New York’s agriculture department has established a traceability task force for produce to bolster the state’s food safety measures and speed up foodborne illness investigations.
The task force includes growers, marketers, retailers and others who will “review and make recommendations to further advance New York’s tracking and tracing systems for produce grown in the state,” according to a news release from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.
The Produce Traceability Blue Ribbon Task Force met for the first time on Nov. 12. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced his plan for the task force in his annual State of the State speech in January.
“The task force will analyze today’s existing tracking and tracing system, identify potential gaps and areas in need of improvement, and recommend uniform operating standards and practices for each point of the supply chain,” according to the news release.
“Understanding the sophisticated tracking systems that are already in place and how those systems communicate throughout the supply chain is key to supporting our farms, strengthening our food system, and reducing foodborne illness,” NY State Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball said in the release.
The task force members are:
- Betsy Bihn, director of the Produce Safety Alliance and executive director of Cornell University’s Institute for Food Safety;
- Mike Durant, president and CEO of the Food Industry Alliance of NY;
- Steve Ball, supply chain systems manager at Wegmans
- Jim Calvin, president of the NY Association of Convenience Stores;
- Michael King of Krasdale Foods;
- Renee St. Jacques of New York Farm Bureau;
- Dale Ila Riggs, president NY State Berry Growers Association;
- Bethany Wallis, executive director of the Northeast Organic Farming Association
- Joy Crist of Crist Bros. Orchards;
- Jim Bittner, president and general manager of Bittner-Singer Farm;
- Paulette Satur, owner of Satur Farm;
- Steve and Angela Karr of Pride Pak-NY;
- Erica Battisti, director of quality, Stewart’s Shops;
- Michael Muzyk, president of Baldor Specialty Foods;
- Jim Hans, vice president of Driscoll Foods;
- Kaari Stannard, owner and president of New York Apple Sales;
- Luke George, sales manager of Upstate New York Growers and Packers;
- Dirk Biemans, president of Intergrow Greenhouses;
- Alisha Albinder Camac, operations director at Hudson River Fruit Distributors; and
- Darby Greco, chief sanitarian-food protection at NYS Department of Health.
“With the FDA proposing to establish additional traceability recordkeeping requirements, it is imperative to understand current practices as well as any challenges that are preventing effective produce traceability from farm to fork,” Bihn said in the release.
