While the meat, poultry, dairy and RTE markets have had to take action for traceability and food safety, fruits and vegetable processors have largely lagged behind. Certain categories, especially leafy greens and similar commonly consumed raw products, have been forced to adapt tracing protocols. This is especially those that felt the actual impact of recalls and the work to track down lots. But, most vegetables have stayed in a “our product is made to be cooked, first” mentality. They haven’t yet felt the pain of a RCA request from the FDA, nor the economic impact of an adverse event.
As they say, the times… they are a changing.
In September, the FDA released it’s new list of foods that have to have traceability. They now include:
| Food traceability list | Description |
|---|---|
| Cheeses, other than hard cheeses | Includes all soft ripened or semi-soft cheeses, and fresh soft cheeses that are made with pasteurized or unpasteurized milk. |
| Shell eggs | Shell egg means the egg of the domesticated chicken. |
| Nut butter | Includes all types of tree nut and peanut butters; does not include soy or seed butters. |
| Cucumbers | Includes all varieties of cucumbers. |
| Herbs (fresh) | Includes all types of herbs, such as parsley, cilantro, basil. |
| Leafy greens, including fresh-cut leafy greens | Includes all types of leafy greens, such as lettuce, (e.g., iceberg, leaf and Romaine lettuces), kale, chicory, watercress, chard, arugula, spinach, pak choi, sorrel, collards, and endive. |
| Melons | Includes all types of melons, such as cantaloupe, honeydew, and watermelon. |
| Peppers | Includes all varieties of peppers. |
| Sprouts | Includes all varieties of sprouts. |
| Tomatoes | Includes all varieties of tomatoes. |
| Tropical tree fruits | Includes all types of tropical tree fruit, such as mango, papaya, mamey, guava, lychee, jackfruit, and starfruit. |
| Fruits and Vegetables (fresh-cut) | Includes all types of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables. |
| Finfish, including smoked finfish | Includes all finfish species, such as cod, haddock, Alaska pollack, tuna, mahi mahi, mackerel, grouper, barracuda, and salmon; except does not include siluriformes fish, such as catfish. |
| Crustaceans | Includes all crustacean species, such as shrimp, crab, lobster, and crayfish. |
| Mollusks, bivalves | Includes all species of bivalve mollusks, such as oysters, clams, and mussels; does not include scallop adductor muscle. |
| Ready-to-eat deli salads | Includes all types of ready-to-eat deli salads, such as egg salad, potato salad, pasta salad, and seafood salad; does not include meat salads. |
- Yes, that says not only leafy greens and cucumber, but “all types of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables”. It also includes items that are cut as they go forward with other processing steps or co-mingling. As stated, “The proposed rule would require persons who manufacture, process, pack, or hold foods on the Food Traceability List (including foods that contain foods on the list as ingredients) to keep certain records describing their traceability operations and the listed foods they handle to help FDA investigators understand their traceability procedures and records when reviewing them during a foodborne illness outbreak or a routine inspection. These traceability program records include a description of the reference records (e.g., bills of lading, purchase orders) in which they keep required tracing information, a list of foods on the Food Traceability List they ship, a description of how they assign traceability lot codes, and other information needed to understand their traceability programs.”
That being said, we want to talk about what we are doing to address this. First of all, we have many levels of controls, ranging from VFDs all the way to simple HMIs. We’re also integrating more and more sensors into our higher-level control systems, and adding remote connectivity. These can be integrated with the rest of your systems to digitize and streamline your operation, and help you track everything in realtime. We’re also discussing additional tracking options and data analysis platforms, and looking forward to helping add that resource to the mix.
This digitization can be applied for your entire processing line, from our infeed hoppers to our conveyors to our huskers, cutters and scalpers, to our washers and blanchers. It doesn’t have to be isolated to packaging, you can watch it all, and mitigate the likelihood of recalling or dumping an entire lot.
Let us know when you’re ready to discuss your needs and plans to digitize your processing operation.