Food and beverage recalls reached the highest single-quarter in 2023 for four years. This is a concerning statistic on its own — and that’s aside from the alarming fact that the number of units impacted by recalls hit a 10-year high in 2022. Today’s onslaught of food contamination — from Hepatitis A in frozen fruit to listeria in charcuterie meat — are making consumers question the safety of our food system. Business leaders and everyday shoppers alike are wondering what, if anything, is being done to ensure the safety of our food supply chain. 

Every Summer, the food industry recognizes World Food Safety Day. Established in 2018 by the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organization (WHO), the event reminds governments and businesses of the 1,600,000 people who fall ill due to foodborne illness every day. The annual event, as well as Food Safety Month in September, is a time for industry leaders to examine their methods of preventing, detecting and managing foodborne illnesses to better protect future populations — and within the past year, there have been some notable advancements towards that goal. 

The FDA Sets New Food Safety Standards and Procedures 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has made two significant changes recently. In January 2023, they restructured the Human Foods Program, hoping that streamlining processes, strengthening oversight, and improving communication would enable the organization to respond faster to emerging risks and recalls.  

Additionally, in November 2022, the agency issued its new Food Traceability Rule under section 204 of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), to enhance supply chain traceability of high-risk foods as indicated on the Food Traceability List (FTL). The final rule builds on supply chain partners’ traditional “one up, one back” approach to traceability previously established by the Bioterrorism Act, improving record-keeping procedures and requiring more robust data collection. Now, anyone who handles foods on the FTL must capture and maintain records for certain critical tracking events (CTEs) with key data elements (KDEs). These products must have a traceability lot code, location information, and product dates for specific events along the supply chain, to name just a few requirements. All stakeholders must maintain these records for two years and, in the event of an investigation/recall, be able to provide records to the FDA in a sortable spreadsheet (at a minimum) within 24 hours. 

These pivotal changes, which will go into effect January 2026, seek to enhance the safety of our global food supply by addressing critical gaps in supply chain visibility, enhancing information-sharing among key stakeholders, and enabling faster removal of harmful products from the market.  

Industry Innovations Driving Consumer Awareness 

While the FDA’s mandates for food traceability and transparency are improving food safety on tracebacks, an industry-led initiative is revolutionizing product identification as we know it, leveraging 2D barcodes on individual products, commonly seen as QR Codes. 

These 2D barcodes not only encode more granular levels of product identification, they also enable brands to engage directly with consumers. The clickable codes can link to highly detailed information such as the product’s ingredients, where it’s sourced (down to the farm, field or row the item came from), and where it stopped in the supply chain before reaching its final destination. Consumers can easily access this information via a simple smartphone scan. 

PepsiCo recently added 2D barcodes to its bottles of Starry soda using GS1 Digital Link to web-enable their barcodes and provide connections to all types of business-to-business and business-to-consumer information. These barcodes allow consumers to easily access the product’s ingredient and nutritional information, sustainability and recycling details, and even loyalty rewards and curated content for further brand engagement opportunities. If a withdrawal of the product is needed, PepsiCo’s manufacturers can also use the codes to alert consumers, share pertinent safety information, and assist retailers in the product’s removal from the market.  

Pepsi’s integration of 2D is part of a wider movement by the industry, called Sunrise 2027, where retailers have committed to being capable of reading and processing 2D barcodes at point of sale in the next four years. The transition eliminates the need to place multiple data carriers (such as the UPC barcode) on package real estate, while also improving information-sharing, and driving increased consumers’ awareness of events that could impact their health.  

The Future of Food Traceability 

Today, time hinders food recalls, because delayed information on food safety hazards slows responses from regulatory agencies and retailers in order to pinpoint the source of the threat and take action. Our supply chain systems are complex, and products pass through so many hands from origin to destination that it’s often difficult for manufacturers to trace the sources of their direct suppliers’ raw ingredients. Inconsistencies in record-keeping across supply chains further compound traceability issues, since some suppliers digitized their systems, but others still rely on outdated paper-based processes. This lack of visibility and standardization leads to slower trace-back activity and recall reaction times, allowing foodborne illnesses to spread. This challenge causes retailers to expand recalls and pull extra product from their shelves out of an abundance of caution, leading to shortages, food waste, and revenue loss. 

But imagine a world where technology is used to connect a finished product with its own supply chain data, as well as any information pertaining to sources for its ingredients. With increased visibility, supply chain partners may respond to and support outbreak investigations more quickly and accurately. In this world, it would also be much easier to share pertinent food safety updates with consumers.  

The FDA and the food industry are working in tandem, to promote food safety and recall readiness. The FDA’s mandates enhance the food system and supply chain visibility, complementing the industry-led transition to 2D barcodes at point-of-sale, and thereby giving consumers unprecedented information about the products they buy and eat. Consumer safety depends on direct communication and enhanced traceability — because when it comes to our food supply, there’s no room for misinformation.  

Angela Fernandez is VP of Community Engagement at GS1-U.S.