IFT's Global Food Traceability Center has launched an Enterprise Traceability Education Suite, which empowers organizations to train their employees on key traceability concepts, prepare for incoming regulations, and take steps to reduce the impact of recalls. From a basic awareness of food traceability principles to detailed guides on how to design, implement, evaluate, and enhance an organization’s traceability system, the self-paced courses are thoughtfully designed to educate professionals across all levels and business areas.
The educational courses are designed to offer an efficient and affordable solution to aid with compliance with the FDA’s Food Traceability Rule, which was announced in November 2022 as part of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The Rule, which goes into effect in January 2026, is estimated to impact more than 320,000 domestic firms operating over 480,000 establishments as well as more than 60,000 international firms operating over 68,000 establishments.
IFT Chief Science and Technology Officer Bryan Hitchcock, said:
Compliance with the FDA's Food Traceability Rule is going to be a long, complex journey with many organizations lacking the resources to educate staff on where or how to get started. The Enterprise Traceability Education Suite will help organizations create a traceability plan and get its staff aligned on traceability best practices moving forward.
The suite of courses includes:
• Traceability Awareness: Train the Trainer and Plant Staff Resources – raise awareness of basic traceability principles, definitions, and best practices for staff,
• Traceability Fundamentals: Cross-Functional Manager Training – learn the importance of traceability and how it impacts business functions and outcomes, as well as how to support traceability best practices for risk management,
• Traceability Implementation: Step-by-step Guide to Designing a Traceability Plan – provides instructions, examples, and interactive worksheets to help learners evaluate, design, and implement a comprehensive traceability program for business operations.
A virtual open house will be held on January 16, 2024. A live demo of all three expert-developed courses will take place and attendees will have the opportunity to ask IFT’s in-house experts any questions to become compliant. Register for the Enterprise Traceability Education Suite Open House Webinar.
Learn more about the traceability education suite.
Part of the Institute of Food Technologists, the Global Food Traceability Center develops resources, tools, and training and offers customizable services to help industry, regulators, and NGOs implement end-to-end, event-based, interoperable traceability. Since the FDA announced the Food Traceability Rule last year, the Global Food Traceability Center has created a variety of educational tools to aid in compliance, including: commodity-specific videos, a href="https://www.ift.org/-/media/gftc/library/gftcwhitepaper-fdafoodtraceabilityrule-january2023.pdf" target="_blank">white paper overview of the traceability rule, a href="https://www.ift.org/-/media/gftc/pdfs/ift-tech-insights-fda-nolowcost-traceability-report-2023.pdf" target="_blank">report based on the FDA's 2021 Low- or No-Cost Tech-Enabled Traceability Challenge, and a joint issue paper developed in collaboration with the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology.
Learn more about the Global Food Traceability Center.