New technologies enable companies to comply with FSMA traceability requirements in an automated, labor-efficient way.
PG: What are ways to remove some of that friction?
FY: As we see people developing their compliance plans, we applaud how many of them are trying to comply by leveraging GS1 standards. People who are trying to comply by using GS1 standards will find compliance with the food traceability rule to be much easier.
Also, people are very creative and in a decentralized food system, they are figuring out how to comply in different ways, including high-labor, low-tech and no-labor, high-tech models of compliance. You could do it with paper records, but now in 2024, you see people leveraging some technology. There is simple printing and scanning of 1D and 2D barcodes, which still requires some labor.
One of the reasons I decided to work with Wiliot is they have a next-generation emerging technology that is an evolution of RFID. The Wiliot Pixels offer a different wavelength than RFIDs and can be read with devices that are all around us for a fraction of the cost. It’s a low to no-labor, high-tech solution.
SS: This platform is Bluetooth – it’s like apps in your phone. You can have different apps running, and food safety is one of them.
Food safety is the catalyst, and giving customers information about the food they are eating is another thing. This provides assistance to those staffing the store, to help with more accurate information.
PG: Let’s talk about one area of concern: The possible circumvention of the traceability rule through the use of Advanced Shipping Notices that notify deliveries sent from shippers to receivers. Why is this a potential problem?
FY: ASNs are a good thing – if you are running large warehouses, it’s good to know what’s coming in so you can plan your day. But while ASNs play a certain role in the rule, they are not sufficient for verification of receiving. Even some of the largest retailers and food companies in the world are not 100% accurate. If mistakes happen in food safety, that can result in illnesses.
Everyone wants to simplify and are trying to confirm what foods are truly received, but doing it with ASNs alone does not comply with a receiving event and if we do that, we could be passing bad information along the food chain.
PG: The stakes are high for bad information.
FY: I was talking to a large company this week about the cost of compliance, and I said, ‘The cost of compliance is a lot cheaper than the cost of an outbreak.’
Rather than using shortcuts, there is a way to use automation in the collection of data that let people do something that’s safe and meets the letter and the spirit of the law, and also have more accurate supply chains.