The ability to track and trace foods is a “public health imperative,” an author of a new report on traceability said on a webinar Thursday.
Robert Gravani, a Cornell University food science professor, defined traceability as a “system that documents the history of the food or ingredient through the supply chain from raw materials to the final consumable product.” Its benefits include safer food and more control over inventory and quality.
Gravani chaired the team that wrote the report published jointly by the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) and the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT).
“A robust traceability plan will certainly mitigate a recall by identifying defective or contaminated product more quickly," he said, expediting its removal from the market.
In the report's foreword, Frank Yiannas, former Food and Drug Administration deputy commissioner for food policy and response, said that “while today’s modern food system is impressive, it does have an Achilles heel – a lack of food traceability.”
However, he added, “Our ability to provide safe, affordable and sustainable food for this generation and the next depends on it.”
During the webinar, Sara Bratager, IFT senior food safety and traceability scientist, said many different factors influence, incentivize and impact the adoption and execution of traceability.
“In order for traceability to be effective, there has to be a certain level of alignment along all of those incentives, that recognition that we’re running towards a common goal. And then a lot of collaboration from everybody in that system,” Bratager said.
The report says “companies with an effective traceability system often see returns in time, labor efficiency, employee productivity, cost savings, supply chain and business management improvements, enhanced communications and business partnerships, as well as increased market opportunities.”
Consumers also benefit as they can see proof that products have specific attributes or actions taken throughout the supply chain.
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The FDA’s Food Traceability Rule, issued last month, standardizes data collection requirements for those that manufacture, process, pack or hold foods that are on the food traceability list.
The CATS/IFT paper identified best practices including the “role and responsibility of stakeholders, data standardization, digitization and security are vital to the effective development of food traceability systems.”
Gravani said data standardization is critical.
“This is where interoperability really comes to the fore. Because if the data isn't formatted correctly, and it can't be exchanged well with other computer systems within your supply chain, then there's going to be a breakdown in communication and certainly with traceability,” he said.
Jennifer McEntire, founder of Maryland-based Food Safety Strategy and a co-author of the report, said there’s been a lot of resistance to successful implementation traceability, and it will require work from global members around the world.
“The benefits may not be equitable through the supply chain or proportionate to the investment that companies need to make in order to have a traceability system,” McEntire said. “That's one of the reasons that I think it was necessary in the U.S. that there was a regulation. People had two decades to do it voluntarily and didn't.
“So, as we look at a global supply chain and global expectation and standards, I think it's going to be a heavy lift until the global supply chain is on the same page in terms of traceability,” she said on the webinar.
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