New Report Recommends Enhanced Food Tracing Guidelines

The FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) recently released a report from the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), which recommends clear objectives be set for all users of a simpler, globally accepted food supply chain that can benefit from existing commercial systems.
CFSAN commissioned the report in 2008 from the IFT, a nonprofit scientific society focusing on the science of food. The report is part of the agency's ongoing examination of food product tracing practices, as well as its commitment to improve the ability of government and industry to trace commercially distributed food products that are a potential risk to U.S. consumers.

Food can become contaminated at many different steps in the supply chain. Experience in conducting foodborne disease outbreak investigations suggests improved product tracing abilities could help identify products associated with disease more quickly, get risky products off the market faster and reduce the number of illnesses associated with foodborne illness outbreaks.

The IFT report is part of the public record the FDA will consider in determining ways to improve the ability of government and industry to trace food products throughout all stages of the supply chain.

The IFT recommendations are online at ift.org/traceability.

Earlier in November, the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service jointly announced a public meeting on food product tracing in Washington, D.C., to be held in December. They also formally requested written input from stakeholders on measures to improve food product tracing.  Details of that announcement can be viewed on the USDA's Web site.

Contact:
Michael Herndon
301-796-4673
michael.herndon@fda.hhs.gov