Traceability Paper Offered to Improve Food Safety in the Food and Agricultural Community

Sept. 28, 2023

The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology and the Institute of Food Technologists created a resource for complying with the FDA’s end-to-end-traceability mandate.

Dave Fusaro

The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) and the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) today (Sept. 28) unveiled an issue paper, a resource that provides help for complying with the FDA’s end-to-end-traceability mandate for food and agricultural products.

“With the increase in the size, scope, and complexity of the global food supply chain, the ability to track and trace foods and ingredients through the system quickly and efficiently is of paramount importance,” said Robert Gravani, professor emeritus at Cornell University, former board president of IFT and publication Task Force Chair.

Intended as a foundational resource for stakeholders across industry, academia, government agencies and trade associations, the paper explores the technological infrastructure underlying food traceability platforms while touching on the history of those platforms, the current state of technology, ongoing U.S. food traceability initiatives, as well as the future of commercial scale deployment.

“It is a perfect time for all supply chain partners to implement a well-organized, systematic, and interoperable end-to-end traceability system to improve food safety, quality, national origin, authenticity, and sustainability,” Gravani continued.

To download the issue paper, click here or go to https://www.cast-science.org/publication/food-traceability-current-status-and-future-opportunities/.

Also, Gravani will discuss the paper in a webinar on Thursday, Oct. 5, from 12-1 p.m.CDT. Learn more and register here.

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.