What You Need to Know About Food Safety and Traceability

Food safety and traceability has become a pressing need for food manufacturers and producers. Does your company have a strategy in place for the new regulatory requirements that will be implemented? Here are four things you need to know.

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During the recent MESA North American Conference in Charlotte, N.C., I had the pleasure of leading an unConference session on the topic of food safety and traceability. During the discussion, it became clear that there is quite a challenge in front of food producers and manufacturers to meet upcoming regulations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Those of us in the automation and manufacturing IT industries can help clear up some of the confusion and show leadership as companies large and small seek to comply with the new regulatory environment.

Here are four things to know about food safety and traceability:

Food manufacturers will be required to comply with new traceability requirements. The FDA has a legal mandate, called the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), to ensure that food products are traced from their origins through the supply chain to the consumer. As part of this process, the FDA is defining critical tracking events and key data elements for small, medium and large producers. Food producers at each point on the supply chain will be required to track and keep records for each unit of food.

Automated traceability is not required, but it can make things easier. The FDA has not mandated any particular technology to automate traceability. However, experience in the manufacturing industry has shown that automated track and trace systems do a superb job of capturing the required information at a granular level and providing detailed, fast-access records of product genealogy. One of the FDA’s goals is to provide fast forensic traceability in the case of an incident, but manufacturers can also benefit from automation with reduced-scope targeted recalls and improved quality control within the plant.

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