National Food Traceability System in the Making

In addition to compliance with food recall requirements, DS can favorably impact food quality—with cold chain products, for example. Temperature readings of cold chain products can be pushed to DS so that alerts can be sent to quality managers for products that go outside their temperature range for an unacceptable period of time; these products can subsequently be pulled from the supply chain.

DS can also provide accrued product visibility data that, combined with business applications, identifies problem areas in the supply chain (e.g., excessive warehousing times, duration of transport and routing). This information will allow manufacturers to reduce costs, ensure quality, and gain efficiency in product distribution.

Simply put, DS can make whole chain traceability a reality. Because it is a standards-based approach, it is also a cost-effective alternative for organizations to participate in a national food traceability system—in the U.S. or in any other country.

If utilized for the proposed U.S. national traceability system, DS would provide the FDA access to data that is necessary to ensure a swifter and more effective response in the event of a tainted food outbreak, along with the ability to coordinate recalls with rapid, surgical precision.

For food manufacturers, the benefit offered by DS is that it enables compliance with food safety legislation at a lower cost than integrating large proprietary tracing systems. DS will also improve the reliability of their product recall process, whether in speeding up discovery and elimination of affected product, or simply in mitigating damage to their brand quality.

Cute is vice president of Discovery Services for Afilias. Reach him at [email protected] or (215) 385-4790.