BY PETER BRADLEY, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
TRACK AND TRACE
technologyreview
The coming of
farm-to-fork traceability
Before long, nearly everyone in the food supply chain should have tools to trace
products back to the point of origin. It’s the law, and it’s good for business.
OVER THE SUMMER, CANTALOUPES TAINTED BY TWO
strains of salmonella entered the food supply chain, killing
at least three people and sickening more than 200 others
before the scare was over.
The first illness was reported in early July, but it wasn’t
until late August that the Food and Drug
Owensville, Ind.-based Chamberlain
Farms. Several weeks later, watermelons from the same farm were
added to the recall.
That may have been the most
serious food recall of the year,
but it was hardly the only one.
The FDA website has a long list
of food recalls, most often for
salmonella contamination.
The recalls, implemented by
grocers, food manufacturers, food-service distributors, and others in the
food chain, are the most public indicator of just how serious participants have
become about the safety of their products.
Spurred in part by outbreaks of foodborne disease, the
industry is focusing greater attention than ever on food
safety.
Public health is the chief concern, followed by potential
liability and brand protection issues. Added to that are
long-delayed rules that will implement the Food Safety
Modernization Act (FSMA), signed into law in early 2011.
The law requires all companies in food supply chains to be
able to trace foods back to the point of origin. It is unclear
when the rules, which are being crafted with significant
industry input, will be published, but industry experts
expect it will be in the not-too-distant future.
The term that’s been coined for the effort is “farm-to-fork
traceability.” And major grocers and food-service distributors, to ensure their own ability to comply with the regulations, will likely insist their suppliers take part.
They’re liable to get a mixed response to those
demands. Big growers have already begun
complying with the FSMA, says Bruce
Stubbs, director of industry mar-
keting for Intermec, which pro-
vides printers, mobile comput-
ers, and other tracing technolo-
gies to the food industry. But
that’s not always the case with
their smaller brethren, he says.
“Some of the smaller growers
are starting to investigate ways to
become compliant and use tech-
nology [to] do that,” Stubbs says.
“But others are pushing back at what
they look at as [a significant] expense.”
That resistance could cost them business
in the long run, Stubbs warns. “What retailers are
telling me is that once the mandate is out, they will start
pushing back on smaller growers, telling them that if they
don’t become compliant, they are not going to do business
with them,” he says.
THE FDA’S TO-DO LIST
What will the FDA require? Dan Vaché, vice president of
supply chain management for the United Fresh Produce
Association, which is part of a group developing standards
and processes for the produce industry, says the FDA will
