Produce Traceability Initiative Progress

With 18 months left to go before the 2012 deadline for full industry implementation, the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) leadership is confident the completion date is realistic, and its end goal remains unchanged.

Advertisement

“Sure, there have been challenges, but if you look at how far many of the leading companies are with full adoption and implementation of the PTI recommendations, the industry has made great progress,” says Bryan Silbermann, president and CEO of the Produce Marketing Association (PMA). “We’re much smarter than we were two and a half years ago when we rolled out the timelines, and we’re learning as we go.”

Based on feedback from the industry about certain complexities within the PTI implementation process, as well as goals to be on track with the retail and foodservice sectors of the food industry, PMA and its fellow leading organizations in the PTI effort, United Fresh Produce Association and the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA), released their PTI Action Plan Restatement May 25, making further recommendations for strengthening produce traceability.

“A tremendous amount of progress has been made toward adoption of traceability standards,” the restatement reads. “But we also have heard clearly from a cross section of the industry that some aspects of the PTI are proving more complex than anticipated, that there is uncertainty in commitment across the industry, that solutions not originally anticipated by the PTI Steering Committee may offer cost-effective and efficient options in achieving PTI goals, and that meeting the identified milestones will be problematic for certain sectors.”

All Systems Go

Top Articles
Healthy Soils at Center of New $5 Million Initiative for California Citrus Growers

The PTI Steering Committee reaffirmed that using the standardized global data platform of GS1 and assigning Global Trade Item Numbers (GTIN) to each case of product remains the right approach to achieve whole-chain traceability by 2012. While the overall timeline is unchanged, what has changed is the moving of Milestones 4 and 5, calling for case labeling of produce, to coincide with Milestone 6, retailers recording inbound cases. This means that shippers have 18 months to be ready for handlers to receive properly labeled cases and pallets with hybrid pallet tags.

The change in target completion dates for Milestones 4 and 5 gives packers with complex high volume mixed product lines and field-packers more time to solve real operational challenges, and provides retailers with more time to get comfortable with the return on investment of the program, according to YottaMark, the company that provides HarvestMark.

“The fact is, 18 months is actually not very long,” the company stated in its “Traceability Insider” eNewsletter. “In our experience, although we can deploy a PTI solution in days, a complete program from start to finish, even for a typical seasonal shipper, can take months. Thinking this announcement provides a reason to defer PTI projects until sometime in late 2011 would be a mistake.”

Still, to reiterate that the PTI milestones are still voluntary, not mandatory, the PTI Steering Committee is calling the milestones “target goals.” The Steering Committee seems to want to drive produce industry compliance away from the trade associations and toward retailers and foodservice operators.

“PTI was never intended as a marketing tool; it is intended as a standardization tool,” says Silbermann. “However, the force of the marketplace will drive this initiative and the early adopters will be the companies with the advantage, not just in terms of market share, but also information.”

He adds that a primary goal of standardization is to prevent repeat orders and improve efficiency and communication, so the Steering Committee is working with leaders in retail and foodservice to encourage their commitment to traceability standardization.

In the foodservice sector, an initiative is under way to adopt GS1 standards and enhance supply chain efficiency and traceability. “The foodservice initiative started last year and in its strategy, it even referenced PTI, so it’s very important for us to work with them in lock-step,” Silbermann says.

Unfortunately, he adds, there isn’t the same kind of retail initiative to adopt standards for all foods. While there are ongoing conversations between the produce industry and other fresh food sectors, including meats, deli, baked goods, and seafood, so far the effort is not being coordinated across the entire food system. PTI is working on strengthening its alignment with other fresh food initiatives so retailers can see the value in using the same GS1 standards across all fresh food categories sold in their stores.

“It is important to growers, shippers, and distributors to be united with the retail system, and the faster that the whole food industry adopts the GS1 standards, the easier it will be for retailers to justify the expense, get the technology to capture information, and use the system,” Silbermann explains.

Traceability Transparency

The PTI process has raised questions from many produce industry members about best practices and practical, cost-effective solutions at every stage of the supply chain. These include the best ways to label cases in field packing, exchange GTIN data between seller and buyer or a common data pool, and capture outbound data from a retail distribution center to individual stores taking advantage of current voice-pick systems in warehouses.

In response, a number of pilot programs are well under way, operating under the auspices of a new PTI working group. The programs should address specific challenges identified by the different sectors, and include use of different technologies and solution providers to evaluate multiple processes, and be transparent to all industry members. The pilots are being run by growers, packers, and shippers of all sizes, across different commodities. The PTI Steering Committee has enlisted help from commodity groups and other trade associations, as well. Those running pilots must agree to disclose all information to the industry about the products, and as pilots are completed, PTI will make a thorough review. PTI will not in any way endorse specific products, but suggests products found to be the best solutions for the industry will likely be adopted. The pilot program working group is one of many that will operate under all new PTI volunteer leadership, Silbermann says. “Under the new leadership group will be a series of working groups, which will allow us to tap into what is going on in the industry, communicate issues, and help hammer out the kinks.”

0

Leave a Reply

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

I am a watermelon shipper. The National Watermelon Association has tried to get the Agriculture department to omit the watermelon from the melon category. The only way that watermelon can get salmonella is for the melon to be cut with a knife that has salmonella on the knife. The Agriculture Department should omit this product from the melon category.

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

You must check out our website. We specialize in produce traceability labeling for any size growers.

website address: agrilabeltag.com

Good day!

Al

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

I am a watermelon shipper. The National Watermelon Association has tried to get the Agriculture department to omit the watermelon from the melon category. The only way that watermelon can get salmonella is for the melon to be cut with a knife that has salmonella on the knife. The Agriculture Department should omit this product from the melon category.

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

You must check out our website. We specialize in produce traceability labeling for any size growers.

website address: agrilabeltag.com

Good day!

Al

Avatar for Daniel Daniel says:

My company specializes in Produce Traceability. Give us a call to help with any PTI needs or questions you may have. www.lcesystems.com

Advertisement