Between 2007 and 2009 the number of food recalls in the US increased by 400%. The importance of produce traceability (more specifically, electronic traceability) has increased significantly and calls for an improved process. The fresh food industry is working to adopt barcode labeling of food products in order to prevent the kinds of massive recalls of food that we’ve been seeing in recent years.
What are some benefits of an improved traceability process?
• Enhance and maintain the confidence of consumers and supports the produce industry’s
commitment to food safety.
• Limit the scope and cost of recalls to suspect product only.
• Investigations can occur more efficiently, expediting tracking while minimizing business disruptions
and costs.
• Companies can keep their own internal traceability systems while modifying them to achieve external traceability with trading partners.
• The information can be stored electronically throughout the supply chain, permitting electronic searching and analysis that will produce answers more quickly.
• Product information is consistent across the industry and around the world.
The Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI)
The Produce Traceability Initiative (an industry-led effort dedicated to standardizing and improving the produce industry’s approach to traceability) has launched the PTI Action Plan Implementation. This plan focuses on seven steps or milestones for achieving an industry-wide adoption of electronic traceability for every case of produce by 2012. As these steps are implemented in the next year, we will see a growing need for data collection solutions from Ryzex and our partners.
Stay tuned for follow-up posts on how Ryzex can help in providing solutions in produce traceability!
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