Traceability pilots to reveal insights
Leafy-greens-focused traceability pilots being conducted by industry operators now will help reveal insights about industry gaps in traceability.
Jennifer McEntire, senior vice president of food safety and technology for the United Fresh Produce Association, said six industry associations have launched the pilots and are working collaboratively with the Food and Drug Administration to share some of the learnings.
The three pilots have three separate traceback scenarios, industry leaders said.
Frank Yiannas, deputy commissioner for food policy and response for the Food and Drug Administration, said he was hopeful that the pilots would be helpful to both the industry and the FDA.
Pilots can help discover an issue or a problem that couldn’t be defined before, and can help reveal blind spots, Yiannas said.
“It’s very difficult to do that trace back, and so what I really appreciate is that folks in industry want to see what it looks like in a day in the life of the regulators, to see how difficult it is to really do this,” he said.
Yiannas said there are shortfalls in industry surveys that report that current levels of traceability compliance are very good.
“I don’t agree with those results, because they’re not concerned from the vantage point ... of a person that is (looking) from consumer all the way to source,” Yiannas said.
The recent industry pilots were done so that the FDA is an observer, only putting data elements in the pilot scenarios that were needed for a realistic exercise.
“I can’t wait for the announcement of the results,” Yiannas said at the United Fresh Produce Association’s Washington Conference.
“The pilot could uncover root issues that can help use solve the issues better,” he said.
The pilots were not quite complete at the end of September, said Ed Treacy, vice president of supply chain and sustainability for the Produce Marketing Association.
He said the pilots were expected to be instructive for the industry.
So far, he said the pilots were doing everything they were expected to do.
The pilots started in August and are expected to conclude by mid-October. The industry will share redacted results of the pilots with the FDA.
The FDA will make their conclusions about the results of the pilot, and industry leaders will also draw their own conclusions, Treacy said. The industry and the government will compare notes and later issue recommendations.
Even before the results of the pilot are published, Yiannas said the industry had advanced traceability compared with 10 years ago.
“The industry is making progress, but there is still work to be done.”
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