PMA, the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), the International Foodservice Distributors Association (IFDA) and GS1 US have announced the completion of a pilot programme designed to measure the impact within the produce industry of using GS1 standard numbers to identify cases and their resulting benefits on traceability, food safety, supply chain efficiency and profitability.

The Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) is a 14-digit number that can be used on cases and pallets, and is essential in order to set up electronic commerce, barcoding, radio frequency identification (RFID), and reduced space symbology (RSS). The ubiquitous universal product code (UPC) found on virtually every packaged item in retail stores throughout North America is the most well-known representation of a GTIN. Participants in the PMA pilot included Wal-Mart; FreshPoint, a subsidiary of Sysco, Inc; BJ’s Wholesale; Tanimura & Antle; Duda Farm Fresh Foods; The Oppenheimer Group; The Giumarra Companies; and L&M Companies.

Findings confirmed that using GS1 standard numbers on cases provided pilot participants with an accurate and efficient way to manage and track the flow of information throughout the supply chain, which led to improved communication, reduced lead time and errors, and could ultimately bring down costs.

Wal-Mart merchandise manager, Mike Agostini, said: “The PMA GTIN pilot turned out to be a valuable learning experience for us. We consider ourselves to be fairly technologically-advanced with our buying systems; however, as a result of the programme, areas were brought to our attention that needed additional work. Every retailer should be seeing the benefits of GTIN case-coding, and should be actively working on where they are and what they need to do to make this a reality within their organisation.”

FreshPoint president and chief operating officer Brian Sturgeon said: “We now believe GTINs are an excellent traceability tool that will benefit the entire foodservice industry. The system provided us with evidence that using data standards along with barcode technology in shipping and receiving will help drive costs out of the supply chain.”

The documented outcomes of the programme include information about integrating produce into existing and future systems using GS1 standards, challenges encountered and their possible solutions, an assessment of required education and training, and strategies for effective implementation. The study, entitled GTIN: A Case for Streamlining the Supply Chain, is available for purchase from the four pilot programme partners.

“Adoption of standard GTINs is the single most important initiative the fresh produce industry can undertake,” said The Oppenheimer Group’s vice-president and chief operations officer, Doug Grant.