GMA announced three food safety initiatives.
http://www.groceryretailonline.com/article.mvc/Grocery-Manufacturers-Association-Outlines-0001?VNETCOOKIE=NO
I think there needs to be one more: Traceability Modernization. Note that this is different than the Product Recall Modernization GMA is calling for. In focusing on recalls as produce people are doing with the PTI, they are not addressing the real traceability issue. Rather, they are using the GTIN system to standardize how to link trading partners. In the event of a recall, this helps in that upstream and downstream partners can be quickly identified, but the actual input/output mapping of lots and their components is still maintained by each individual company. If they happen to share information on a common system with a trading partner, some automated traceability can be provided, but there is no requirement as such. It’s amazing to me that nobody seems to be picking up on the fact that this is not real traceability. The WFT System is a major step forward in this area. By collecting the ingredient data for every output lot as encoded elements (no propriatary information is collected), we can provide the instantaneous traceability that others can’t. That’s what is really needed for food safety.
Archive for May, 2009
One more initiative needed
Friday, May 22nd, 2009Maybe a typo?
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009NEW YORK, May 11 (UPI) — Public health experts say food safety in the United States is vastly improved compared to a century ago despite recent outbreaks and product recalls.
http://www.foodservicedashboard.com/?p=4509
A century ago? I hope so. I’m hoping that we all have the good sense that using a century old measuring stick is not what we should rest easy on. Food safety in the US and indeed worldwide needs to be a priority. The CDC estimate of 76 million cases of food-borne illnesses in the U.S. today, with an estimated economic toll of $6.9 billion might be better than 1909 was, or even 1999 if they meant 10yrs, but we CAN do better and we should.
Totals from the PCA recall
Monday, May 11th, 2009The last recall posting (hopefully) on the FDA site from the Peanut Corporation of Americal product recall was April 30. I tried to keep track and counted 474 recalls relating to this incident. Remember the outbreak started in Oct 2008. Recalls were heavy in Feb 2009 but continued through April. This shows the need for a traceability system like what we are proposing with www.worldfoodtrace.org.