The Food and Drug Administration announced in a teleconference this week that it will hold a public meeting in early December to address traceability systems for all foods, including fruits and vegetables.

United Fresh will be present to testify at the two-day meeting and will highlight the progress made by the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) toward achieving whole-chain traceability for fresh produce. United Fresh will coordinate with other PTI stakeholders in order to provide FDA with a comprehensive overview of the produce industry's efforts on traceability.

Held in collaboration with the USDA Food Safety and Information Service (FSIS), the meeting will take place December 9 and 10 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Jefferson Auditorium of the USDA's South Building, 1400 Independence Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. All attendees must provide a photo ID to enter the building.

As echoed by United Fresh, FDA realizes that federal food safety agencies need to increase the speed and accuracy of traceback investigations and traceforward operations. The meeting will provide a venue to discuss the core elements of product tracing systems, gaps in current product tracing systems, and mechanisms to enhance product tracing systems for food. FDA and FSIS also intend the meeting to improve the ability of FDA and FSIS to use the information in such systems to identify the source of contamination during outbreaks of foodborne illness, and to improve the ability of all persons in the supply chain to more quickly identify food that is (or potentially is) contaminated and remove it from the market during traceforward operations. This discussion will help FDA and FSIS determine what short and long term steps the two agencies should take to enhance the current tracing system.

For more information on the meeting, please view the Federal Register notice here, and for more on United’s efforts toward whole-chain traceability, contact United Fresh Vice President of Supply Chain Management Dan Vaché at 202-303-3400.