CPMA's first-ever webinar addresses produce traceability
CPMA's first-ever webinar addresses produce traceability
Traceability, a hot issue in the produce industry, made for an appropriate topic for the Canadian Produce Marketing Association's first ever webinar held June 13.
According to the association's web site, the Internet-based seminar was "designed to provide information from subject experts on various technology issues such as traceability, radio frequency identification, data capture and product identification. Created to allow maximum flexibility for company participation, industry can now take advantage of educational opportunities from their own offices but still see 'live' presentations, pose questions to the presenters and hear other participants' comments."
"It is a cost-effective way of getting information to our membership and our industry at large," said Joseph Sbrocchi, senior director of produce procurement for Sobeys Inc. and the webinar's moderator. The hour-and-a-half-long event consisted of three distinguished panelists: Jane Proctor, CPMA's director of industry technology and standardization; Larry Kieswetter, senior director of produce procurement for Loblaws Cos. East and a 42-year veteran of the industry; and Doug Grant, vice president and chief information officer of The Oppenheimer Group.
In a presentation titled "Traceability Regulations & Standards," Ms. Proctor said that "throughout North America, industry has identified traceability as one of its top-five concerns, and more and more is becoming a regulatory and business requirement."
The produce industry is a global industry, and trade across international boundaries creates a need for harmonization among trading partners. Standardizing the trading process helps with day- to-day concerns along with limiting the scope of recalls, which is essential and has financial implications for everybody, she said.
"Assuring customers and ultimately all consumers that food is traceable contributes to the well-being and confidence in the food supply, which is so critical for all of us," she said. "Certainly in our industry we are aware that periodically we have some high-profile recall and food-safety incidents, and while traceability doesn't enhance food safety, it supports it and acts as a tool to enable an efficient recall."
Ms. Proctor said that traceability is built on an "all-inclusive" global business standard created by GS1 -- the global organization tasked with designing and implementing the standards and solutions -- to include all industries regardless of where they are in the supply chain. "As we go forward, we will scale it down to meet the scope of the produce sector."
Ms. Proctor continued, "What is really important to [the produce] industry is that we need to work as a global industry to determine one produce implementation guideline. The potential vehicle we see for that is the International Federation for Produce Standards, a fledgling organization. It is seen by industry as a body [aiming] to really focus global harmonization and standardization on those issues that require it, and certainly traceability is one."
Mr. Kieswetter noted in his presentation, titled "Traceability in Retail - Today & Tomorrow," that from a retailer prospective, consumers now expect and demand a food chain that supports a safe environment.
"Presently, I believe that the customer expects the retailer, the suppliers, the people that haul the food, to support whatever is needed to assure safe food, and that includes the government," he said. "Traceability will not make food safer or improve product quality, but it will act as a tool to support safety and quality and enhance competitiveness."
Mr. Kieswetter said that the cost involved in implementing traceability will be a factor in how quickly the technology is adopted. "The produce industry still has a lot of family-type operations, and with them there is the concern of the cost that goes with it and the time to implement it," he said. "What we need to do is ensure that we get government support in the various provinces and states ... or some of us could be left behind if we are not up to speed as to what is taking place in the industry."
Currently, Loblaws has a pilot program using RSS-14 codes on its apple and banana categories, which will enable it to determine the amount of shrinkage it experiences and the technology's accuracy. Mr. Kieswetter noted that with the increasing amount of customer self-scanning checkouts at its stores, the simpler things are, the more its customers will benefit, and RSS-14 is expected to answer that concern. He thought the results of the program would be available in the fall.
"There is no current Canadian retail implementation, and retailers will only implement [RFID] when the return on investment is evident in the emerging technology," he said.
Mr. Grant started off his presentation, titled "Supplier Implementation: One Company's Efforts," by rhetorically asking several questions, including, "How effective is the fresh produce industry at tracking and tracing fresh produce involved in a food- safety event? Can we identify the grower and lot number to assist and trace back to the source? Can we trace produce through the supply chain to identify raw materials and personnel such as packingline crews and warehouse operations? Can we provide targeted recalls?"
Though he believes that the industry has made a "fair bit of progress over the past few years with standards and guidelines," Mr. Grant said, "There is quite a bit more that needs to be done in the area of implementation."
Industry initiatives have determined that most companies have proprietary and often incompatible systems, and Mr. Grant advocated a common framework so that information could be shared between trading partners in a standard way.
One example he provided is case labeling. While he said that work is going on with the Produce Marketing Association to define a standard label to go on cases throughout the industry, implementation would still be an issue, especially in the field, where harvesters would need to print lot numbers that would be applicable at that time.
"The different technologies that enable traceability will ultimately help out," Mr. Grant said. "Improvements in traceability systems will help in the reduction of liability costs, minimizing the scope of product recalls, properly segregating and identifying product, creating a feedback loop from the retailer all the way back to the grower to improve product quality and overall improvements in supply-chain efficiencies. Traceability is a great reason to implement the technology."
For more information on the CPMA's webinar series, visit the association's web site at cpma.ca.
According to the association's web site, the Internet-based seminar was "designed to provide information from subject experts on various technology issues such as traceability, radio frequency identification, data capture and product identification. Created to allow maximum flexibility for company participation, industry can now take advantage of educational opportunities from their own offices but still see 'live' presentations, pose questions to the presenters and hear other participants' comments."
"It is a cost-effective way of getting information to our membership and our industry at large," said Joseph Sbrocchi, senior director of produce procurement for Sobeys Inc. and the webinar's moderator. The hour-and-a-half-long event consisted of three distinguished panelists: Jane Proctor, CPMA's director of industry technology and standardization; Larry Kieswetter, senior director of produce procurement for Loblaws Cos. East and a 42-year veteran of the industry; and Doug Grant, vice president and chief information officer of The Oppenheimer Group.
In a presentation titled "Traceability Regulations & Standards," Ms. Proctor said that "throughout North America, industry has identified traceability as one of its top-five concerns, and more and more is becoming a regulatory and business requirement."
The produce industry is a global industry, and trade across international boundaries creates a need for harmonization among trading partners. Standardizing the trading process helps with day- to-day concerns along with limiting the scope of recalls, which is essential and has financial implications for everybody, she said.
"Assuring customers and ultimately all consumers that food is traceable contributes to the well-being and confidence in the food supply, which is so critical for all of us," she said. "Certainly in our industry we are aware that periodically we have some high-profile recall and food-safety incidents, and while traceability doesn't enhance food safety, it supports it and acts as a tool to enable an efficient recall."
Ms. Proctor said that traceability is built on an "all-inclusive" global business standard created by GS1 -- the global organization tasked with designing and implementing the standards and solutions -- to include all industries regardless of where they are in the supply chain. "As we go forward, we will scale it down to meet the scope of the produce sector."
Ms. Proctor continued, "What is really important to [the produce] industry is that we need to work as a global industry to determine one produce implementation guideline. The potential vehicle we see for that is the International Federation for Produce Standards, a fledgling organization. It is seen by industry as a body [aiming] to really focus global harmonization and standardization on those issues that require it, and certainly traceability is one."
Mr. Kieswetter noted in his presentation, titled "Traceability in Retail - Today & Tomorrow," that from a retailer prospective, consumers now expect and demand a food chain that supports a safe environment.
"Presently, I believe that the customer expects the retailer, the suppliers, the people that haul the food, to support whatever is needed to assure safe food, and that includes the government," he said. "Traceability will not make food safer or improve product quality, but it will act as a tool to support safety and quality and enhance competitiveness."
Mr. Kieswetter said that the cost involved in implementing traceability will be a factor in how quickly the technology is adopted. "The produce industry still has a lot of family-type operations, and with them there is the concern of the cost that goes with it and the time to implement it," he said. "What we need to do is ensure that we get government support in the various provinces and states ... or some of us could be left behind if we are not up to speed as to what is taking place in the industry."
Currently, Loblaws has a pilot program using RSS-14 codes on its apple and banana categories, which will enable it to determine the amount of shrinkage it experiences and the technology's accuracy. Mr. Kieswetter noted that with the increasing amount of customer self-scanning checkouts at its stores, the simpler things are, the more its customers will benefit, and RSS-14 is expected to answer that concern. He thought the results of the program would be available in the fall.
"There is no current Canadian retail implementation, and retailers will only implement [RFID] when the return on investment is evident in the emerging technology," he said.
Mr. Grant started off his presentation, titled "Supplier Implementation: One Company's Efforts," by rhetorically asking several questions, including, "How effective is the fresh produce industry at tracking and tracing fresh produce involved in a food- safety event? Can we identify the grower and lot number to assist and trace back to the source? Can we trace produce through the supply chain to identify raw materials and personnel such as packingline crews and warehouse operations? Can we provide targeted recalls?"
Though he believes that the industry has made a "fair bit of progress over the past few years with standards and guidelines," Mr. Grant said, "There is quite a bit more that needs to be done in the area of implementation."
Industry initiatives have determined that most companies have proprietary and often incompatible systems, and Mr. Grant advocated a common framework so that information could be shared between trading partners in a standard way.
One example he provided is case labeling. While he said that work is going on with the Produce Marketing Association to define a standard label to go on cases throughout the industry, implementation would still be an issue, especially in the field, where harvesters would need to print lot numbers that would be applicable at that time.
"The different technologies that enable traceability will ultimately help out," Mr. Grant said. "Improvements in traceability systems will help in the reduction of liability costs, minimizing the scope of product recalls, properly segregating and identifying product, creating a feedback loop from the retailer all the way back to the grower to improve product quality and overall improvements in supply-chain efficiencies. Traceability is a great reason to implement the technology."
For more information on the CPMA's webinar series, visit the association's web site at cpma.ca.
