US-based YottaMark has announced that the adoption of its HarvestMark traceability system has crossed the 500m mark, with dozens of fresh produce brands across the US and Mexico now boasting the technology on its items and cases.
Widespread implementation of the system, which covers produce including berries, watermelons, peppers, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, cucumbers and table grapes, has meant that customers have been able to trace their produce back to the point of origin and give direct feedback to the grower or shipper.
The popularity of the system comes with traceability at the forefront of the fresh produce industry's thoughts in the US, with programmes such as the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) looking to drive changes to enhance food safety response programmes.
Indeed, a recent announcement from President Barack Obama's administration's Food Safety Working Group included the recommendation of a national traceback and response system, while pending legislation in congress could underscore the role of traceability in shortening the time between outbreak detection, resolution and recovery.
'We were encouraged to see that the Obama administration's report echoes the requirements articulated by produce commodity groups and the PTI, validating the efforts already underway by the produce industry and HarvestMark customers on both item and case-level traceability,' said J. Scott Carr, president and CEO at YottaMark.
'The HarvestMark solution helps speed response to food safety events and narrows the impact of future recalls by providing fast, on-demand access to product information, and the new connection created by HarvestMark enhances consumer confidence and brings new and valuable relationships to producers and food brands, creating value for grower/shippers,' he added. 'We're excited to achieve the half-billion milestone and look forward to continuing to act as our customers' trusted partner for traceability as new rules and standards take shape.'
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