Traveling Toward Improved Food Traceability

The global food supply chain is becoming more and more complex as we seek greater efficiencies to feed the world’s growing population. As a result, the need for product traceability from farm to fork has become even more important to ensure a safe and secure global food system.

To meet that growing need, IFT recognized that there was no single entity, public or private, that brought together key stakeholders in the food value chain to collaborate on providing timely product tracing solutions. Last month, we addressed that need by officially launching our new Global Food Traceability Center at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., which included a live webcast. An article in this issue and videos from the event on our website, GlobalFoodTraceability.org, highlight more on the debut of the center.

The center brings together key stakeholders in the food system and will serve as an authoritative, scientific, and unbiased source for food traceability. It will benefit both consumers and companies by improving response time to foodborne outbreaks, reducing the scope of recalls, and conducting root-cause analysis to encourage efficient traceability practices.

IFT has been a visible leader in food traceability since 2008. In 2009, IFT delivered a milestone report to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on the status of food product tracing in the food industry and provided guidance for improvements and recommendations for future work. In 2010, the National Center for Food Protection and Defense provided a grant to IFT to conduct a two-year study analyzing the capabilities of technologies in food product tracing. And as a testament to its expertise and leadership, IFT completed the landmark report for the FDA on the food product tracing pilots as mandated by the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act.

The formation of the center is the result of three Traceability Research Summits IFT held in 2011. These summits were a part of the Traceability Improvement Initiative launched by IFT with seed funding support from BASF Chemical Company, Underwriters Laboratories, and National Fisheries Institute. The industry views IFT as an unbiased visionary capable of managing conflicting viewpoints by focusing on science and not endorsing one particular solution.

As we listened to stakeholders in development of the center, we heard a surprisingly consistent theme: global and local partnerships are essential. The partnerships created between IFT and academia, industry, and government strongly support our goals as global citizens and partners. The scientific underpinning of this valuable resource makes the center unique, meeting our second goal as research champions and innovation catalyst. The Global Food Traceability Center will support collaborations at the very core of where IFT sits in the food value chain and will enhance our communication and collaborations to support public health both in the United States and around the world.

Product tracing is a critical tool for increasing transparency of the attributes and origin of food products. This center will assist companies to better trace the paths of products through the supply chain to improve food safety, mitigate risk, and avoid devastating health consequences and economic impacts to the food system.

This center provides the opportunity for large and small companies to share knowledge and develop food systems that promote greater food safety and security, and also enhance efficiencies that may help reduce food waste and food costs.

The vision for the center is to become the authoritative voice on global food traceability. It will focus on four key areas: research; protocols and standards; education and training; and technology transfer. It will provide the means to accelerate adoption and implementation of practical traceability solutions.

Founding sponsors for the center include Cargill Incorporated, Eurofins Microbiology Laboratories Inc., FMI Foundation, Global Cold Chain Alliance, GS1 US, International Association for Food Protection, Intertek Group, Lyngsoe Systems, Mars Inc., National Fisheries Institute, PepsiCo, Produce Marketing Association, Walmart, and the University of Guelph.

The IFT Board of Directors approved the center in July. It will get its direction and guidance from an Advisory Council comprised of recognized traceability experts and leaders from industry, academia, and regulatory, as well as consumer groups.

To become a partner, or to find out more, go to GlobalFoodTraceability.org. You will find a concept paper that describes the purpose and objectives of the center, and importantly, how its work will be conducted. Also available at the site is a Prospectus for Innovation that describes how organizations can get involved in the center. By creating a community with international scope, IFT will lend its significant expertise and capabilities to strengthening the global food system.

Janet E. Collins, Ph.D., R.D., CFS,
IFT President, 2013–14
DuPont Corporate Regulatory Affairs
[email protected]