Food industry leaders shared that they recognize the potential benefits of pooling confidential food safety data, such as strengthening predictive modeling and enabling earlier identification of emerging risks, but concerns about trust, liability, confidentiality, and competitive disadvantage continue to hinder data-sharing.
Regulation (EU) 2025/179, which came into effect on August 23, requires EU Member States to conduct WGS on five key pathogens during foodborne illness outbreak investigations. An interview with EFSA’s Dr. Frank Verdonck unpacks the new rule and previews the upcoming Science Meets Policy conference.
The session “Breaking Silos, Breaking Bias—Real Collaboration in Food Safety,” taking place on May 13 during the upcoming Food Safety Summit, will candidly discuss why cross-sector collaboration often falls short and offer practical solutions for breaking down barriers.
The third Science Meets Policy conference will take place September 2–3 in Rome, Italy, focused on helping EU competent authorities and industry members effectively implement new WGS data-sharing requirements for foodborne pathogens.
Integration between the companies’ networks and platforms supports compliance with FDA’s Food Traceability Rule and enables suppliers to earn the TraceApproved FSMA 204 traceability readiness badge.
The Institute of Food Technologists’ (IFT’s) Traceability Driver is a tool that automates the conversion of traceability data into compliant formats and comes with a built-in API for efficient data-sharing, strengthening interoperability across the food supply chain.
Western Growers and FDA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to improve fresh produce safety and prevent foodborne illnesses through a new data-sharing framework. The MOU is aligned with the Reagan-Udall Foundation’s recently published Roadmap to Produce Safety report.
Trace Register and ReposiTrak have announced a partnership to enable fast, simple compliance with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Food Safety Modernization Act, Section 204 (FSMA 204), also known as the Food Traceability Final Rule, through data interoperability.
bioMérieux and Mérieux NutriSciences have announced the launch of a new data-driven Trusted Third Party initiative, built with a group of global food industry partners to foster safe industry collaboration and to better anticipate and prevent food safety risks.
There is national interest in protecting public health by reducing foodborne illness from Salmonella in poultry. The University of Maryland, in partnership with IAFNS and Structured Partnerships, have been collaborating with USDA-FSIS through a Cooperative Agreement to support data sharing with the aim of reducing Salmonella illnesses in humans.
