Traceability/Recall

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There are numerous reasons why every stakeholder in the global food supply needs to be thinking about traceability and why it’s important to them.  

When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation Network began operating in August 2011, it was structured to respond to foodborne illness outbreaks in three interdependent phases.

Why is traceability suddenly so important? It depends on who you talk to—public health, business, supply chain, consumers—all are key stakeholders in food traceability.

Traceability is the ability to verify the identity, history, location or application of an item by means of documented information about it.

Tracebacks are painstaking efforts that require investigators to be both detectives and scientists.

Traceability is designed to help food companies manage relationships, safeguard their food supply chains and protect their brands. But any supply relationship is fraught with risk. The answer? Transparency.

Traceback litigation usually follows one of two events—a recall or consumer-launched lawsuit. Can you guess how these epidemiological cases played out?  

When it comes to food, there is limited regulation, control or intervention unless there is a problem or failure in the supply chain.

An interview with William Fisher, M.Sc., CFS, Institute of Food Technologists on the launch of the Global Food Traceability Center.