January 2011: It's a New Year. What's the latest on PTI?
Now that the calendar has ticked over to 2011 it's a good time to dust off your PTI implementation timeline. According to the milestones, by now shippers should have acquired a GS1 company prefix and assigned GTINs to their products. Major retailers, such as Food Lion, report that the majority of their suppliers have met this milestone. By the end of 2011, shippers should include the GTIN and lot number in both human readable and machine readable formats on every case (either on a label or by inkjet).
In fact, many shippers are already advertising their compliance with PTI as a point of difference. In a recent case study, Frontera's Amy Gates not only credited implementing traceability with improved operations efficiencies - but also urged other growers and shippers to not wait until the last moment to implement.
The PTI committees and subcommittees continue to refine specific details of label design, data synchronization protocol, lot code format, GTIN specificity, and so on. We will keep readers of Traceability Insider up to date on any modifications and important decisions. And of course, HarvestMark PTI customers can rest assured that our solutions will always be rapidly updated - at no charge - to reflect any changes to the standard. Do you have more questions about PTI? Reach out to us by email or phone at 650-264-6200.
S.510 has been signed into law. What's in it?
President Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act into law this month. We've parsed the relevant parts of the Act down to the letter and punctuation point, to understand the law's impact on traceability. Here's the down low on the Act in nonlawyer speak:
- The FDA is required first to conduct pilot projects by the end of September 2011 and assess the costs and benefits of adopting produce tracing technologies. By mid-2012, the FDA will report out on the findings of these pilots, and make their recommendations.
- The rulemaking is expected to be risk-based. The Act requires that by the end of 2011 the FDA determine which foods are "high-risk," and therefore subject to the new rules. We expect that any foods deemed to have been the source of a food safety incident within the last 10 years will be on the list.
- These so-called high risk foods would have to maintain records at a central location, and make them available to the FDA within 24 hours of a request.
- By mid-2012 the FDA is authorized by the Act to establish a product tracing system for food that is in the US or imported into the US.
- The Act requires that the FDA issue a notice of proposed rulemaking by end of 2012 for any new rules they plan to write.
The PTI helped shape the Act and prevent a more rigid scheme - and will undoubtedly influence the FDA's rulemaking. The good news is that shippers who implement the PTI are very likely to be compliant with what the FDA ultimately develops.
How does item-level traceability meet the needs of different shopper demographics?
PMA's Fresh Magazine Winter 2010 edition had an interesting analysis of shopper demographics and what their "hot buttons" are. We took that analysis to understand how traceability can help growers and shippers meet these shoppers' needs.
