Support Grows for Food Supply Traceability

SUPPORT GROWS FOR FOOD SUPPLY TRACEABILITY

BY CHARLES DERVARICS

When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a national alert on the safety of romaine lettuce last November, the decision cast a spotlighton a key challenge for the food industry: the limited ability to identify where contaminated produce enters the U.S. food supply. For experts working on this issue, the news also presented some of the strongest evidence yet of the need for food supply traceability, or the ability to easily trace back the sources of fresh items delivered to local grocers.

“If the FDA says not to eat a certain commodity, it affects consumer confidence not just in romaine lettuce but in all leafy greens,” said Ed Treacy, vice president of supply chain efficiencies at the Produce Marketing Association, a trade organization representing produce and floral supply companies. By advising

“People just want to know more about the products they use, and this is a good thing.”

Americans not to eat, serve, or sell romaine lettuce just before the start of the 2018 holiday season, the agency nearly ground an entire industry to a halt. And at a time when nutritionists recommend more consumption offruits and vegetables, it may undermine consumer confidence for the long term. While it hurts corporate bottom lines, Treacy added, “It’s also a major health issue.”

An employee stocks leafy greens at a Walmart store. Walmart will require its leafy greens suppliers to participate in end-to-end traceability of their product by Sept. 30, 2019.

Photo Courtesy of Walmart

Food supply traceability dates back to the 1930s, when retailers and consumers wanted proof that high-end products such as French champagne actually came from the advertised country of origin. But the issue has taken on more health implications in recent years, from companies wanting to quickly find sources of food contamination to consumers seeking proof that products are organic or free of genetically modified organisms with a label of non-GMO.

“People just want to know more about the products they use, and this is a good thing,” said Kenneth Côté, director of U.S. agriculture at Intertek Agricultural Services, which conducts audits, inspections, product testing, and certifications for companies and government entities. He called it “an inevitable conclusion” in a global society where citizens value quality.

Traceability also offers industry and government a way to address a safety issue before it becomes a national recall, and it stands to contribute to the nation’s health. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in 6 Americans – or 48 million individuals – get sick every year from a foodborne illness. Another 128,000 require hospitalization, and in some cases, it can take weeks to find the cause of contamination.

Prior to the November recall, an E. coli outbreak affecting romaine lettuce earlier in 2018 resulted in five deaths and more than 200 illnesses in 36 states. After a lengthy investigation, that event was eventually traced back to contaminated water near Yuma, Arizona.

At its core, traceability provides tamper-free data on all aspects of food harvesting and handling. It may include labels or advanced shipment notifications providing all the key data on a product from farm to store or table.

“It will record data at critical tracking events – when you make it, how you pack it, when you ship and receive it, when you turn it into something else, and when you might dispose of it,” Treacy said. “It captures the lot number to tell what you did and who you did it with.”

While some products may have tracebacks at certain stops along the way, he said it is essential to have traceability throughout the supply chain to make it truly effective. “There’s an increased awareness of how critical it is to have whole chain traceability,” Treacy said. “Having it just in pieces or sectors within the supply chain doesn’t do people or regulators much good. Everybody’s got to do their part.”

A carton of blueberries is scanned after being traced from farm to store on the IBM Food Trust blockchain network. IBM Food Trust uses blockchain technology to address issues in the global food supply chain, including safety, freshness, waste, and sustainability.

IBM Photo

More companies may join the trend in 2019 in response to a new policy just instituted by retail giant Walmart with help from IBM. After conducting pilot projects, the retailer has pledged to require complete supply chain traceability for all leafy greens it sells before the end of this year.

“Our customers need to know they can trust us to help ensure that food is safe,” said Charles Redfield, executive vice president of food for Walmart U.S. “These new requirements will help us do just that.”

Prior to the announcement, Walmart conducted extensive research testing new technologies. In one pilot using traditional supply chain processes, it took the company six days and more than 18 hours to trace a pack of mangoes from a store back to its point of origin. With a blockchain traceability solution through the IBM Food Trust Network, however, such information was available in just 2.2 seconds.

A letter from the company to suppliers said the goal is not just more data but faster gathering of quality information through technology. That letter outlines a goal to trace back leafy green products “within seconds, not days.” If growers want to continue doing business with Walmart, they will need to participate in endto-end traceability by Sept. 30, 2019.

Experts believe this move could serve as a tipping point for the food service industry. “If companies see their top competitors using it and gaining an advantage, they may quickly follow suit,” Treacy said. “Leafy greens are a starting point for obvious reasons,” although a logical next step may be traceability for all fresh food.

Through blockchain, all parties have access to information about product moves, typically through codes and advanced shipment notifications. Treacy said an important theme is not just safety but transparency, as companies can find and address inefficiencies in their supply chain. In many cases, codes are scanned in as a product moves from point to point to point, with companies able to pinpoint delays.

Traceability will not prevent the problem of contamination, but it can speed up the process of finding a source of contamination, he said. Currently, hospitals and medical centers report patient data to the CDC, which notifies the FDA. At that point, investigators begin to talk with those affected by the contaminated food to learn what they ate and where they purchased food during the previous seven to 10 days. Along with E. coli, listeria and salmonella are other major pathogens sometimes found in food products.

“It’s like putting a puzzle together,” according to Treacy. “We need to do our tracebacks more quickly, and it’s not good for business when you have product recalls.”

Yet as word of blockchain grows, interested companies are not just those wary of product recalls. Many are businesses looking to build their market base for the future.

“Many of our customers are companies that have decided to be proactive in their quality assurance to protect their brand,” Côté said. E. coli outbreaks in leafy greens may have prompted many companies to look at technology options to trace back the origin of food. “If people stop eating greens, it’s not good for the industry as a whole.”

Although improved food safety is a benefit of traceability, another is the ability to certify that products are as described on a can or bottle. One example from Intertek’s recent work involves jars of olives, Côté said. If a company says its olives are grown in Greece, a traceability application can provide that type of documentation. Intertek was asked by a company to do just this type of certification.

“With our integrity preserved programs, we are able to follow each aspect of the supply chain to ensure that customers’ claims are backed by certification,” he said.

A Proposition 65-mandated warning sign at a California Starbucks informs customers of cancer-causing chemicals that can be found in the establishment’s offerings. Producers doing business in California who want to tout their goods as free of pesticides or certain chemicals can back up their claims with certification made possible through traceability.

Samantha and Alice Flicker Feed

Another popular request from states and countries is to certify that a product is free of trace metals. Often these certificates are available electronically, but they also can be attached to the item for sale. Across the food industry, certification of products as organic is also a high-growth area.

For growers worldwide, the state of California is a significant driver behind the traceability trend. In that state, Proposition 65 requires companies to provide special warnings to consumers about pesticides and cancer-causing chemicals. If companies want to continue to do business in the state and succeed, many want to implement processes that certify their products as pesticide free.

“Consumers are aware of these trends, and companies want to do business in California,” Côté noted.

Yet another contributor is the Food Safety Modernization Act signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2011. Under the act, FDA has new authority to regulate the growing, harvesting, and processing of food. Central among the law’s new powers is the ability of the government to mandate a product recall. The agency continues to work on other far-reaching provisions of the law, including pilot projects, more than a dozen new rules, and a variety of guidance documents and notices.

Looking at the long term, consumers may not care much about the precise technology used to promote supply chain traceability. But the bottom line is that they want to know that their products are authentic and safe. As a result, these efforts can improve customer confidence and loyalty. “It’s better for the consumer if companies are proactive,” Côté said, “since consumers help drive all of this.”