The recent rash of food and produce recalls have shaken the food industry and damaged consumer confidence. Peanut-related products contaminated with salmonella sickened hundreds of people and killed eight. Onions, mushrooms, and alfalfa sprouts have also been tainted and recalled.
These recalls have served as sobering reminders that despite technological advances, contamination is still an ongoing – though entirely preventable – threat. Not only are consumers at risk, but every company within the supply chain, from the grower to the retailer, is vulnerable. Indeed, the financial impact of a recall can be significant for everyone involved.
Contaminated items must be identified and pulled from store shelves. Supply lines must be tracked in order that the source of contamination can be isolated and contained. One of the biggest obstacles to produce traceability is a current lack of standards throughout the food industry. While traceability systems that are currently deployed throughout the supply chain are helpful in isolating contaminated products to a given member’s facility, much more can be done.
Fortunately, aggressive changes are already being implemented in order to ensure public safety.
The Race To Merge Existing Traceability Systems
Each company within the supply chain maintains their own traceability protocols. Growers, wholesalers, distributors, and storage facilities can track the produce they handle within their respective operations. The problem is that once cases of produce move outside a member’s operations, that particular member’s internal traceability system is not portable. In effect, it is a closed system. That limits produce trace-back throughout the rest of the supply chain.
The Produce Marketing Association, Canadian Produce Marketing Association, and United Fresh Produce Association are spearheading the Produce Traceability Initiative Committee. The initiative includes a series of implementation steps that seek to improve industry-wide produce trace-back. The first step is to integrate a case identification standard throughout the supply chain in order to homogenize – and improve – existing traceability systems.
The Push For ISO-GS1 Standards Compliance
The initiative’s first implementation step involves two milestones. Both set the groundwork for universal compliance to GS1 standards throughout the produce industry. By the end of the first quarter of 2009, brand owners are required to obtain a GS1-issued company prefix. The prefix is attached to every case of produce and identifies the brand owner as that case travels throughout the supply chain.
Brand owners are also required (by the same deadline) to assign a 14-digit Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), product code to each product trade unit (carton or sack) and report these new product codes to their customers, ending third quarter 2009. The GTIN identifies the contents of the case and its specific configurations. If any member of the supply chain modifies the contents or configurations of the trade unit, they must affix their own GTIN which contains their GS1-issued company prefix, thereby becoming the new brand owner.
Protecting The Public And Limiting Recalls
The purpose of requiring growers, packer/shippers, distributors and wholesalers and/or brand owners to adhere to GS1 standards is to improve the produce industry’s universal traceability system. Compliance will not come without cost. However, it’s worth noting that the investment required of each member will be reflected, in part, by the tools they’re already using. While some online tools can make the transition easier, fresh produce business process management and food tracking software eProduce, collects, records and aggregate data from each member in the fresh produce supply chain, including dynamic product labeling (print, encode and apply) GTIN, GS1 Databar, SGTIN and SSCC product labels in compliance with GS1 standards. Companies in the fresh produce supply chain that are leveraging eProduce are finding the transition far less costly.
Implementing GS1 standards across the fresh produce industry not only improves supply chain traceability, but also better protects the public’s health and helps eliminate a fresh produce product category recall such as we have seen in the recent months.
