The Next Frontier

摘要

THE produce industry is clearly at an important crossroads, facing one of the largest issues in a generation with the development of the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI), an industry-wide effort to streamline and standardize case-level traceability by 2012. Although the initiative does involve significant time and money investment for everyone, it also presents opportunities for increased business efficiency, in addition to helping speed up food safety traceback investigations. Ultimately, a more efficient and transparent system for electronically tracing food through the supply chain will protect consumers and produce industry members. Throughout the supply chain, industry members should already be able to trace their product one step forwardand one step back on paper, as required by law through the Bioterrorism Act of 2002; however, industry leaders have recognized that a more systematic, industrywide approach could enhance overall supply chain traceability.