Produce traceability details for growers to understand tracking requirements.   Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) adoption by large growers is required by large retailers. For many small and midsized growers, the retail markets they supply may not require PTI. Understanding the requirements for tracking produce from the farm field to its […]

Food tracing improvements are spotlighted in the report   Food tracing times are disturbingly slow. Twenty-two weeks took federal health officials to determine the contaminated food source after the first person was infected in a 2011 outbreak of salmonella that swept across 34 states, sickened 136 people and led to […]

“This administration is wise to embrace the idea, even indirectly, that horses belong in the stable and not on the table,” said Wayne Pacelle   Buried in President Obama’s nearly 1,500-page budget released this week are two very specific food safety-related requests. The administration wants to keep the U.S. Department […]

Good traceability practises key to threat identification.   The U.S. Food and Drug Administration posted three videos featuring people affected by foodborne illness Wednesday in an effort to educate food retailers on the potentially devastating effects of an outbreak. Two of the videos feature family members of Zella Ploghoft of […]

Canada warned the United States Tuesday about a pest problem previously not seen in North America involving apple trees.  The organism does not poise any immediate threat to human health.   The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has been notified by the Canadian […]

United Fresh 2013 will feature the FreshTech Learning Center with a session entitled “The Produce Traceability Intitative (PTI): Past, Present & Future”   When the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) was launched, steering committee members anticipated the industry would be able to complete all milestones toward a whole-chain, electronic traceability system […]

Produce Traceability Initiative supporters are reveling in a recent Food and Drug Administration-commissioned report that supports the industry’s work on traceability.   The report enters discussion as the industry awaits the FDA’s traceability rules. The March 4 “Pilot Projects for Improving Product Tracing along the Food Supply System Final Report” […]

With the comment period set to expire April 4, the FDA extended the deadline for comments until July 3.   The Institute of Food Technologists on March 4 issued a 334-page report, “Pilot Projects for Improving Product Tracing along the Food Supply System,” focusing on processed foods and high-risk fresh […]

The reaction of Canada’s government to USDA’s proposed “fix” for mandatory country-of-origin labeling was predictable and swift, write Steve Meyer and Len Steiner.   Canadian Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz stated, among other things, that Canada was “extremely disappointed with the proposed regulatory changes” and that Canada would consider all options, […]

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a proposed modification to the rules required for the labeling of muscle cut commodities covered under the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) program, writes Sarah Mikesell, 5m senior editor.   Under the proposed rule, origin designations for animals slaughtered in the US […]