The steering committee of the Produce Traceability Initiative met last month in Boston, where it agreed on several milestones to develop a whole-chain traceability system for the produce industry.

The North American industry-led effort to adopt traceability throughout the produce supply chain is driven by the Produce Marketing Association (PMA), the United Fresh Produce Association and the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA).

The committee, which is made up of more than 40 leading produce companies, agreed that companies throughout the supply chain must carry out a number of steps in order to enhance consumer food safety, protect brands and avoid legal liabilities. It was found that the industry needs rapid and precise recall, chain-wide external traceability and case level traceability to have more control, as well as reduce recall scope. In addition, dates for each milestone must be put in place to get commitment from retail and foodservice players.

Chair Cathy Green, chief operating officer of Food Lion, said: “There was remarkable participation and collaboration that took place both in our meeting and in various sub-groups to reach alignment on what is needed for whole-chain traceability. “We’ve reached a vital step to help companies know what needs to be done to ensure the ability of this industry to quickly and efficiently track and trace product up and down the produce supply chain. We are now moving forward to develop timelines as part of an overall action plan for industry implementation.

“We also look forward to getting feedback from the boards of the three associations that created the initiative - PMA, United Fresh and the CPMA - to ensure the support of our respective memberships. They will be the ones who ultimately will help drive our work forward.”

The steering committee will meet next in Chicago on June 12, to identify timelines for implementation of each of the objectives. The produce associations involved will reach out to other fresh food trade associations to ensure compatibility and alignment.

MUMS GETTING HEALTHIER

US mothers have reported that they are eating more servings of fruit and vegetables each day, according to the 2008 edition of Produce for Better Health Foundation’s (PBH) Generation X Moms survey.

Researchers found that daily consumption of fruit is up by three quarters of a serving, and daily vegetable intake is up a quarter of a serving on 2006 consumption levels.

However, they still report eating fewer servings of fruits and vegetables than they should be. This indicates that there is still room to increase fruit and vegetable consumption further, but the findings suggest that mums are ready to introduce more fruits and vegetables into their families’ diets.

The survey was designed to assess attitudes and behaviours in relation to fruit and vegetables and to track changes in these attitudes and behaviours over time.

Nearly all mums surveyed say fresh fruits and vegetables are very healthy, followed by frozen fruits or vegetables and 100 per cent fruit or vegetable juice, and there was a significant jump in the consumption of dried fruit.

This suggests that the Fruits & Veggies - More Matters message that all forms count is being received, retained and acted on.

Topics