On user fees and traceability

David Acheson, assistant commissioner for food protection for the FDA, meets with reporters after his Jan. 14 session in New Orleans.

After the session, I asked him about the idea of charging each food facility an annual registration fee that would be used to help fund the cost of food safety inspections. Some consumer groups are lining up behind that proposal as a way to provide resources to the FDA. Those groups believe that an annual registration inherently has less conflict of interest than a fee for service approach.

Acheson said that the FDA's Food Protection plan mentions two fees, and both are fees for service. "We haven't taken a position on user fees per se, but at the end fo the day we will have to have resources and it is up to everybody about where to generate resources," he told me.

Acheson also praised the produce industry for "stepping up to the plate" for their efforts to make traceability work. While the FDA would like to prevent future outbreaks rather than react to them, he said traceability is a critical component to limit damage to an industry if an outbreak does happen.

Meanwhile, here are highlights from a joint press release from PMA, CPMA and United about the traceability steering committee:

The steering committee of the Produce Traceability Initiative, an industry-led effort to adopt traceability throughout the produce supply chain, met for the first time Jan. 9 in Atlanta to develop an action plan for establishing industry traceability best practices and goals for their adoption and accountability.
The initiative was launched in October 2007 by Produce Marketing Association (PMA), Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA), and United Fresh Produce Association (United Fresh). It is guided by a steering committee of more than 30 companies with balanced representation from the buying and selling community, including participants from all segments of the supply chain.

During its first meeting, chaired by Food Lion LLC Chief Operating Officer Cathy Green and facilitated by Perishables Group Executive Vice President Steve Lutz, the committee addressed a broad range of traceability issues facing the produce industry today. Overall, the group concluded that systematic and consistent application of common standards across the supply chain is needed to enhance chain-wide traceability, building the next critical step beyond many of the excellent internal traceability systems that exist within many different companies.

The committee reached agreement on four key elements for implementing industry-wide traceability standards.

First, the group confirmed past industry support that the GS1 produce traceability standard developed by the international standards organization GS1 (formerly known as EAN-UCC) is the most efficient worldwide approach to achieve system-wide (i.e., both internal and external) traceability, and should be widely adopted as the produce industry standard.

Second, it was agreed that a formal industry timeline for adoption of standards is needed. Steering committee participants agreed to begin evaluating what might be required to implement GS1 standards within their own operations, and will report back at the next committee meeting on recommended implementation timelines.

Third, the committee agreed to discuss ways in which companies could best show their support and commitment to adoption.

Fourth, the group agreed that traceability standards should be adopted at the case level initially, as the backbone of supply chain traceability. However, the committee encourages companies to move toward item-level coding as feasible, as many produce products are now packaged for the consumer, thereby offering a viable option for providing traceability to the item level.

The steering committee will meet next in February or March to form subcommittees that will address specific elements, such as setting timelines for adoption.

TK: No huge surprises with the traceability steering committee's first meeting. It will be significant, as subcommittees meet in February and March, if the group can quickly produce a timetable for adoption of traceability implementation.