TRUETRAC Blog

By Ray Connelly, President – TRUETRAC

There’s no question that demand for locally grown food is trending upward. Today’s consumer holds the perception that locally grown is generally better, and the small grower down the road cares more about his operations than one far away.

As a result, grocery stores across the country are positioning their operations to support the small grower and “Buy Local” movements as best they can.

Many retail grocery stores across the United States and Canada have extensive local grower programs. In some newspapers, Sunday advertisements are chock full of promotions touting small and local growing operations.

It’s widely perceived among consumers that locally grown food tastes better, is better for your health, is safer, and that by purchasing it, they’re helping the local economy.  Who can argue with that kind of marketing? Certainly not us! The problem facing the industry is that our food system is intensely complicated. As much as we may want to support the locally grown movement, it’s just not possible to get the diversity of healthy fruits and good-tasting vegetables to your table, 52 weeks a year, all from the small grower down the road.

And who’s to say that the guy down the road really does a better job anyway?  Does he follow good food safety practices on a daily basis?  Has he complied with the proper food safety audits? Does he have a traceability system in place? Does he follow the standards of GFSI? Do the workers wash their hands, wear protective equipment or are they allowed to work while sick? And do we really know the water isn’t pumped from contaminated sources, or that the runoff from his livestock pens is controlled? For all we know, he could even be employing child labor.

There’s also is the issue of food safety regulations. The Food Safety Modernization Act was passed in January of 2011 and in it, there was a provision to exclude Read the rest of this entry…

By Ray Connelly, President – TRUETRAC

How would you describe a license plate? A simplistic answer would be a series of letters and numbers punched onto a thin sheet of metal. However, this mixture of letters and numbers remains devoid of meaning or importance until that plate is affixed to a car or truck. It’s at that point that a license plate acquires all sorts of identity.

Produce case and pallet labeling are similar to license plates. With the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI), numbers on case labels represent and point to the real identity of the contents of a box of fresh fruits or vegetables. These symbols identify the company, product and lot number, providing specific context to the contents of the box for all participants in the supply chain — not just your company.

The TRUETRAC license plate, in its basic form, is the key to product identity. It’s the common thread that links the box back to the packing process, location, shipping point and growing location of the product. In addition, that little label can further link to even more information, giving the handling companies quick and easy access to all that is known about that case or sack or bin or container.

At TRUETRAC, we view this “license plate’ as a Read the rest of this entry…

Last fall’s disastrous cantaloupe outbreak and recall is over, but the produce industry is still reeling from the repercussions. The outbreak was traced to Jensen Farms in Colorado, and by the time it was curtailed, 13 people died, 146 became infected and a pregnant woman suffered a miscarriage.

With California’s cantaloupe season beginning just next month, a number of government and industry agencies are holding hearings and meetings to discuss ways to improve the safety of cantaloupe.

California’s Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) will hold a public hearing in Fresno on March 12 to consider changes to the California Cantaloupe Program. That meeting has been called at the request of the California Cantaloupe Board.

The discussion will include establishing and enforcing best agricultural practices specific to cantaloupes, as well as setting up procedures for mandatory food safety audits that would verify every handler’s compliance. Also up for conversation are possible disciplinary actions for handlers that Read the rest of this entry…

Editor’s Note: In today’s blog post, Ray Connelly, president of TRUETRAC, retraces the predicament that befell a sandwich chain owner whose customers suffered ill effects from bad sprouts. What’s chilling about this tale is the franchise operator’s “make it all go away” solution to his produce woes.

“Stick a fork in it!” says Jimmy John’s, the sandwich chain that’s done with serving sprouts between two slices of bread. Jimmy John Liataud is the founder of the Illinois-based gourmet sandwich chain that has been linked to five E. coli outbreaks since 2008.

A total of 14 people in six states have become ill from clover sprouts sprinkled in the sandwiches served up by Jimmy John’s national chain of sandwich shops.

Liataud said late last month that he’s pretty much fed up with the whole E. coli catastrophe, claiming there’s just too many inconsistencies in the quality of the sprouts that are delivered to his chain stores from their suppliers.

So what Jimmy’s done to minimize his legal risk is to drop sprouts entirely from his menu. That’s right, Jimmy John is done with sprouts beginning now and lasting — well, forever, he says!

Oh, there’s one franchise owner out there that claims Read the rest of this entry…

As a part of the ever-evolving Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has just issued a ruling that gives it near-immediate access to records from all sectors of the food industry.

This interim final rule means the FDA can gain access to records for food suspected of being contaminated within 24 hours of asking for them. In fact, the agency can demand records from company’s whose food it “reasonably believes” is likely to be infected, thus presenting a health risk for U.S. citizens.

This new ruling — which is not to be confused with the long-awaited Produce Rule — nonetheless underscores the importance of accurate recordkeeping practices by growers and others in the industry.

What the ruling means is that when the FDA has a reasonable belief that an article of food is adulterated and presents a threat of serious adverse health consequences or death, any records or other information must be made readily available for inspection by the FDA. And those records must be accessible no longer than 24 hours from the time a grower or company receives an official request for such records.

This makes it imperative for those of us in the fresh produce industry to Read the rest of this entry…

In the produce industry, there are usually only three reasons to consider an increase in the net cost of doing business. Change happens, the business evolves, and not all business changes cost more. But when changes must be made, accompanying costs are never welcome unless there are some pretty good underlying reasons. Here then, are the trio of reasons that are typically cited for accepting addition costs to business operations:

Reason I: My customers told me I have to do it — “Guilty as charged” you say, because what the customer wants, the customer usually gets.  Remember when everyone had to get onto the iTrade system? Or what about WalMart’s RFID initiative, or putting small PLU stickers on each piece of fruit? Each of these “requests” came as a result of customer pressure. The customer said “jump” and the industry said “how high?”

Reason II: A government agency said we had to comply — As an example, food safety and worker safety have become an increasing large slice of the annual budget. Looking back however, regulatory factors haven’t always been considered a national priority as they are today. These days the industry can talk eloquently about OSHA, USDA regulations, the FDA and industry groups like the LGMA. Programs from these agencies are an increasing fact of life and have been woven into the daily fabric of doing business. They cost the industry real money, and are largely based upon legislated rules.

Reason III: This change will create efficiencies and save money — If a change results in some form of operational efficiency we’re all onboard. And many things fall into this camp. Such efficiencies include streamlining packing operations, growing mega-yielding tomato varieties in a hothouse, replacing stiff conveyor belts with water flumes, manufacturing elaborate field-harvesting equipment or using various ripening gas to speed or slow the respiration rates of our fruits and vegetables.

Now what if — on the back of the Produce Traceability Initiative — the fresh produce industry itself could gain some efficiencies? What if, as a byproduct of these traceability requirements, we could actually further streamline our operations? What if we could cover the incremental costs of the PTI because of alternate, but related business efficiencies, and achieve overall savings from other areas of our operation?

Value sometimes comes from the strangest places. Raw innovation often emerges from the unlikeliest of Read the rest of this entry…

Sr. Business Analyst Becky Bazabal

The way Becky Bazabal describes it, her job entails working with users to design software — which pretty much means she writes blueprints for developers. Becky is currently redesigning our CropTrac^TM application, which is an integral part of the suite of solutions offered by TRUETRAC. That being said, let’s just go ahead and analyze this analyst a little farther.

Meet Becky:

TRUETRAC: What did you do prior to coming to work for TRUETRAC?

Becky: I have over 11 years of experience designing and developing software for the agricultural industry, doing everything from the analysis, design and development to testing and user training. I have spent countless hours riding around in pickups with farmers and harvest managers while they explain the intricacies of agriculture and what makes it tick. And I’ve designed and developed a couple of other applications similar to CropTrac. Needless to say, I’ve been around the block — or the field — a time or two.

TRUETRAC: What attracted you to come to work for TRUETRAC?

Becky: The opportunity to do what I love, which is working with farmers and the agricultural community. The joke around the company is that they used my resume to write the job description. I wasn’t exactly looking for a new job but when I saw the job posting I couldn’t pass it up. It’s been a blessing working with such a talented and hardworking group here at TRUETRAC.

TRUETRAC: Where did you go to college, what did you major in, and how did that prepare you for the job you have today?

Becky: I’m an Aggie. I graduated from UC Davis with a degree in Read the rest of this entry…

Late last month, The California Farm Bureau Federation’s (CFBF) weekly newspaper, AgAlert, came out with an informed editorial about how we as an industry should be reacting to public demands for a change in our agricultural practices and in particular, the management of resources.

In recent years, consumers have displayed a growing awareness — and concern — about how food reaches the table from the fields. Everyone it seems is weighing in on the issue of preserving this huge globe we all live on, and everyone it seems has a differing opinion on how that is to be accomplished. Hosts of television cooking shows, book writers and filmmakers, as well as members of the health-care industry are challenging the way we run our industry, according to the AgAlert editorial.

Written by Tom Nassif, CEO of Western Growers, and Paul Wenger, president of the CFBF, the article asks how our industry can respond to concerns about ineffective production techniques, the waste of natural resources, the use of pesticides and fertilizers, air and water quality issues and the social challenges of establishing sustainability. In addition, the writers ask, how do we as an industry join the conversation without sounding defensive or combative?

The editorial’s asserts there’s no doubt we need to Read the rest of this entry…

It’s been a full year since President Obama signed into law the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) in ceremonies that touted the legislation as the most sweeping reform of food safety laws since 1938. Put simply, the new law is intended to ensure the safety of food in the United States by shifting the focus from merely responding to food-borne outbreaks to actually preventing them in the first place.

To be sure, progress has been made over the past 12 and a half months, with strong support for a seamless food safety program coming from those in the food industry, a consumer populace that is proactively pursuing the goals of the FSMA, and a variety of government partners.

The new bill gives the Food and Drug Administration more power to act when E. coli and salmonella outbreaks occur, including the ability to institute recalls, strengthen inspections, and demand that everyone along the food supply chain maintain tougher standards for keeping food safe.

So how is this food safety legislation stacking up a year after its enactment? Food Safety News, a daily Web-based newspaper dedicated to reporting on issues surrounding food safety, recently interviewed an FDA commissioner to gain insight on progress being made, as well as problems the agency still faces in imposing the new law.

Michael R. Taylor, J.D. is the deputy commissioner for foods at the FDA. What we want to do here is highlight some of the notions, predictions and thoughts he put forth in a recent Food Safety News conversation, beginning with progress in enacting the new legislation. Here are some of the issues culled from that interview: Read the rest of this entry…

In the long march toward implementation of the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI), several documents have been updated by the initiative’s sponsor organizations (United Fresh, CPMA, GS1, and PMA), which taken as a whole, supplement previous milestones and highlight some important details coming our way.

Since there is no “one size fits all” in the fresh produce industry, the PTI’s leadership has assembled committees of knowledgeable industry veterans across retail, distribution, packing and technology, all of whom are working hard to recommend sound solutions and tackle known challenges so the rest of us don’t have to. These committees, and the people behind them, are working to navigate our industry, with its labyrinth of complexity, toward the greater good of PTI compliance. From time-to-time, documents are created and updated as questions are asked and solutions come to light.

Click on any of the items below for some of the more recent available updates:

• Best Practices for Product Substitutions (updated: February 3, 2012)
• Best Practices for Preparing to Assign GTINs (updated: February 3, 2012)
• Best Practices for Formatting Case Labels (updated: February 3, 2012)
• Data Synchronization: Growing Method Codes (updated: February 1, 2012)
• Data Synchronization: Grade Codes (updated: February 1, 2012)
• Data Synchronization: Commodity and Variant Codes (updated: February 1, 2012)

While we won’t go into the details of all the updates here, it’s important to point out that these documents may very well contain specifics that pertain to your operation and may alter the way you may implement PTI. Read the rest of this entry…