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.
PTI was developed by North American food companies ranging from global fruit growers to small family farms as well as restaurant chains and international produce retailers to help protect the food safety of the estimated six billion cases of produce in the United States that moves through the supply chain each year.
“As the Canadian industry strives for compliance with the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations and the U.S. industry prepares for the … Food Safety and Modernization Act traceability- related regulations, traceability is increasingly a focus across the supply chain and with consumers,” said PTI Chair, Doug Grant of The Oppenheimer Group, when releasing four new or improved traceability implementation tools in June 2020.
The latest tools included:
- Canada/U.S. Harmonized Case Label: a label accepted by buyers in the grocery and foodservice communities in both Canada and the U.S.
- Template for Sharing Traceback Data with regulators: designed to transmit traceability data to regulators when a company is involved in a trace-back investigation.
- Revised Best Practices for Formatting Case Labels: updated and includes information to enable integration into operations regardless of the commodity being packed.
- Updated ASN (Advance Ship Notice): technical change supports the use of this electronic means for sharing both commercial and traceability information amongst trading partners.
Development and Administration of PTI
PTI is governed by a 34-member Leadership Council that represents participants in every segment of the produce supply chain. Volunteer-led working groups cover Implementation, Master Data, Technology, and Communications.
Overall, PTI is administered by the Canadian Produce Marketing Association, GS1 US, the Produce Marketing Association, and the United Fresh Produce Association.
The four main areas PTI covers are:
- Use of GS1 System standards
- Case level tracking
- Electronic recordkeeping
- Farm to Store
Benefits of PTI
The efforts of PTI enhances the confidence of consumers and government regulatory agencies, as well as
supports the produce industry’s commitment to food safety.
Other benefits for trading partners taking part in PTI:
- Limits the scope and cost of recalls to suspect product only
- Improves traceability with quicker and more accurate recalls/product withdrawal
- Full visibility/transparency for field to cooler as well as improving crop and inventory management
- Speeds delivery of orders to retailers and foodservice distributors/operators
- Better business intelligence regarding customer needs
- Business process improvements in the packing shed and administratively with information flow; finished case sorting; and overall streamline of processes
- Reduction/Elimination of costs (pre-printed cases)
Tools of the PTI
PTI strives to narrow the impact of potential recalls or other food safety issues, protecting both the public and industry members.
PTI is based on several tools:
- GS1 Company Prefix: Uniquely identifies a single company. A GS1 prefix is required to create a GS1 identification numbers such as the GTIN, to ensure the number is globally unique.
- Global Trade Item Number (GTIN): Uniquely identifies trade items, which includes products and/or services that are sold, delivered, and invoiced at any point in the supply chain. GTIN allows organizations to identify trade items at all levels of packaging (item, case, and pallet) as well as accurate machine reading of those trade items when placed into GS1 barcodes.
- GS1-128 Barcode: case level barcode that allows companies to encode additional information with the GTIN, such as lot number and best-before dates.
7 Steps a Company Can Take to Implement PTI
PTI urges companies in the produce supply chain to take the following steps to implement PTI best practices:
- Obtain a GS1 Company Prefix
- Assign GTIN Numbers (brand owners assign 14-digit GTINs to every case configuration)
- Provide GTIN Information to Buyers (brand owners provide GTINs and corresponding data to their buyers)
- Show Human-Readable Information on Cases (packers are responsible for providing human readable information on each case)
- Encode Information in a Barcode (packers are responsible for encoding the GTIN and Batch/Lot Number)
- Read and Store Information on Inbound Cases (each subsequent handler of the case will have the systems and capability to read and store GTIN and lot number from each case of produce received)
- Read and Store Information on Outbound Cases
The PTI has been used as a model for other fresh-food traceability initiatives.
Contact FreshByte Software today to see how our PTI capabilities can help your products preserve their unique identity and traceability while ensuring your business meets the needs of changing industry practices, consumer preferences and new regulatory mandates.
