In North America, the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) Leadership Council has announced that it has agreed the fresh produce industry needs to stay on course with PTI implementations based on the use of standardised product identification with Batch or Lot Numbers, encoded in GS1-128 barcodes on case labels for improved traceability and precise recall preparedness.
The announcement was made by the Leadership Council – which represents 32 companies in the fresh produce industry – at its semi-annual meeting last week, which took place in conjunction with FMI Connect and United Fresh 2014 in Chicago.
“The PTI Leadership Council continues to encourage companies large and small in the produce industry to follow PTI best practices,” said Mike Agostini, senior category director for produce at Wal-Mart Stores, and co-chair of the PTI Leadership Council. “In just seven months of PTI implementation at Wal-Mart, we have seen significant increases in PTI case labels on products, and we are already seeing important benefits in supply chain efficiencies resulting from our implementation.”
The Council also emphasised that industry-wide adoption of the use of Advance Ship Notice, an electronic data interchange transaction for exchanging traceability data, as well as the outbound recording of the GS1-128 barcode data on cases of produce from distribution centers to retail stores and foodservice operations, are critical to ensuring that the vision of PTI is fully realised.
The Produce Traceability Initiative, sponsored by Canadian Produce Marketing Association, GS1 US, Produce Marketing Association and United Fresh Produce Association, is designed to help the industry maximise the effectiveness of current traceback procedures, while developing a standardised industry approach to enhance the speed and efficiency of traceability systems for the future.
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