Recent statements from the CDC regarding food safety trends and statistics have been wildly reductionist and inconclusive. But they do provide us with hints about the future direction of federal government thinking with respect to managing food safety risks: Food tracking and supply chain tracing.
Enter the Digital Database Savior
“We need better – and more – information about what foods are causing outbreaks and where those foods are coming from,” said Hannah Gould, CDC epidemiologist, in a recent presentation. “Knowing more about what is making people sick, will help focus prevention efforts on those foods that pose a higher risk of causing illness.”
The FDA, in conjunction with IFT, is currently running a pilot program for food tracking and tracing to conclude this summer. Although the focus is on high-risk foods, one can assume that as the requirements become an accepted (and extremely expensive) part of the food distribution business process, eventually there will be political pressure for the concepts to trickle down to low-risk foods. What does this mean for domestic and foreign companies? 4 things.
- Investigate and assess your current track and trace procedures and infrastructure. Think long and hard about your budget in this area, especially for the next 5 years
- Investigate and assess the track and trace capabilities of your supply chain at every juncture, identify and correct slow and unresponsive nodes
- Identify and empower personnel who will keep your system effective and ensure your technology can grow with your distribution system
- Start planning for expanding data depth, speed and reportability in your track and trace system and challenge it by running sample alerts. Find and plug holes are in your system.
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