TraceProduce.com finds solid support in produce industry
TraceProduce.com finds solid support in produce industry
Now in its third season of operation, the innovative Internet-based tracking program TraceProduce.com is meeting with enthusiastic support by new clients who have come on board this year.
Originally developed to provide traceability for its sister company, Fort Boise Produce in Parma, ID, TraceProduce.com has caught the eye of multiple packers in the potato and onion industries. As it expands into the produce packing and shipping arena, the program also continues to garner positive feedback from retail, wholesale and foodservice receivers nationwide as they are linked with instant and complete trace-back information.
And, according to co-owner Joe Farmer, the software he helped to write is proving to be a valuable, user-friendly pre-harvest tool for shippers as well as repackers.
"All that's required of shippers pre-harvest is for them to establish a data record for each lot," he said.
He explained that with TraceProduce.com, shippers are not required to change the way they label product.
"Many shippers for multiple commodities currently print or label their facility number and a lot code on each product," Mr. Farmer said. "Those who are under a federal marketing order that requires USDA certified inspections already put this number on their packages for trace-back on the quality- control side. [Our] system allows the shipper to simply piggyback all trace- back information onto the same code. Therefore, the shipper does not have to change the way that they operate the shed for labeling purposes."
TraceProduce.com works off of one standard, a facility identification number. The number can be the shipper's state department of agriculture assigned number, a GS1 company prefix or any other facility number used by the packing facility, Mr. Farmer said.
The on-line account based system has been set up with a very open coding system that will allow easy integration of new code standards that are currently being developed for food safety by the produce steering committee. More information on TraceProduce.com will be available to PMA Fresh Summit attendees at booth No. 3684 in Orlando, FL.
Mr. Farmer and his father, Jim Farmer, and uncle, Warren Farmer, own TraceProduce.com and are also principals in Fort Boise Produce in Parma, ID. As the fourth generation of Farmers in the produce industry, Joe Farmer brings a technological edge to the table and is working closely with other produce professionals who have found TraceProduce.com beneficial to their operations.
One such professional is Bob Meek, CEO of Wada Farms headquartered in Idaho Falls, ID. The well-known potato and onion company began using TraceProduce.com this season to complement its in-house tracking system. "We went on-line at the beginning of our new crop in August," Mr. Meek said. "At this point we are fully testing TraceProduce.com in our main production facility to make sure it meets our complete satisfaction and requirements and then plan on rolling it out to our shippers."
He added, "The value we see in TraceProduce.com is it enhances our ability to provide a trace recall program with our product. It helps us tie our daily runs to the lots and speeds up the process of identifying those lots in the case of an emergency."
Noting that Wada Farms has always tagged product with codes for trace-back to day, shift, bagging machine and field lot, Mr. Meek said, "TraceProduce.com assists with managing the whole process and the database that is created with all the information."
He continued, "We now have marketing on every package that allows our customers the ability to go on-line and find maps to the field, video of the farm managers and other information that pertains to the lot."
Third-party audits have been in place at Wada Farms for years, and Mr. Meek said TraceProduce.com "allows us to link these third-party audits along with other sustainability videos that we are currently working on and other certifications that pertain to the product we run. We are also working on implementing this in all of our contracted shippers throughout the nation, thus allowing us to see the critical data at all times."
Mr. Meek said that the primary benefit TraceProduce.com provides Wada Farms' customers is "peace of mind as we allow them to go on-line to verify complete trace-back to the package and to know where it comes from."
Positive response to the system was also voiced by Tracy Fowler, director of sales in the potato and onion division of L&M. Cos. Mr. Fowler, who is based in Raleigh, NC, handles a portion of onion sales for Fort Boise Produce and also handles potato sales for Pleasant Valley Potato Inc. in Aberdeen, ID.
The Pleasant Valley shed is owned by four growers, and it is the product from those growers' 3,600 acres that is run through the facility.
"TraceProduce.com truly accomplishes what it sets out to do, which is to provide real traceability back to the field," Mr. Fowler said.
He said that tracking starts with GPS coordinates in the field, extending to shed and continuing to the receiver.
"I don't think you can get any better than that," Mr. Fowler said of traceability. "And from a sales point of view, it's a very valuable marketing tool," he added. "The industry is leaning very heavily toward traceability, and we have it in place."
In addition to potatoes and onions, L&M Cos. also utilizes the system for pears grown by Congdon Orchards in Yakima, WA, Mr. Fowler said.
Expanding on the fact that the system is not limited to any single segment of the produce industry, Mr. Farmer said that TraceProduce.com "can be used by growers, shippers, buyers, retailers, foodservice and terminal market customers."
At the grower-shipper level, efficiency is enhanced by linking trace-back information to a code that is put onto a package of produce. The code can contain text, maps, videos of the farmer, fields and shipper, certificates, food-safety documents, inspections and sustainability videos, and it can all be viewed by the end-customer for marketing purposes.
In addition to shipper accounts, which provide assurance to end customers, TraceProduce.com also allows retailers, foodservice and terminal market companies to create accounts that give access to all trace-back information. Secure exchange of information between accounts is provided, Mr. Farmer said.
Emphasizing that TraceProduce.com is not trying to replace existing trace- back systems, Mr. Farmer said, "This account-based system allows trace- back and quality-control information to be accessible from the container while complementing lot codes used on the shipper's in-house system."
He said that the result is "instant trace-back to the container which allows for instant information regarding who grew the product, what field it came from, who shipped it, what the food-safety audits look like for the grower and/or shipper and what the product looked like during shipping point inspection."
All that's required to sign on with TraceProduce.com is a computer and Internet connection, Mr. Farmer said. No special hardware or labels are needed, and shippers can affix or print the codes to their packages in "whatever fashion works with their operations."
Repackers can link pre-existing trace-back codes to the final code found on the package of produce, and mixed produce packages can be linked together on a single code. Product such as fruit cups or mixed salad bags can have trace-back information for each item in the package.
And at the retail, foodservice or terminal level customers can query codes for outstanding produce container codes from the same grower, shipper and field.
Originally developed to provide traceability for its sister company, Fort Boise Produce in Parma, ID, TraceProduce.com has caught the eye of multiple packers in the potato and onion industries. As it expands into the produce packing and shipping arena, the program also continues to garner positive feedback from retail, wholesale and foodservice receivers nationwide as they are linked with instant and complete trace-back information.
And, according to co-owner Joe Farmer, the software he helped to write is proving to be a valuable, user-friendly pre-harvest tool for shippers as well as repackers.
"All that's required of shippers pre-harvest is for them to establish a data record for each lot," he said.
He explained that with TraceProduce.com, shippers are not required to change the way they label product.
"Many shippers for multiple commodities currently print or label their facility number and a lot code on each product," Mr. Farmer said. "Those who are under a federal marketing order that requires USDA certified inspections already put this number on their packages for trace-back on the quality- control side. [Our] system allows the shipper to simply piggyback all trace- back information onto the same code. Therefore, the shipper does not have to change the way that they operate the shed for labeling purposes."
TraceProduce.com works off of one standard, a facility identification number. The number can be the shipper's state department of agriculture assigned number, a GS1 company prefix or any other facility number used by the packing facility, Mr. Farmer said.
The on-line account based system has been set up with a very open coding system that will allow easy integration of new code standards that are currently being developed for food safety by the produce steering committee. More information on TraceProduce.com will be available to PMA Fresh Summit attendees at booth No. 3684 in Orlando, FL.
Mr. Farmer and his father, Jim Farmer, and uncle, Warren Farmer, own TraceProduce.com and are also principals in Fort Boise Produce in Parma, ID. As the fourth generation of Farmers in the produce industry, Joe Farmer brings a technological edge to the table and is working closely with other produce professionals who have found TraceProduce.com beneficial to their operations.
One such professional is Bob Meek, CEO of Wada Farms headquartered in Idaho Falls, ID. The well-known potato and onion company began using TraceProduce.com this season to complement its in-house tracking system. "We went on-line at the beginning of our new crop in August," Mr. Meek said. "At this point we are fully testing TraceProduce.com in our main production facility to make sure it meets our complete satisfaction and requirements and then plan on rolling it out to our shippers."
He added, "The value we see in TraceProduce.com is it enhances our ability to provide a trace recall program with our product. It helps us tie our daily runs to the lots and speeds up the process of identifying those lots in the case of an emergency."
Noting that Wada Farms has always tagged product with codes for trace-back to day, shift, bagging machine and field lot, Mr. Meek said, "TraceProduce.com assists with managing the whole process and the database that is created with all the information."
He continued, "We now have marketing on every package that allows our customers the ability to go on-line and find maps to the field, video of the farm managers and other information that pertains to the lot."
Third-party audits have been in place at Wada Farms for years, and Mr. Meek said TraceProduce.com "allows us to link these third-party audits along with other sustainability videos that we are currently working on and other certifications that pertain to the product we run. We are also working on implementing this in all of our contracted shippers throughout the nation, thus allowing us to see the critical data at all times."
Mr. Meek said that the primary benefit TraceProduce.com provides Wada Farms' customers is "peace of mind as we allow them to go on-line to verify complete trace-back to the package and to know where it comes from."
Positive response to the system was also voiced by Tracy Fowler, director of sales in the potato and onion division of L&M. Cos. Mr. Fowler, who is based in Raleigh, NC, handles a portion of onion sales for Fort Boise Produce and also handles potato sales for Pleasant Valley Potato Inc. in Aberdeen, ID.
The Pleasant Valley shed is owned by four growers, and it is the product from those growers' 3,600 acres that is run through the facility.
"TraceProduce.com truly accomplishes what it sets out to do, which is to provide real traceability back to the field," Mr. Fowler said.
He said that tracking starts with GPS coordinates in the field, extending to shed and continuing to the receiver.
"I don't think you can get any better than that," Mr. Fowler said of traceability. "And from a sales point of view, it's a very valuable marketing tool," he added. "The industry is leaning very heavily toward traceability, and we have it in place."
In addition to potatoes and onions, L&M Cos. also utilizes the system for pears grown by Congdon Orchards in Yakima, WA, Mr. Fowler said.
Expanding on the fact that the system is not limited to any single segment of the produce industry, Mr. Farmer said that TraceProduce.com "can be used by growers, shippers, buyers, retailers, foodservice and terminal market customers."
At the grower-shipper level, efficiency is enhanced by linking trace-back information to a code that is put onto a package of produce. The code can contain text, maps, videos of the farmer, fields and shipper, certificates, food-safety documents, inspections and sustainability videos, and it can all be viewed by the end-customer for marketing purposes.
In addition to shipper accounts, which provide assurance to end customers, TraceProduce.com also allows retailers, foodservice and terminal market companies to create accounts that give access to all trace-back information. Secure exchange of information between accounts is provided, Mr. Farmer said.
Emphasizing that TraceProduce.com is not trying to replace existing trace- back systems, Mr. Farmer said, "This account-based system allows trace- back and quality-control information to be accessible from the container while complementing lot codes used on the shipper's in-house system."
He said that the result is "instant trace-back to the container which allows for instant information regarding who grew the product, what field it came from, who shipped it, what the food-safety audits look like for the grower and/or shipper and what the product looked like during shipping point inspection."
All that's required to sign on with TraceProduce.com is a computer and Internet connection, Mr. Farmer said. No special hardware or labels are needed, and shippers can affix or print the codes to their packages in "whatever fashion works with their operations."
Repackers can link pre-existing trace-back codes to the final code found on the package of produce, and mixed produce packages can be linked together on a single code. Product such as fruit cups or mixed salad bags can have trace-back information for each item in the package.
And at the retail, foodservice or terminal level customers can query codes for outstanding produce container codes from the same grower, shipper and field.
