June 21, 2024 — The Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) has issued a call-to-action to bring together industry experts to join a working group to support Terminal Market Operators with compliance with Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)204 Traceability Rule.

This working group will create a guidance document to support Terminal Market Operators in their FSMA 204 compliance efforts.

Those interested in participating in a working group should contact Ed Treacy, IFPA at etreacy@freshproduce.com

Just Published!
In an effort to prepare industry members for the implementation of FSMA 204, the PTI Master Data and Technology working groups have published an updated guidance document on Why and How to Use EDI 856 Advance Ship Notice/Manifest Transaction Set (ASN).

The objectives for this guidance document developed by industry participants of the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) are to:
• Explain what an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Advance Ship Notice (ASN) is and why companies may choose to implement.
• Outline business benefits derived from the use of an ASN.
• Detail how the ASN can be used to facilitate capturing the Global Trade Item Number or GTIN and corresponding Batch/Lot Numbers with only one pallet barcode.
• Provide specifications for how to implement an EDI 856 Advance Ship Notice for produce shipments.

Additionally, the PTI Technology working group has published the updated Best Practices for Formatting Case Labels that includes the updated version of the PTI harmonized case label. The only change to the PTI Harmonized case label is the addition of a horizontal line across the middle of the label to visually verify print quality.

The best practices described in this document are designed to:
• Utilize barcodes currently being used in the food industry.
• Utilize existing GS1 Standard data elements inside the barcode.
• Minimize the amount of information shown on the label to meet the needs to attain whole chain traceability.
• Accommodate multiple case sizes.
• Determine what information is necessary to include on the label.
• Determine what information should appear on the label versus what should be shown on the case in a human readable format (e.g. supplier/responsible party’s address, etc.) and,
• Provide receivers with standards from which they can build their case label record keeping systems.

For more information about The Produce Traceability Initiative visit www.producetraceability.org.

About PTI
The Produce Traceability Initiative, sponsored by Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA), GS1 US, GS1 Canada, and International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA), is designed to help the fresh produce industry to maximize the effectiveness of current traceback procedures, while developing a standardized industry approach to enhance the speed and efficiency of traceability systems for the future. The PTI’s bold vision outlines a course of action to achieve supply chain-wide adoption of electronic traceability of every case of produce. For more information, visit www.producetraceability.org.