformation events capture the critical stages in beef and leather supply chains where inputs (e.g., live animals, carcasses, or hides) are converted, combined, separated and/or reconfigured into new outputs (e.g., meat lots, leather, or graded products). These events represent any process that changes a product’s physical form, composition, or packaging in a way that affects its traceability. Transformation events ensure that the genealogy of products is preserved through all conversions, maintaining the link between inputs and resulting outputs.

Transformations can largely be broken down into primary categories:

• Physical Transformations where one product form is converted into another. Examples include:
  • Slaughter: transforming a live animal into multiple derivatives, such as a carcass, hide and offal.
  • Carcass Breakdown: transforming a carcass into cuts of meat or other derivatives.
  • Tanning, Retanning, Splitting, Dyeing and Finishing: transforming raw hides into intermediate and finished leather goods through chemical and mechanical processes.
• Commingling Transformations where materials from multiple sources are mixed into a combined batch where individual origin can no longer be distinguished. Examples include:
  • Parts Mixing: cuts from multiple carcasses or lots are combined into a single lot for sale or cold storage.
  • By-product Pooling: offcuts or trimmings from various hides are combined into a bulk lot for sale as scrap leather.
• Segregation Transformations where materials from one batch are separated into distinct lots or batches with different identifiers. Examples include:Grading: beef carcasses are graded and segregated into lots according to grade.
• Packaging Transformations where changes are made to the labeling or packaging of products in a way that results in a new trade item or identifier. Examples include:
  • Re-labeling: cases of finished products are re-labeled to meet the needs of a specific customer.
  • Re-packaging: bulk cases of ribeye steaks are unpacked and re-packed into consumer trays for retail sale.

In practice, multiple types of transformation often occur simultaneously or sequentially within the same process.

For example:

• Compound transformations may combine physical and commingling changes, such as when trimmings from several carcasses are ground together into a single lot of ground beef.
• Sequential transformations may occur within an unbroken production line, such as during tanning, where the same batch of hides moves through multiple drums for liming, pickling, tanning, and finishing.

Each of these sub-steps modifies the material, but as long as no new materials are added and no segregation of products occurs, the entire sequence may be recorded as a single transformation event (e.g., “tanning”) to avoid unnecessary granularity. Separate transformation events are only required when inputs or outputs are added, removed, or separated during the process.

Below are the KDEs that should be recorded with the event.

*Indicates that the value is always this value.