Initiative aims for case-level traceability field to fork in 2012
Initiative aims for case-level traceability field to fork in 2012
ORLANDO, FL -- In January, three produce trade groups sat down with the goal of designing and implementing a plan to realize full field-to-fork traceability at the case level for the entire produce industry. When they were finished, a seven-step plan that aims for industrywide implementation in 2012 had been designed.
Details of the plan and an update on its progress toward implementation were discussed Oct. 25 at the Finding Your Place in Whole Chain Traceability session at the Produce Marketing Association's Fresh Summit Convention & Exposition, here.
PMA, the United Fresh Produce Association and the Canadian Produce Marketing Association formed the Produce Traceability Initiative "to create an action plan for the produce industry to adopt an effective whole-chain traceability program by incorporating the use of common standards to serve as the linkage between internal traceability programs," said Cathy Green, chief operating officer of Food Lion LLC and the introducer and moderator of the session. The group agreed on best practices "that are consistent across the supply chain and that are efficient," although she said that the group realizes that there will be costs the industry must incur to implement the plan. However, she added that the plan is sound and that the group believes it is far more beneficial for the produce industry to design its own plan rather than have the federal government impose one.
The basis of the plan is the use of a Global Trade Item Number, which is a 14-digit number that can be represented in a human-readable numeric format as well as in a scannable bar code. Encoded in that number are data about the item, such as the brand owner, specifically what the product is and exactly when and where it was harvested. The data are to be displayed in various forms on the outside of every case of product. The initiative hopes to eventually take the program to the item level, but at this point, industrywide implementation at the case level remains the primary goal.
Alan Newton, vice president of information services for Duda Farm Fresh Foods Inc., detailed the seven milestones necessary to achieve the initiative's goals.
First, every produce company must procure a unique GS1 (Global Standards One) company prefix number, which will be incorporated into the individual GTIN numbers to identify the source company of a product.
Second, and also intended for completion in Q1 of 2009, every firm is expected to assign GTIN numbers to all of its products.
By Q3 of 2009, the initiative aims to complete milestone three, which would have produce handlers providing GTIN numbers to buyers as a matter of course when selling produce.
Milestone four dictates that by Q3 of 2010, human-readable information, which means the alpha-numeric vs. bar code representation of the 14-digit GTIN and item details, must be printed on every case in addition to the lot and batch number.
Milestone five takes it one step further and requires that the information be encoded in a scannable bar code in addition to the human-readable information. That is also slated for completion in Q3 of 2010.
Milestone six requires that by 2011, handlers be able to read and store the GTIN and lot number on every case of product they receive.
And milestone seven, slated for completion in 2012, dictates that shippers read and store the GTIN and lot number of every case of produce they ship out.
"It is fairly aggressive in what we need to do here," Mr. Newton said. "All of us have a lot to do here. It is very large."
The Oppenheimer Group has implemented some of these initiatives already, according to Doug Grant, the firm's vice president and chief operating officer, who outlined the firm's progress toward full adoption.
"We have an internal traceability system ... but to the point it hits the distribution center, that's it," he said, noting that many companies are at a similar point. However, "We do have two suppliers that are fully GTIN compliant and have been for" eight to 10 years - namely, Zespri and Enza. "We are going to take the learnings from them and apply it to other growers."
Oppenheimer has already completed milestones one and two, and the third is in the works, as are milestones four and five. "Many of our growers are connected to our mainframe" computer, Mr. Grant said, and with that connection and with GTIN printers installed on their packinglines, they can create the case labels in real time and apply them to the cases. However, not all the firm's growers around the world (particularly the ones in remote areas) are so connected, which presents a problem the firm has not yet solved.
The experts on the panel frankly acknowledged the difficulties and costs companies will face in adopting the initiative, but they also pointed out that the result will be tremendously beneficial to the industry and warned that failure to adopt the standards will likely result in government intervention and a loss of control over the requirements by the industry.
After the foodborne illness incidents stemming from produce in the past few years, there is much concern from government agencies, retailers, foodservice operators, produce handlers and consumers over the safety and traceability of fresh produce.
"When the day is done, we will move this forward," Mr. Grant said. "Consumers are demanding it, government is demanding it."
Details of the plan and an update on its progress toward implementation were discussed Oct. 25 at the Finding Your Place in Whole Chain Traceability session at the Produce Marketing Association's Fresh Summit Convention & Exposition, here.
PMA, the United Fresh Produce Association and the Canadian Produce Marketing Association formed the Produce Traceability Initiative "to create an action plan for the produce industry to adopt an effective whole-chain traceability program by incorporating the use of common standards to serve as the linkage between internal traceability programs," said Cathy Green, chief operating officer of Food Lion LLC and the introducer and moderator of the session. The group agreed on best practices "that are consistent across the supply chain and that are efficient," although she said that the group realizes that there will be costs the industry must incur to implement the plan. However, she added that the plan is sound and that the group believes it is far more beneficial for the produce industry to design its own plan rather than have the federal government impose one.
The basis of the plan is the use of a Global Trade Item Number, which is a 14-digit number that can be represented in a human-readable numeric format as well as in a scannable bar code. Encoded in that number are data about the item, such as the brand owner, specifically what the product is and exactly when and where it was harvested. The data are to be displayed in various forms on the outside of every case of product. The initiative hopes to eventually take the program to the item level, but at this point, industrywide implementation at the case level remains the primary goal.
Alan Newton, vice president of information services for Duda Farm Fresh Foods Inc., detailed the seven milestones necessary to achieve the initiative's goals.
First, every produce company must procure a unique GS1 (Global Standards One) company prefix number, which will be incorporated into the individual GTIN numbers to identify the source company of a product.
Second, and also intended for completion in Q1 of 2009, every firm is expected to assign GTIN numbers to all of its products.
By Q3 of 2009, the initiative aims to complete milestone three, which would have produce handlers providing GTIN numbers to buyers as a matter of course when selling produce.
Milestone four dictates that by Q3 of 2010, human-readable information, which means the alpha-numeric vs. bar code representation of the 14-digit GTIN and item details, must be printed on every case in addition to the lot and batch number.
Milestone five takes it one step further and requires that the information be encoded in a scannable bar code in addition to the human-readable information. That is also slated for completion in Q3 of 2010.
Milestone six requires that by 2011, handlers be able to read and store the GTIN and lot number on every case of product they receive.
And milestone seven, slated for completion in 2012, dictates that shippers read and store the GTIN and lot number of every case of produce they ship out.
"It is fairly aggressive in what we need to do here," Mr. Newton said. "All of us have a lot to do here. It is very large."
The Oppenheimer Group has implemented some of these initiatives already, according to Doug Grant, the firm's vice president and chief operating officer, who outlined the firm's progress toward full adoption.
"We have an internal traceability system ... but to the point it hits the distribution center, that's it," he said, noting that many companies are at a similar point. However, "We do have two suppliers that are fully GTIN compliant and have been for" eight to 10 years - namely, Zespri and Enza. "We are going to take the learnings from them and apply it to other growers."
Oppenheimer has already completed milestones one and two, and the third is in the works, as are milestones four and five. "Many of our growers are connected to our mainframe" computer, Mr. Grant said, and with that connection and with GTIN printers installed on their packinglines, they can create the case labels in real time and apply them to the cases. However, not all the firm's growers around the world (particularly the ones in remote areas) are so connected, which presents a problem the firm has not yet solved.
The experts on the panel frankly acknowledged the difficulties and costs companies will face in adopting the initiative, but they also pointed out that the result will be tremendously beneficial to the industry and warned that failure to adopt the standards will likely result in government intervention and a loss of control over the requirements by the industry.
After the foodborne illness incidents stemming from produce in the past few years, there is much concern from government agencies, retailers, foodservice operators, produce handlers and consumers over the safety and traceability of fresh produce.
"When the day is done, we will move this forward," Mr. Grant said. "Consumers are demanding it, government is demanding it."
