The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Board of Directors approved the launch of a new food traceability center designed to protect and improve the global food supply.
The Global Food Traceability Center will serve as an authoritative, scientific, and unbiased source for food traceability. Currently there is no single entity, public or private, that brings together key stakeholders in the agri-food system to collaborate on providing timely product tracing solutions.
This Center will assist companies to better trace the paths of products through the supply chain to improve food safety, mitigate risk and avoid devastating health consequences and economic impacts to the food system.
IFT executive vice president Barbara Byrd Keenan said that the centre will create a focal point where industry, academic institutions, government, foundations and consumer groups can discuss, collaborate, conduct research, adopt best practices and implement practical and actionable traceability solutions for the food system.
IFT has been partnering with regulatory agencies, academia and industry to conduct research, education and outreach in food science since 1999. IFT has been a visible leader in food traceability since 2008. In June 2012, IFT concluded two food product tracing pilots for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as mandated by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
The formation of the Center is the result of three Traceability Research Summits IFT held in 2011. These summits were a part of the Traceability Improvement Initiative (TII) launched by IFT with seed funding support from BASF Chemical Company, Underwriters Laboratories, and National Fisheries Institute. The industry views IFT as an unbiased visionary capable of managing conflicting viewpoints by focusing on science and not endorsing one particular solution.
Founding sponsors for the Global Food Traceability Center include Cargill Inc., Food Marketing Institute, GS1 US, International Association for Food Protection, Intertek Group, Lyngsoe Systems, Mars Inc., National Fisheries Institute, Produce Marketing Association, Wal-Mart and the University of Guelph.
IFT is a nonprofit scientific society, with more than 18,000 members from more than 100 countries, which seeks to advance the science of food. The society brings together food scientists, technologists and related professions from academia, government, and industry.
