Grocery Industry Supports FDA’s Extension of Food Traceability Rule Compliance Date
The grocery industry has welcomed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to extend the compliance date for the Food Traceability Rule by 30 months – until June 20, 2028 – giving businesses more time to comply with what FMI – The Food Industry Association has described as an “overly complex rule.”
“The final rule requires a higher degree of coordination between members of the food industry than has been required in the past,” FDA explained when it revealed the extension late in the afternoon of Thursday, March 20. “Even those few entities who are well positioned to meet the final rule’s requirements by [the original deadline of] January 2026 have expressed concern about the timeline. … Therefore, FDA intends to allow industry additional time, across all regulated sectors, to fully implement the final rule’s requirements.”
“While additional time is critical for efficient implementation across all sectors, we also strongly believe FDA should re-examine certain aspects of the rule to provide flexibility for the industry to improve traceability without unnecessarily burdening the supply chain and increasing food costs to consumers,” noted Leslie G. Sarasin, president and CEO of Arlington, Va.-based FMI, the trade organization representing retailers, suppliers and service providers, adding that the “extension is critical to allow the industry to meet the regulation’s intent while ensuring FDA is able to receive and utilize the data it needs to improve food safety more efficiently with the least impact on consumer prices.”
[RELATED: How Traceability Shortcuts Can Prove Costly to Food Safety]
Added Sarasin: “The food traceability rule is the most complex FDA regulation our industry has ever faced. Our member companies are spending millions of dollars every day to try to comply with its complexity, even as it is clear the rule is unworkable in its current form and may not achieve the agency’s stated goals. While we fully support efforts to improve traceability, we must ensure that FDA can use the information required by the regulation to improve food safety before billions of dollars and millions of hours are invested that will drive up costs throughout the supply chain.”
She noted that the extension “will make a tremendous difference to consumers in communities throughout the country who, by this action, will not experience avoidable food price increases. We look forward to working with FDA to ensure there is a reasonable timeline and application of the regulation so that food companies of all sizes can comply and keep America’s food system the safest, most abundant and most affordable in the world.”
The National Grocers Association (NGA), the trade association representing independent supermarket retailers, also expressed its support for the extension.
“Disproportionately impacting smaller grocers, the traceability rule’s original timeline was nearly impossible to meet across the vast and dynamic food system,” observed Stephanie Johnson, group VP government relations at Washington, D.C.-based NGA. “It quickly added exorbitant costs and operational complexity, threatening grocers’ ability to serve their communities effectively. The FDA’s decision to delay compliance provides much-needed relief for independent grocers, who would have been forced to pass these burdensome costs on to consumers.”
Continued Johnson: “NGA remains committed to working with the FDA and federal regulators to ensure our nation’s food safety policies are fair, effective, and practical for businesses of all sizes.”
Consumer packaged goods companies likewise approved of the agency’s action.
“Safety is the consumer packaged goods industry’s No. 1 priority,” the Washington, D.C.-based Consumer Brands Association, a trade organization representing the CPG industry, noted in a statement. “In order to protect public health, it’s imperative that the Traceability Rule be implemented in an effective and efficient manner and allows the time for cost implementation and compliance. The makers of America’s household brands are committed to adhering to the rule while continuing to rapidly effectuate recalls and facilitate traceback investigations.”
A warning note was sounded, however, by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit advocacy group.
While observing that the news would be hailed “by some members of the grocery store industry, which has lobbied President Trump to delay and gut the rule,” CSPI Director of Regulatory Affairs Sarah Sorscher cautioned: “In the year 2025, the United States has access to some of the best technology in the world for keeping track of products moving through the food system, yet we still have a hard time figuring out where a bag of lettuce came from and getting contaminated peanut butter off the shelves. This rule, when fully implemented, will shed new light on the inner workings of our food system. Unfortunately, this delay will only serve to keep the public in the dark.”
