Blog Articles

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) says it will issue new rules on labeling so that “domestic farmers and ranchers do not have to compete with foreign companies that mislead consumers”.

The top-to-bottom review of the “Product of USA” meat labeling term announced on July 1 is part of USDA’s effort to level the playing field for independent family farmers and ranchers.

The USDA “Product of USA” meat labeling announcement came on the same day that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finalized a new rule to deter rampant “Made in USA” fraud.

There is nothing worse than enjoying a good meal only to feel sick, hours or sometimes days later from something you ate. Most Americans experience it at some time with the CDC estimating that some 48 million get sick from a foodborne illness each year.

The floral business is tough enough without having integrated tools at your fingertips to manage essential tasks such as inventory control, purchasing, receiving, slotting and pricing.

“Whether you’re in your first month or your fifth year of business, I’d encourage you to start keeping track of different areas in your biz,” writes florist Sarah Luthy.

Utilizing a floral distribution software such as FreshByte Software can not only make sure your flowers stay fresh but can help you maximize profits by preventing spoiled product in the fast-paced business.

Companies can lose a lot of money by letting perishable inventory expire or go bad. Unfortunately, it can be hard for manufacturers, importers and retailers to keep track of all of their inventory and determine what items need to be put out first to minimize those losses. Learning more about what perishable inventory is, why it should be tracked and how to track it can help your business. Here is more information about perishable inventory. 

Technology is changing the entire world around us, and food is not excluded. Technology is allowing consumers and suppliers to better track and trace the exact origins of every ingredient that goes into any type of product that they are manufacturing or purchasing.

Traceability has many benefits associated with it, and may soon affect the way consumers purchase products and what they eat. Here are just a few of the key ways that traceability may soon impact consumers. 

For almost 20 years now in the United States grocery store consumers have been able to identify which country many of the commodities in their shopping cart come from thanks to a "cool" idea – specifically the Country of Origin Label (COOL) legislation.

The labeling law requires certain retailers, mostly grocery stores and supermarkets, to identify the country of origin of certain foods such as perishable agricultural commodities (fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables), peanuts, pecans, ginseng, macadamia nuts, wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish, and muscle cuts and ground chicken, goat, and lamb.

Calculating the true costs of the food we consume is a bit more complicated than simply adding up all our grocery bills and dining receipts. “We pay for food in many ways, not just at the checkout,” writes the Sustainable Food Trust, the global voice for sustainable food and health.

A true cost accounting in the food industry has to take into account how the food is produced and how its consumption contributes to our healthy (or not so healthy) diet.

The industry-led Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) is boosting consumer confidence and food safety by working to achieve standardized, electronic track and trace procedures across the supply chain.

A voluntary, industry-wide effort started more than a decade ago, PTI seeks to maximize the effectiveness of traceability procedures, while enhancing the speed and efficiency of track and trace systems for the future.

In an ideal world all our meals might be farm-to-table, consuming food like Americans did 200 years ago when 90 percent of the population lived on farms and produced their own food to eat. The reality, however, is that most of the food on our fork today is the product of an increasingly complex global food supply chain tasked with feeding the planet’s 7.8 billion people.

To ensure safety, security and sustainability in this complex situation, the food and beverage industry relies on traceability to follow the path food takes from the field or farm to our tables, connecting the dots every step along the way.

Americans walking down their grocery aisle can select from a diverse abundance of low-cost foods to put in their carts so why would we worry about the sustainability of the U.S. Food System? After all, Americans spend less of their disposable income on food than any other country in the world, spending just 9.5 percent in 2019, according to the USDA, down from 17 percent in 1960.

The price at the checkout scanner, however, does not reflect the true economic, social, and environmental costs which impact the sustainability of the U.S. food system. To glean this true cost, we must understand agriculture production and consumption patterns.