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The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) says it will issue new rules on labeling so that “domestic farmers and ranchers do not have to compete with foreign companies that mislead consumers”.

The top-to-bottom review of the “Product of USA” meat labeling term announced on July 1 is part of USDA’s effort to level the playing field for independent family farmers and ranchers.

The USDA “Product of USA” meat labeling announcement came on the same day that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finalized a new rule to deter rampant “Made in USA” fraud.

Technology is changing the entire world around us, and food is not excluded. Technology is allowing consumers and suppliers to better track and trace the exact origins of every ingredient that goes into any type of product that they are manufacturing or purchasing.

Traceability has many benefits associated with it, and may soon affect the way consumers purchase products and what they eat. Here are just a few of the key ways that traceability may soon impact consumers. 

For almost 20 years now in the United States grocery store consumers have been able to identify which country many of the commodities in their shopping cart come from thanks to a "cool" idea – specifically the Country of Origin Label (COOL) legislation.

The labeling law requires certain retailers, mostly grocery stores and supermarkets, to identify the country of origin of certain foods such as perishable agricultural commodities (fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables), peanuts, pecans, ginseng, macadamia nuts, wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish, and muscle cuts and ground chicken, goat, and lamb.

The industry-led Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) is boosting consumer confidence and food safety by working to achieve standardized, electronic track and trace procedures across the supply chain.

A voluntary, industry-wide effort started more than a decade ago, PTI seeks to maximize the effectiveness of traceability procedures, while enhancing the speed and efficiency of track and trace systems for the future.

In an ideal world all our meals might be farm-to-table, consuming food like Americans did 200 years ago when 90 percent of the population lived on farms and produced their own food to eat. The reality, however, is that most of the food on our fork today is the product of an increasingly complex global food supply chain tasked with feeding the planet’s 7.8 billion people.

To ensure safety, security and sustainability in this complex situation, the food and beverage industry relies on traceability to follow the path food takes from the field or farm to our tables, connecting the dots every step along the way.

The public has its third and final chance on Dec. 2, 2020 to comment on a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed rule to establish additional traceability recordkeeping requirements for certain foods. The virtual one-day meeting from 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. EST follows similar meetings on Nov. 6 and Nov. 18. Registration is required to attend the meeting and space is limited.

Almost a decade in the making the FDA’s “Food Traceability Proposed Rule” was published on Sept. 23, 2020. The rule is mandated by Sec. 204(d) of the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA) passed by Congress in 2011.

Today, more than ever before, food traceability is crucial for a number of reasons. With the increasing introduction of imports as well as changes in industry practices and consumer preferences, food traceability allows a company to protect the safety of its products. In addition, a company using food traceability can prove its compliance with the Bioterrorism Act of 2002 as stipulated by the FDA.