Newswise — WASHINGTON D.C. --- As part of its ongoing commitment to offering solutions for pressing food fraud issues, the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Global Food Traceability Center (GFTC) submitted written comments on how to most effectively implement the recommendations from the Presidential Task Force on Combatting Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and Seafood Fraud.
While traceability is clearly identified as one of the four central themes of the Task Force recommendations, the GFTC asserts that 11 out of the 15 recommendations involve the need for traceability from catch to point of sale to the consumer. This perspective is summarized in the table here.
“Most of the resources, tools, and technology required for implementation of seafood traceability exist,” said William Fisher, IFT Vice President of Science & Policy Initiatives and head of the GFTC. “It is clear that there are compelling reasons for industry and governments to work together to respond to mounting pressures to implement or improve traceability in the seafood industry. The GFTC welcomes the opportunity to serve and assist the seafood industry and governments in moving seafood traceability forward.”
Read the GFTC’s full comments on the Task Force recommendations. In addition, the GFTC will be publishing a report on seafood traceability within the next month.
In September 2013, IFT launched the GFTC, a science-based, not-for-profit public-private partnership. It brings together key stakeholders in the food system to collaborate on traceability solutions and serves as an authoritative source about food traceability. It assists companies and government agencies to better understand the nature of food traceability requirements, to improve responsiveness and reliability in the event of food-related emergencies, and to increase the value and commercial benefits of food traceability.
For more information on the Global Food Traceability Center, please visit http://www.ift.org/gftc.aspx
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About IFTFounded in 1939, the Institute of Food Technologists is committed to advancing the science of food. Our non-profit scientific society—more than 17,000 members from more than 95 countries—brings together food scientists, technologists and related professionals from academia, government, and industry. For more information, please visit ift.org.
About the Global Food Traceability CenterThe GFTC is a public-private partnership program within IFT that was created for the express purpose of being the global resource and authoritative voice on food traceability. Its mission is to serve all parts of the food system (from farm to fork) by providing applied research, objective advice, and practical expertise about data collaboration and food product traceability for the purposes of business benefit and public good. For more information, please visit globalfoodtraceability.org
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