Farm to fork traceability creates opportunity

While the U.S. enjoys one of the world's safest food supply chains, there are plenty of reasons to be concerned. After all, nearly one in six in the U.S. will suffer from a foodborne illness this year and thousands may die, according to government statistics. 

That's why Congress approved and President Obama signed into law in January a food safety act that gives the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considerable new powers. The new law creates a science-based standard for fruits and vegetables grown in the U.S. or imported from other countries. It also enlarges the power of the FDA to inspect food plants, develop safety plans and order mandatory recalls, while respecting the role of small businesses and farms. Meats and poultry, regulated by the Department of Agriculture, are not covered by this law.

One clause of the new act is likely to have a major impact on packagers. Due to the frequency and scope of recent food-caused illness outbreaks, the FDA is beginning development of an electronic tracking system that will follow food from the farm to the fork. The FDA already requires food growers, processors, warehousers and retailers to track the sources of their food products and the ingredients. However, the food supply chain is long, and it could have up to 10 links before the product actually is served at the table.

Until now, most records have been kept on paper, and there are no rules establishing a format for keeping the data. In the event of a food emergency, it could take weeks or even months to track down the sources of the problem. Speeding up the track-and-trace process not only could save millions of dollars, but it could also save lives.
A blog written by safety consultant Michael McCartney says that a 2009 federal report "found that only 5 percent of the companies surveyed could trace the foods they produce through each stage of the supply chain." This represents both a challenge and an opportunity for the packaging industry. 

Many elements already are in place for development of an electronic solution. Multiple types of marking and coding are available to packagers, depending on the substrates and packaging processes they employ. Vision systems, RFID and other sensors can help verify exactly what goes into each carton, case and pallet and establish the associations at each level. These mountains of data can be stored and collated by company ERP systems for callout when needed. Assembling these systems also will provide opportunities for system integrators and OEMs, who must incorporate the enabling equipment into packaging lines.

Major impediments to this type of track-and-trace capability being used now are the cost of gathering and managing huge amounts of data. The onus of maintaining the data could present problems, especially for profit-squeezed farms and food packagers.