Fill in the blank: PTI needs a .....

The Produce Traceability Initiative needs a(n) _______. How would you fill in the blank? I might say it needs an energy drink.

The last update to the Produce Traceability Web site was Dec. 3, 2009.

Gary Fleming, formerly the lead PMA expert on traceability and the PTI seemed less than optimistic about retail readiness for scanning produce cases as dictated by the PTI timeline, at least in coverage of the recent traceability event in Denver from Marler’s site Food Safety News.

From that coverage:

None other than Gary Fleming, who was one of the founding fathers of the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) is wondering whether enough retailers will demand use of the barcode-based tracking system to make its planned 2012 launch effective. Fleming is a supply chain expert and president of the Symolon Group.


Is the remark by Fleming surprising? Not so much, as it is merely acknowledging reality in a “permission to speak freely sir?” moment. We can safely assume Gary is still 100% behind PTI. Also, from the same story:

Dr. David Acheson, who was until the middle of last year Associate Commissioner of Foods at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said the agency promised "guidance" on traceability that was due out last October will probably never be released. Acheson, who is now managing director of Food and Import Safety Practice for Leavitt Partners, says now FDA is more likely to wait for Congress to pass food safety reform legislation and then just begin to implement the new law, which will contain some specific requirements on traceability.

I am not disputing that traceability is necessary the produce industry (in fact, we already have a good measure of it, don’t we?) , but huge questions remain about the issue:

What will Congress/FDA do regarding traceability regulations? In particular, how will smaller growers be accounted for? I don’t think we can expect the organic tomato grower in New Jersey to have the same traceability systems in place as a packaged salad manufacturer in Salinas. How Congress deals with traceability – and more importantly, how FDA translates the law into regulation – need to validate the effort and expense for PTI. Otherwise, the question will be asked, why?

Will traceability be mandatory? See above

What is the exact measure of participation/investment in PTI? Here is something that could be helpful;; there is a list of companies who “endorse the PTI” on the PTI Web site, including multiple retailers.   I would like to have each of those "endorsing companies" to provide monthly (or quarterly) updates on their progress on the various milestones. In other words, a retailer could say: “On track” for PTI implementation for scanning of inbound cases by 2011, perhaps adding an asterisk indicating their commitment to buy from PTI compliant suppliers when that day comes.

Where are the “best practices” for important milestones? They aren’t done yet.

From the PTI Web site:

Scanning of inbound cases (2011)
Q: Are there best practices for reading and storing this information off of each and every case of produce received?
A: The Best Practices for this activity are pending; it will be provided at a later date.

Scanning outbound cases (2012)

Q: Are there best practices for reading and storing this information off of each and every case of produce shipped?
A: The Best Practices for this activity are pending; they will be provided at a later date.

Perhaps setting the PTI timeline was premature absent best practices to execute it.

What is the cost to the supply chain? I have heard retailers sometimes figure what retail price they want to merchandiser produce at and then work backward to the supplier to get the f.o.b. price they need. Why not engineer the best traceability system you can get for x cents per case and make it happen? Can we have a Cadillac traceability system in a Nissan economy? The lack of a comprehensive study on the costs and benefits of traceability through the supply chain is a shortcoming to PTI.

One more thought: the PTI could have benefitted from more open trade press coverage of its meetings. In fact, why not open up the next meeting of the steering committee to the trade press? Creating a more transparent process may aid understanding about the need and urgency of the initiative, and could have help to measure the actual buy-in passion of participants.

The PTI needs.... . A three-year energy drink might be a place to start.

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