The US has found a new food traceability champion – in New Zealand. Rfider is a winner in the “Food and Drug Administration (FDA) New Era of Smarter Food Safety Low or No Cost Food Traceability Challenge”.

It is the only company outside of North America to get the FDA accolade, and Rfider will now be promoted widely by the FDA as part of its “New Era Smarter Food Safety” campaign.

Chief executive John Pennington says the validation of Rfider as globally capable comes at a time when countries like the United States are encouraging firms to voluntarily adopt tracing technologies in all sectors producing human and animal foods.

The FDA says about 48 million people in the US (1 in 6) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die each year from foodborne diseases, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Now it is taking a new approach(link is external) to food safety, leveraging technology and other tools and approaches to create a safer and more digital, traceable food system. The goal is to “bend the curve of foodborne illness in the United States by reducing the number of illnesses”.

Rfider has developed a next generation digital food traceability platform. “Anyone in the supply chain network can be up and running in minutes, collecting critical event data in a highly efficient way, without the need for costly integration or app development – we’ve taken care of that,” Pennington says.

“Frontline staff at every point in a food’s supply chain, from growers through to logistics providers and distributors can now scan products to access mobile first tools which simply traceability and provenance information capture. Consumers can also scan the same codes to get real-time updates on an item’s safety, allowing them to make more informed purchase and usage decision.

“Take our coffee customers, for example. We not only help them trace every lot of beans from harvest to consumer, but we also empower a significant number of process and supply chain efficiencies along the way. Transparency is becoming a major untapped source of value, which could be turned into a competitive advantage for brands that are built on integrity and sustainable practices.”

The FDA challenge comes off the back of its “New Era of Food Safety Blueprint(link is external)”, which has been designed to enhance traceability, improve predictive analytics, respond more rapidly to outbreaks, address new business models, reduce contamination of food, and foster the development of stronger food safety cultures.

 

For more information in Rfider’s tools go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46p619D14SU(link is external)

For more information about the FDA Traceability Challenge go to:

https://www.fda.gov/food/new-era-smarter-food-safety/announcing-winners-fdas-low-or-no-cost-food-traceability-challenge(link is external)

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/fda-voices/fda-seeks-innovative-food-traceability-tools-and-opens-dialogue-advancing-food-safety-technology

Source: https://exportertoday.co.nz/