Technology tracks food from farm to table (Wapo)

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Technology tracks food from farm to table

Systems to reduce food-borne illnesses represent major adjustment for food

industry By LYNDSEY LAYTON, WASHINGTON POST

Published: Monday, January 24, 2011 at 4:01 a.m.

In response to a new federal food safety law and growing consumer interest, vast

amounts of new data are being generated about the complicated path that food

takes from field to supermarket shelf.

And, increasingly, some of that information is being offered to curious

shoppers, who in some stores can wave a smartphone above an apple or orange and

learn instantly where it was grown, who grew it and whether it has been

recalled. They can even contact the farmer, if they feel moved.

A provision of the federal food safety law passed last year requires that all

players in the country's food supply chain be able to quickly trace from whom

they received a food product and to whom they sent it. They'll have to maintain

that information in digital form, creating deep wells of information that, in

some cases, consumers could tap into through their computers or cellphones.

The " one step forward, one step back " traceability requirement - for processed

food and produce - is designed to make it easier for the Food and Drug

Administration to identify the source of an outbreak of foodborne illness, trace

its path and swiftly remove it from the food supply.

The new requirement represents a major adjustment for some parts of the nation's

food system, as the government imposes standards and electronic record-keeping

on an industry where small players still rely on handshakes and paper invoices.

The FDA has had trouble quickly pinpointing the source of national outbreaks of

food-borne illness, a task complicated by a lengthy food supply chain where

tomatoes might change hands five times from farm to store.

Many in the food business already are using traceability technology, mostly

relying on bar codes that can be affixed after harvesting to a piece of fruit or

a crate.

But the new law has triggered a small gold rush for technology companies angling

for a piece of an emerging market, which covers food other than meat, poultry

and egg products. They are competing to develop the tracking technology and

manage the data.

Some are experimenting with radio frequency identification and other

sophisticated methods, including etching identification codes on produce with

lasers or micro-percussion markers that make tiny indents.

" They each believe they have the holy grail product tracking solutions sitting

in their laptop, " said Acheson, former assistant commissioner for food

protection at the FDA. " Somebody is probably going to make a bundle of money out

of this. "

Under the new law, the FDA must launch pilot projects by September, then report

results to Congress and issue more specific rules by 2013. Exactly what systems

will ultimately look like, how they will work and how much they will cost is

unclear.

Chang, who leads the traceability initiative at IBM, said the company is

basically taking the tracking system it uses for the pharmaceutical industry and

adopting it to the food business.

He said traceability helps not only with safety but also allows companies to

hold their partners along the chain accountable for moving food quickly and

avoiding spoilage.

" It's about allowing people to make more intelligent decisions by providing

accurate, instrumented data, " he said.

Segments of the food industry have been required since 2005 to be able to trace

" one step forward, one step back, " but not farms or restaurants.

But according to a 2009 investigation by the Department of Health and Human

Services's inspector general, most food facilities surveyed did not meet those

requirements and 25 percent didn't even know about the law.

The need for better traceability became clear after a national outbreak of

salmonella illness in spring 2008 that sickened more than 1,300 people across

the country.

Initially, investigators at the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention identified tomatoes as the culprit, and warned the public against

consuming them. But more than a month later, FDA investigators correctly

identified the source of the outbreak as peppers from Mexico. The delay was

partly because of the chaotic record-keeping of the growers, distributors,

wholesalers and retailers, Acheson said.

In the meantime, the cost to tomato growers in Florida alone was estimated at

about $100 million.

While the traceability system will improve the tools available to the FDA,

Acheson cautioned that tracking an outbreak will still take time.

" It still involves the FDA going to the local Safeway, finding out who they

received it from and they've got to go to those three suppliers and do the same

thing, " he said. " They'll be more efficient, but it won't achieve the desired

speed to shut it down. "

In some cases, companies are going beyond the federal requirement and making a

portion of the traceability information available to consumers, who are

increasingly interested in the way food is produced.

HarvestMark, based in California, has developed a two-dimensional bar code

sticker that can be placed on individual fruits and vegetables or packaging.

Shoppers can scan the sticker with a smartphone or go to the HarvestMark website

and enter the number from the sticker to learn the path the food has taken and

other information the farmer chooses to share, such as the harvest date.

" There's been a very rapid sea change in consumer behavior, " said Elliott Grant,

the chief marketing officer for HarvestMark. " With very high-profile food

recalls, cellphones and iPhones, people have been trained that they can access

information very quickly. They want to know, 'Where does this come from and is

it safe? How far has it traveled? What are the growing practices?' "

HarvestMark is being used by more than 200 companies, including the national

chain Kroger's, which is applying it to all of its private label fruits and

vegetables in its more than 2,400 stores.

Not only does the technology provide information about the food, but it also

allows the consumer to send a comment to the farmer, Grant said. " You can click

a button and tell the farmer 'These are the greatest strawberries I've ever had'

or whatever. . . . It's about using technology to put people back in touch with

the people who grow their food. "

That's new for Bauman, a 42-year-old watermelon farmer in Washington

state. Bauman bought the HarvestMark system for his Pasco farm about three years

ago because Costco required a tracking system.

But Bauman, who is a member of the Old German Baptist Brethren, does not own a

television, use e-mail or have Internet service. HarvestMark provides him with a

laptop computer and pre-printed bar code stickers for his melons. And during

harvesting, he takes the laptop to a bank or some other place with Internet

service to upload the data to HarvestMark.

One day, he was surprised to get a letter from an unhappy customer who had

tracked down his address from the HarvestMark sticker. Using the code, Bauman

traced the melon and discovered it had been picked in August but purchased by

the customer in October.

" We called him back and said we're really sorry , " Bauman said. " Then I

complained to the chain and said my name is on this product that's out there for

two months. This system gives the end user - the customer - the option to be

more aware of their products and where it comes from. And I think there will be

a higher level of accountability, on our end of it, too. "

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