Enhancing Traceability And Outbreak Response
This past December, FSIS and FDA jointly hosted a two-day public conference regarding Improving Product Tracing of Foods: More Rapid Outbreak Response.
While opening the conference, Jerold Mande, Deputy Undersecretary for Food Safety, called product traceability one of the most pressing challenges in food safety today. And, although the goal in any outbreak investigation to quickly identify and stop emerging outbreaks, Mande recognized that “finding solutions to increase the speed and accuracy of product tracing” will be very “difficult.”
FSIS held a second public meeting on product tracing in March (FSIS Product Tracing Related to E. coli O157:H7), specifically focused on two issues: (1) Agency procedures for identifying suppliers of source material used to produced raw beef product that FSIS has found positive for E. coli O157:H7; and (2) additional verification activities the Agency will conduct at suppliers’ facilities in response to positive E. coli O157:H7 results.
Obviously, the traceability issue is heating up, and everyone from farmers to packers to processors to retailers should keep abreast. Meat and Poultry B2B Data Standards Organization (mpXML) and GS1 US recently released a new guide for implementing product traceback minimum requirements and best practices. These materials are intended to supply all members of the U.S. meat and poultry industry, regardless of size, with enhanced guidance for tracing:
- Trading partners (your suppliers, your own company, your customers, 3rd party carriers);
- Trading locations (any physical location such as a warehouse, packing line, storage facility, receiving dock or store);
- The products your company uses or creates;
- The logistics units your company receives or ships; and
- Inbound and outbound shipments.
The guide was developed with meat and poultry suppliers, retailers and trade associations, and the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service.
Many industry stakeholders, including Costco, Perdue, Safeway, Tyson, Walmart, the American Meat Institute, and the National Chicken Council participated in the development. Doug Bailey, chief information officer of the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, commented on the guide: “We view traceability as a component of an orderly marketing system, and this guide is a great example of industry collaboration to standardize the business processes that relate to traceability.”
As noted by Mande, traceability remains a “pressing” and “difficult” issue for all segments of the food industry. It is on the President’s agenda, the USDA’s agenda, and it impacts consumer confidence and health. For this reason, you may find the new guidance materials helpful as you work to supplement or enhance your own internal practices.
