United VP of Supply Chain Logistics Dan Vaché (center) with Dr. Xuetong Fan, USDA-AMS (left) and Chuck Martin, ACME Markets (right)

Education highlighted United Fresh Vice President of Supply Chain Management Dan Vaché’s presentation on traceability during the eighth annual conference of the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association in Harrisburg last week.

"In addition to simply complying with the milestones of the Produce Traceability Initiative, it is important for merchants to understand the reasons for and forces behind the creation of each," said Dan. "I was particularly impressed at the number and depth of questions from the attendees. There is a strong need for continued education across the industry on the processes involved in PTI compliance."

The conference comes as retailers in Pennsylvania and across the country begin to formulate their internal PTI teams, many with a sense of urgency to meet the initiative’s seven milestones to be completed by 2012.

The cost of the PTI's implementation, a subject raised by many in the industry, was one that again surfaced in Harrisburg. But as one participant stated, "The cost of a recall is a monster to the supply chain and we need an industry wide process to minimize the market impact when there is a food safety issue".

For more information on the PTI and United’s efforts on traceability, contact Dan at 202-303-3400.