I’ve written before about the FDA’s Proposed Traceability rule, which is about making sure that in the case of an outbreak, the FDA can easily find the source of the food, whether that be a farm or an manufacturer. Until this rule was recommended, we mostly went by the one step forward; one step back rule for traceability. A number of outbreaks have shown that this rule isn’t sufficient as the time it takes to do the backwards traceability could cost lives as records are hard, if not impossible to match up.
The FDA’s food traceability rule is aimed at high risk fresh produce because that has been where most of the recent outbreaks have happened. Shelf stable packaged goods, like canned food, have several advantages over fresh produce because the lot code can go directly on the package. It is hard to put a lot code on a lettuce leaf or on a tomato.
Uncertain if your food traceability program is robust; schedule a call today. Let Food Safety Mid Atlantic put your mind at ease by checking your traceability plan.