Grocery and convenience food distributors should prepare for new federal regulations on tracking where their food is coming from.
Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began rolling out data standards that connect the dots of where in the world food products come from and travel through to eventually arrive at retailers.
According to the FDA, the new rule known as FSMA 204 will “allow for faster identification and rapid removal of potentially contaminated food from the market, resulting in fewer foodborne illnesses and/or deaths.”
How does this impact the food supply chain?
If you process, pack, distribute, or supply wholesale foods, you need to review the Food Traceability List to find the food products that are required to show their path from farm to almost table. This list includes a variety of fruits, vegetables, dairy products, seafood, and more.
You have until January 1, 2026 to fully comply with the new data practices and requirements, but consistency across your supply chain is crucial, so get started as soon as possible to align all of your suppliers, customers, and partners.
How should you prepare?
The FDA provides guidance on the Key Data Elements (KDEs) you’ll need to capture and standardize across your supply chain. Work with your supply chain partners to make sure you’re capturing the required data, such as:
- Packing data
- Receiving data
- Shipping data
Mountain Leverage has been designing supply chain solutions that report on this data in meaningful, actionable ways for decades. Our team provides workflow execution systems that enhance data visibility while improving process adherence so all workers across multiple locations have standard, efficient, and compliant practices.
Food and grocery supply chain organizations that work with us experience better picking accuracy, faster order fulfillment, more streamlined training, and happier, more engaged employees due to the intuitive and comfortable nature of voice recognition. Reach out to us today and we can help find the right solution for your business.
