Food safety, traceability and sustainability blog

The New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint

The FDA has released the long-awaited strategic blueprint for the New Era of Smarter Food Safety initiative. Learn about their vision for the future of the food supply chain.

The Food and Drug Administration announced their much anticipated strategic blueprint for the New Era of Smarter Food Safety, an initiative for advancing modern, technology-driven approaches to food safety leadership. The strategic initiative was launched in 2019 and focuses on four major pillars: 

1. Tech-Enabled Traceability and Foodborne Outbreak Response
2. Smarter Tools and Approaches for Prevention
3. Adapting to New Business Models and Retail Food Safety Modernization
4. Food Safety Culture

The new blueprint elaborates on the four core elements that will be driving the initiative, in addition to stating the values and principles the FDA aims to advance through their work. Building on the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the New Era is designed to forge stronger food transparency at the nexus of policy, people and technological innovation. In the months since the launch of this new initiative, there has been a public meeting, as well as an opportunity for public comment on the FDA’s design and approach. Through these venues, the FDA announced that over 1500 stakeholders have helped shape the initiative since its launch last year.

Frank Yiannas Opens GS1 Connect: Digital Edition with a Continued Focus on Tech-Enabled Traceability

Frank Yiannas discussed the New Era of Smarter Food Safety in a post-COVID world, the importance of tech-enabled traceability, and the shared value of a digital supply chain during the GS1 Connect: Digital Edition keynote.

GS1 Connect: Digital Edition launched today, kicking off a virtual rendition of the organization’s annual conference. The event is dedicated to topics surrounding the role of supply chain and unique identification, how GS1 Standards help organizations adapt and collaborate, as well as exploring how supply chain advancements relate to the ever-changing consumer experience. This year, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the program has taken on a new digital format with a hybrid of live and recorded content for attendees to engage with at-will. FoodLogiQ’s own Vice President of Supply Chain Strategy and Insights Julie McGill will be speaking at this year's event on traceability during her presentation, The New Era to the New Normal.

Frank Yiannas: A New Era of Smarter Food Safety

Frank Yiannas joins the FoodSafetyMatters Podcast to discuss tech-enabled traceability in the New Era of Smarter Food Safety.

With the proposal for a new rule on traceability slated to be announced in September 2020, the FDA is striving to be thoughtful about how the agency will support food brands in adopting new business models and standards surrounding Key Data Elements and Critical Tracking Events, as well as an increased emphasis on new innovative approaches to food safety.  Listen to the episode featuring Frank Yiannas below.

Tech Enabled Traceability in the Food Safety Supply Chain

FoodLogiQ’s VP of Supply Chain Strategy and Insights Julie McGill will be discussing how technology is advancing supply chain transparency with AIM North America on February 26th, 2020 at 12 pm ET.

In response to FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety, the AIM North America Food Policy Working Group has launched a webinar series to facilitate dialogue around a more intelligent food supply chain. FoodLogiQ’s Julie McGill will be joining AIM North America as part of this series for a discussion on tech-enabled traceability in the food industry.

A New Era of Smarter Food Safety Public Comments

The FDA’s public meeting held in October, 2019 highlighted the need to bring both public and private industry partners together. It will take tremendous collaboration to advance a New Era of Smarter Food Safety at scale. Public dialogue around food safety and traceability is essential to accomplish the goals of this new campaign, which will be people-led, FSMA-based, and technology-enabled. To contribute to public discourse, FoodLogiQ has formally submitted comments on the initiative, read the full version of our statement here.