mpXML: Meat & Poultry Data Standards
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Setting open, voluntary e-commerce standards for the meat and poultry supply chain.

Current Initiatives

Product Classification Project

Industry-standard product classification has a number of uses for supply chain participants: it can be used to route the Item data to the correct buyer, to compare different product types for category management, and to allow sourcing of new suppliers. As noted below, the GPC is the classification system used by GS1 and the GDSN, and is a mandatory product attribute. However there are several existing systems which are also used to categorize products, specifically the UNSPSC and eCl@ss, a European system. mpXML is working with each of these organizations to coordinate classification efforts to allow for a single uniform approach.

GLOBAL PRODUCT CLASSIFICATION

The Global Product Classification (GPC) code is a numeric code that captures up to eight attributes of a given product. The GPC code is one of the attributes that is included in the global registry. Initial specifications in the GPC have been issued for meat and poultry. The GPC codes were adequate for achieving a primary purpose of the codes, which was to allow information to be routed to the correct buyer within a retailer. However, the deeper-level classification attributes were not as well defined, and were not sufficient for meaningful comparisons between categories of products.

UNSPSC

UNSPSC is the acronym for the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code. UNSPSC is a coding system to classify both products and services for use throughout the global eCommerce marketplace. The UNSPSC was jointly developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Dun & Bradstreet Corporation in 1998. The current version consists of more than 18000 terms.

The management and development of the UNSPSC Code is coordinated by GS1 US, formerly the Uniform Code Council (UCC). The UNDP appointed GS1 US code manager in May 2003. The code manager is responsible for ensuring compliance with the principles of the UNSPSC as well as the integrity of the code schema. GS1 US is responsible for overseeing code change requests, industry revision projects, issuing regularly scheduled updates to the code, communications with members, as well as special projects and initiatives as determined both by the UNDP and member requests.

eCl@ss

eCl@ss is a European-based non-profit organization which defines, further develops and markets the cross-industry and international classification standard of the same name. eCl@ss is supported by ordinary and supporting members from companies, associations and institutions. It cooperates with reputable strategic partners from the standardization, norms and IT sectors and associations. eCl@ss has focused on manufactured goods, but is now starting to move into other sectors. mpXML is working with eCl@ss to coordinate existing meat and poultry supply chain standards with developing eCl@ss standards.