There are many issues that divide us as a nation. Food safety shouldn’t be one of them.
When the Food Safety Modernization Act was passed by Congress in 2010, it enjoyed bipartisan support. Still, here we are, and the implementation of FSMA’s Food Traceability Rule, also known as section 204, suddenly hangs in the balance.
After years of hard work by legislators, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), consumer groups, industry advocates, and food companies, there’s a movement afoot to delay or obviate the public health benefits of the Food Traceability Rule. But make no mistake: There is no way to ensure our food supply is safe if we can’t trace it from farm to store. Proven technology can help.
How we got here
The genesis of FSMA’s Food Traceability Rule was a string of high-profile foodborne outbreaks in the early 2000s. At the time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 1 in 6 Americans suffer from foodborne disease each year. A key goal of the Food Traceability Rule, therefore, was to better detect, pinpoint, and remove contamination in the food supply chain.
Soon after FSMA was signed into law, the FDA initiated a series of pilots to help identify and demonstrate the best ways to quickly and effectively trace food. Informed by those pilots, the FDA proposed a rule, held public meetings, and received public comment. The result was the final Food Traceability Rule, published in 2022 and setting a January 2026 compliance deadline.
The rule requires relevant participants in the food chain, with certain exceptions, to maintain data records for foods on the FDA’s Food Traceability List. This will be accomplished using traceability lot codes (TLCs) that track data about foods (key data elements) at certain junctures in their handling and distribution (critical tracking events).
The industry began to prepare. Notably, grocery giant Kroger recently announced it would track traceability data for all foods, not just those on the FDA’s list, and aim for compliance six months ahead of schedule.
But not everyone is on board. Two years after the rule was published, there are efforts to stymie enforcement. The argument: That its requirements are too onerous.
First came proposed legislation — the Food Traceability Enhancement Act — to delay compliance and eliminate the need for retailers and restaurants to record TLCs. Then came appropriation reports in the House and Senate that urged more pilot projects, followed by a two-year delay in compliance.
In our view, this would be a mistake.
Piloting low-cost traceability technologies without losing ground
Instead, the FDA could maintain the January 2026 deadline and the momentum already established by many in the food industry while granting enforcement discretion for those who legitimately need more time. On a parallel track, it could initiate more targeted pilots around specific use cases, including those that would, as the House and Senate appropriations language urges, “identify and evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of low-cost food tracing technologies.”
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While the rule did not require or specify particular technologies, the FDA has already studied tech-enabled traceability technologies, including low- and no-cost solutions. In fact, in 2021, the agency cited 12 winners of its Low- or No-Cost Tech-Enabled Traceability Challenge.
Among those winners were solutions built on what has come to be known as the ambient Internet of Things (IoT), a traceability technology platform that’s already being used in retail markets, including food distribution and grocery.
With an ambient IoT platform made up of wireless, stamp-sized, self-powered sensor tags and cloud-based data sharing and analytics, food products can be tracked through supply chains without manual intervention. Ambient IoT allows the automated sharing of traceability data among food producers, distributors, restaurants, and retailers. Plus, it offers a range of benefits beyond food traceability compliance, enabling greater supply chain visibility and operational efficiency.
Targeted FDA pilots that demonstrate lower cost and greater ROI — and show that the latest technologies can improve safety and the bottom line — would go a long way toward addressing concerns from industry and Congress. But it’s not necessary to delay the Food Traceability Rule’s compliance to do it.
We know what information we need to trace to keep food safe. Many have already started doing so. It’s time to move forward on that part of the equation and create a safer, smarter, more sustainable food supply system.
Frank Yiannas, is a former Food and Drug Administration deputy commissioner, and Steve Statler is the chief marketing officer of Wiliot, which operates an ambient IoT platform.