A new public-private partnership, the Partnership for Food Traceability (PFT), has been launched to advance a shared vision for enhanced food traceability in alignment with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Food Traceability Final Rule, fulfilling section 204(d) of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA 204). The rule, the compliance date for which is January 2026, requires coordination across sectors, industries, company sizes, and business models for traceability, but it does not specify how that coordination should be achieved.

As an independent, sector-neutral forum for industry, regulators, industry associations, technical experts, and technology vendors, PFT aims to facilitate the wide coordination required to comply with the Food Traceability Final Rule. At present, PFT is the only independent forum that brings all parts of the supply chain together to make critical implementation decisions and define a shared vision for food traceability. The partnership includes participation from FDA, state, and local officials, enabling industry and regulators to share knowledge while working to advance traceability.

With a focus on defining business consensus and functional requirements for traceability, PFT is a forum for the exchange, gathering, and use of traceability data among supply chain partners. Additionally, PFT serves as an arena for technical implementation discussions among food industry stakeholders. The group will work toward defining a consistent set of business and functional requirements for traceability, a decision-making mechanism on industry’s traceability implementation, and an organized plan for how the industry can successfully migrate to enhanced traceability.

Resources and materials created via the public-private partnership to implement and comply with traceability requirements will be open-source. The organization will also identify additional pilot needs and coordinate public-private engagement in future pilots.

Although the Food Traceability Rule’s requirements for enhanced traceability and recordkeeping for certain foods do not mandate electronic traceability, the rule aligns with and is supported by FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety initiative, which aims to harness technology and data to advance food safety and traceability. With food companies increasingly employing electronic traceability, momentum toward electronic traceability has been created, which has simultaneously highlighted the complexities and cross-sector interdependencies needed to achieve that goal.

PFT has begun its initial member sign-on period and will hold Board Member elections in October 2024, with a goal of holding its first board meeting on October 23. For more information and membership application, visit www.PFTraceability.org.