Technology evolves by leaps and bounds each year, and for companies competing for business in the crowded field of food traceability, it’s no different.
Last year saw start-ups, new programs and better software as the produce industry poured more focus and money into meeting the Produce Traceability Initiative’s voluntary milestones. The goal of the PTI, led by the major produce trade groups Produce Marketing Association, United Fresh, and the Canadian Produce Marketing Association, is for full supply chain traceability from farm to retail stores by 2012.
Companies like RedLine Solutions Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., worked on software and hardware through traceability pilot programs in places like Salinas, Calif., while other companies such as KPG Solutions Inc., Longwood, Fla., and YottaMark, Redwood City, Calif., announced plans for or started new traceback platforms for consumers.
William Pape, founder and executive vice president for business development at TraceGains and AgInfoLink, Longmont, Colo., said the next milestone for PTI is placing labels containing Global Trade Item Number on cases of produce.
That step, he said, would be just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the complexity traceability vendors and their produce clients will face on the path to full compliance.
“I’m not sure all members of the community have achieved all of those previous milestones because the tangible evidence isn’t as visible as this coming step,” Pape said.
Traceability software and hardware still needs to improve enough to link together different components of the supply chain, Pape said, in a way that creates universally accessible data for everyone from federal regulators to retailers.
Kerry Farrell, vice president of sales and marketing for FoodLogiQ, Durham, N.C., said a big change for the company’s traceability offerings last year was building an entire traceability program accessible on the Internet, rather than designing an in-house software program for customers.
The portability and accessibility allow customers to get their programs started quickly, Farrell said, and Internet accessibility is likely to become a more common feature for traceability programs.
What’s really changed for traceability, Farrell said, is the growers’ connectivity and their needs for wireless data, speed and reliability for their on-the-farm technology.
Advances in traceability technology also means creating “collaborative tools where people can come together and share” like Wikis or Facebook forums, Farrell said — places that allow users to post questions and get help from other companies employing traceability programs.
Rob Bonavito, chairman and chief executive officer of iTradeNetwork, Pleasanton, Calif., said where traceability has made strides but still has a long way to go is creating a seamless link between growers and buyers that captures information about produce traveling through the supply chain.
“I think that’s really what the challenge is,” Bonavito said.