– OPINION –
By Brian Ronholm, Director of Food Policy for Consumer Reports, and Frank Yiannas, Former Deputy Commissioner, Food Policy & Response, FDA
We have both dedicated our careers to promoting food safety and protecting the public. Collectively, we have done this at the height of federal service delivery, in consumer advocacy, and within the private sector. That’s why we believe we are well qualified to provide perspective on the need for better traceability capabilities across the food system.
Once a foodborne outbreak is discovered, one of the most important details needed is to identify the food product causing the illnesses and remove it from the market to prevent new illnesses. It is critical to ensure this is achieved with speed, accuracy and specificity.
However, recent legislative proposals would undermine the current recordkeeping requirements in the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Final Food Traceability Rule. We felt inclined to write this column because if these proposed changes are implemented, it would harm the FDA’s ability to identify sources of outbreaks and protect consumers when unsafe food reaches the market.
Historical context
As a reminder, Congress passed the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) in a bipartisan manner and President Obama signed it into law in 2011. As part of FSMA, Congress specifically directed the FDA to develop a Food Traceability Rule, also known as Section 204. This requires manufacturers of certain foods to improve food traceability, recordkeeping requirements and data sharing capabilities during an outbreak investigation. That was 13 years ago.
Shortly after the FSMA law was signed, the FDA conducted traceability pilots in collaboration with industry and the Institute of Food Technology (IFT). The lessons learned from these pilots have been incorporated into the current Traceability Rule.
However, after initial pilots, the agency failed to make timely progress, resulting in a lawsuit for failing to meet this requirement. Fortunately, the FDA met its obligation under a court-approved consent decree and issued a Final Food Traceability Rule in November 2022, more than eleven years after the FSMA was signed, with a compliance date of January 20, 2026.
The need for better traceability has never been greater
With countless foodborne outbreaks still taking too long to resolve, especially over the past year, the evidence continues to show that FSMA was right: the need for better food traceability capabilities cannot wait.
Fortunately, we are now seeing real progress being made and we cannot allow this momentum to be stopped. In fact, some of the nation’s largest retailers have already begun communicating to their suppliers what they expect them to comply with with the FDA’s Food Traceability Rule before the FDA compliance date.
Breakthroughs in food traceability are occurring today primarily because of key components of the FDA rule, including the creation of Key Data Elements (KDEs), Critical Tracking Events (CTEs), a lot code for food traceability, as well as a list of foods (FTL). ) to which these additional data retention requirements apply. The rule also requires covered food entities to provide required food traceability information to the FDA within 24 hours if requested.
Overall, the rule’s requirements will enable FDA and food companies to quickly identify and remove contaminated food from the market and, in turn, prevent foodborne illness and strengthen consumer protections.
Resisting calls for delays or changes that would make the rule ineffective
Despite this great progress, recent efforts by certain industries will undermine the rule. If the legislative language is pending in Congress, the FDA would need to conduct additional pilot studies and delay the rule’s compliance date. Alarmingly, this language would also not require restaurants, grocery stores, and warehouses to maintain traceable lot code information or provide traceable lot code information. If this provision were adopted, it would have the effect of undermining the traceability rule.
Requiring traceable lot codes at the point of service – including retail stores and restaurants – is critical to resolving outbreaks. Without lot code information at the point of service, the outbreak investigation process would have similar ineffective capabilities to those currently in place that have resulted in consumers being exposed to contaminated food for too long. The current system also results in overly broad consumer advice that could harm food producers whose products are not affected.
Polls show that our bosses, the consumers, want the rule to go into effect as written
While better food traceability will benefit all stakeholders, consumers will benefit most and do not want further delays. A recent Harris Poll survey found that a majority of American adults — more than half of the survey’s 2,088 respondents — oppose efforts that would limit the scope of the traceability rule and delay its enforcement. Only 23 percent of respondents think it is too difficult for companies to comply with the rule.
As is the case with all meaningful progress, there will always be a few who are critical and resistant to change. However, this is not the time to stop or slow things down. There has been too much progress and momentum, and consumers deserve and expect the food system to quickly trace products to their source during a food-induced crisis.
We both appreciate the work the FDA has done to finalize the traceability rule and educate the industry on how to comply. On behalf of consumers everywhere, we urge Congressional leaders to reject efforts to eliminate the requirement for traceability lot codes in retail and foodservice, and we certainly urge Congress to reject requests for further, substantial delays.
Simply put, there is too much at stake and better food traceability cannot wait.
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