“While we can all do traceability within our own four walls, that is no longer enough – in the eyes of the federal government, and consumers concerned about the safety of the produce they eat. Chain-wide, electronic traceability is inevitable, and it is in the produce industry's best interests to drive that process using globally-recognized standards as the PTI does, rather than be driven by others who don't understand our business. This event is designed to explain the ROI, help answer questions and provide attendees with the resources they need to embrace the industry's future.”
Ed Treacy
Vice President,
Supply Chain Efficiencies,
Produce Marketing Association
The complex reality of today's food safety environment demands better preparedness: for industry, for regulators, for consumers. In the absence of full traceability, the consumer's sense of security – and the food industry's economic sustainability – is undermined. We can't afford not to change.
Food safety outbreaks are a fact of life.
- The Escherichia coli outbreak of 2006 exposed the shortcomings of the produce industry's existing traceability efforts.
- The Salmonella saintpaul outbreak in 2008, and the more recent nut recalls, placed a public spotlight on traceability regulation.
- Congressional hearings. Public meetings. Consumer activism. A year ago, produce traceability was an arcane business standardization topic that interested only a few industry leaders. Today, produce traceability is headline news.
Enhanced produce traceability: right for the times
The modern reality is that internal traceability is no longer enough. We need internal, proprietary traceability to achieve external, chain-wide traceability via standardized electronic case coding and recordkeeping.
The Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) is a real-world solution developed by real-world companies. It's designed to maximize the effectiveness of current traceback procedures. It's based on global GS1 standards proven effective by other industries. We're in the process of showing government how it meets our needs and theirs – because if we don't act, they will.
- Internal traceability is no longer enough to meet today's food safety challenges.
- External traceability will enable FDA to do its job more efficiently.
- External traceability can help speed and narrow a recall, locating the source quicker and allowing for the appropriate testing, clearing “safe” product for sale and allowing the marketplace to return to “normal” sooner.
Some staggering produce statistics:
- 12% of foods could be traced back to their sources. 0% were fresh produce.
Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) study - More than $100 million in losses have been estimated from the tomato scare of 2007, when the commodity was falsely identified as the culprit of Salmonella food poisoning. Feeling the Squeeze, Rural Cooperatives, September/October 2008
- A recent study done by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that only five of 40 foods could be traced back fully to their source; produce items weren't in those successful five.
- 25 percent of those contacted as part of the OIG survey were not aware that the Bioterrorism Act of 2002 mandates that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires companies to provide records showing traceability one step forward and one step back.
There will be a next time for a produce safety outbreak.
Consider this a wake-up call to confirm your company's compliance.
The PTI action plan outlines seven key elements and milestones for implementing the whole-chain traceability process.
- Milestones 1 and 2: Obtain a company prefix from GS1, and assign Global Trade Item Numbers to every case configuration (first quarter 2009)
- Milestone 3: Communicate GTINs to buyers (third quarter 2009)
- Milestone 4: Provide human-readable labels on each case (third quarter 2010)
- Milestone 5: Provide machine-readable labels (third quarter 2010)
- Milestone 6: Read and store inbound case information (2011)
- Milestone 7: Read and store outbound case information (2012)
“One tainted tomato anywhere is one tainted tomato everywhere.”
Procacci Brothers official
The produce industry is ready for traceability:
Fruit packer conquers Produce Traceability Initiative challenge
Sun Valley Packing Co., Reedley, CA, is a fruit grower and packer, operating more than 50 conveyor lines, funneling down to 10 case-packing lines. The lines handle nectarines, peaches, and plums that are channeled to the 10 different case-packing and labeling/coding lines.
Read the Article »
Produce Traceability Initiative's Resources and Tools
In an effort to implement the Produce Traceability Initiative as outlined in the Action Plan, the following Resources & Tools are available to provide comprehensive background information on each of the steps and best practices to assist the industry in accomplishing the milestones.
Read the Article »
More to come from Traceability Initiative in 2010
The Steering Committee of the Produce Traceability Initiative plans for robust activity this year, including increased outreach, education, and communication to help the industry achieve electronic, whole-chain traceability at the case level by 2012.
Read the Article »
Produce Traceability and Trace-back: From Seed to Shelf and Beyond
Although I was very young at the time, I can still vaguely recall occasional pre-dawn trips to the San Francisco Produce Terminal Market with my grandfather and father to buy produce for their mom-and-pop grocery store and a few other neighboring merchants. Deals back then, on this small scale and larger, were made with handshakes, cash and a person’s word. Paper rarely entered into the transaction.
Read the Article »
Feeling the Squeeze: Tomato growers take big hit in food scare
Like many mysteries, investigators had a difficult time tracking down the
culprit responsible for the food poisoning suffered by more than 1,400 people
last summer. The first suspect named was fresh tomatoes. Consumers
stampeded away from the fruit, including tomatoes that were regarded as
safe to eat, resulting in huge losses to the tomato industry. Leaders of tomato
cooperatives based in Florida and California say steps must be taken to reduce the possibility of such calamities for agriculture in the future.
Read the Article »
U.S. Peanut Plantings to Drop 27 Percent After Salmonella Scare
U.S. farmers may cut peanut plantings by 27 percent this year after buyers slashed contracts following a recent food poisoning scare linked to peanut products, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Tuesday.
Download PDF »
“We have the most to gain from isolating produce that may be part of a problem, as quickly as possible. The fewer people who get sick, and the quicker a problem is contained, the better off we are. This industry would storm the barricades to quickly identify the real source of contaminated food, no matter where that finger points.”
Tom Stenzel
President and CEO,
United Fresh