Blog Articles

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.

The public has its third and final chance on Dec. 2, 2020 to comment on a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed rule to establish additional traceability recordkeeping requirements for certain foods. The virtual one-day meeting from 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. EST follows similar meetings on Nov. 6 and Nov. 18. Registration is required to attend the meeting and space is limited.

Almost a decade in the making the FDA’s “Food Traceability Proposed Rule” was published on Sept. 23, 2020. The rule is mandated by Sec. 204(d) of the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA) passed by Congress in 2011.

Today, more than ever before, food traceability is crucial for a number of reasons. With the increasing introduction of imports as well as changes in industry practices and consumer preferences, food traceability allows a company to protect the safety of its products. In addition, a company using food traceability can prove its compliance with the Bioterrorism Act of 2002 as stipulated by the FDA.