Vision & Mission

Vision
A fully traceable food system enabled by interoperable digital solutions accessible to all.

Mission
Engaging food system stakeholders in their traceability journey through applied research, capacity building, advocacy, system design and implementation.

History

IFT has long been instrumental in modernizing food safety and traceability, convening food industry stakeholders and completing numerous task orders for the FDA, including a set of traceability pilots. It was through this process that industry partners recognized the unmet need to advance the science and practice of traceability. IFT responded by created the Global Food Traceability Center (GFTC) in 2013 to build critical traceability capacity across our food system.

GFTC has grown and evolved in response to the ever-changing regulator, industry, and ESG landscape. GFTC co-convened the Global Dialogue in Seafood Traceability to tackle illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing and publish the first interoperable, global seafood standard in 2020. In addition, GFTC has continued to work in the seafood sector by developing tools to advance economic justice for fishers and increase food safety in the product industry. GFTC continues to advance traceability science and practice in partnership with industry, government, philanthropic, and NGO partners.

Partners

GFTC serves a wide array of clientele to meet their regulatory, certification, sustainability, and food safety needs. Recent clients and partners include regulators, certifiers, industry associations, philanthropy, NGOs, individual businesses, and more.