Report: Tech-enabled traceability to help food safety efforts

Tech-enabled traceability is going to play a big role in better protecting the U.S. food supply, according to a new 27-page special report by the Chicago-based Institute of Food Technologists.

The report summarizes dozens of responses to the FDA’s 2021 Low- or No-Cost Tech-Enabled Traceability Challenge, according to a news release. The report aims to spur ongoing industry discussions about the role of technology in traceability, the release said.

“IFT’s Global Food Traceability Center has played a central role in traceability for approximately one decade,” Blake Harris, technical director of the Global Food Traceability Center, said in the release. “As such, the GFTC was ideally positioned to develop this independent report analyzing recent technological hardware, software, and data-analytics developments for traceability end users.”

Specifically, the report examined how improvements in interoperability, support and infrastructure, usability and cost could provide opportunities for future industry improvements, the release said.

“Developing low-cost traceability solutions that are intuitive to all levels of experience, available in multiple languages, promote the use of data standards and data communication protocols, and consider applicability to specific supply chain segments or commodities are critical for advancing traceability,” Harris said in the release.