January/February 2022 - 14

DATA MANAGEMENT
TRACEABIL ITY
from the first receiver all the way to the
grocery store level. Our customers can
make all of this information available
in seconds to the various regulatory
bodies they have to deal with, whether
the FDA or any state department. ...
We also have the ability to include any
number of custom attributes, such as
cruise, import numbers and so on. Just
because it's not shown on the PTI label
doesn't mean it's not in the database.
Mike Anderson, iTradeNetwork:
To me, the First Receiver rule is like
when you send an email with a task to
10 people - no one is going to own it,
no one is going to be responsible for it.
I think the First Receiver is basically
saying 'somebody needs to be the
wheel,' and then everybody else is
copied on it. I think that is important.
Minos talked about the iFoodDS
solution, the iTradeNetwork solution
does the same thing. We capture all
the harvest, all the data of the supply
chain and keep it available in the cloud.
I think what's going to happen is that
instead of wondering if you're the first
receiver or not, you just will assume
you are and then partner with someone
who can store that data for you and
make it available to you.
Tracey: Do you know if foodservice
and/or retailers are going to have a
separate set of requirements for the
FTL and another set for products not
on that list?
Anderson: It isn't about the specifics
yet, but it is about the process. We have
all of these foodservice distributors
14 JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2 02 2
and retailers that know they're going
to have to do this - and this is a
data problem. We've got 65% PTI
coverage, which is awesome, but it
doesn't help me create an electronic
record that I can share with the FDA.
Either they have to figure out how to
convert physical labels to a digital
record, which no one wants to do, or
they need to get ahead of how they
capture that data in the first place.
That's really where we are focusing
with our customers now. They're not
planning to have a separate (set of
rules) on the FTL or not, but they
are starting with the foods that are
on the list. People may already be
getting contacted by some of these big
distributors to let them know they're
going to be collecting this data, so
they need to start providing the data
to them. The key is they're starting
now. If people wait until 2022, when
the rule is finalized to start doing this,
good luck being ready by 2025.
Athanassiadis: We're expecting that
our customers are going to treat all
fresh produce items consistently. The
produce listed on the FTL list make
up almost 40% of total produce, so it
doesn't make sense for receivers to have
two different requirements depending.
... If you look at how other industries
digitally track the movement of planes,
ride sharing or packaged goods, it's
clear that we must study how these
technologies can improve tracking
when it comes to food.
Treacy: There needs to be one
method - not just for produce -
but for all perishables because their
employees don't just receive produce.
Treacy: Does your system currently
capture all the critical tracking
event s
(CTEs) - grower ing,
receiving, creating, transformation
and shipping - required in FSMA?
Baggett: We capture all five of the
critical tracking events. One thing I
want to point out is that RedLine is
a little different than our other two
speakers in that we really focus on
the grower side. We work with the
retailers in passing the data through the
blockchain or ASN or whatever format
they want, but our focus is really on
the growing side.
Treacy: How are you approaching
the input number data requirement?
Anderson: Historically, (the input
number) hasn't been a data requirement,
but that's an example of where we have
broadened our reach to help with that
entire importing process. A couple of
examples: on the grower side, is being
able to help them clear customs faster,
being adding extra elements under our
traceability solution. On the buyer side,
for the large retailers, we now have
direct indigrations to their customs
brokers and their importers that we
can bring that data in.
Athanassiadis: The import number
is just one more data field, which our
system is very capable of handling. We
already have several customers that
have asked us to include additional
data fields in their traceability records
January/February 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January/February 2022
