Is Your Business Ready for FSMA 204, The Food Traceability Rule?
Prepare your business for the Food Traceability Rule by downloading our free 7-Step Compliance Checklist.
FSMA 204, aka The Food Traceability Rule, sets additional food traceability recordkeeping responsibilities for businesses who manufacture, process, pack, or hold specific ‘high-risk’ foods that are named on FDA’s Food Traceability List. These traceability requirements are being introduced to allow for rapid identification and removal of contaminated foods.
The final link in the food supply chain, retailers and grocers who work with foods included on the Food Traceability List must take proactive steps to get up to speed before the enforcement deadline of July 20th, 2028.
Critical Tracking Events (CTEs): Businesses impacted by FSMA 204 need to monitor activities at certain points throughout the food supply chain, where foods are handled, moved, transformed, and may be at risk of contamination. The FDA has listed 7 CTEs in total. Critical Tracking Events that impact food retailers primarily relate to the shipping and receiving of food.
Key Data Elements (KDEs): Organizations are required to keep a record of specific traceability data (i.e. KDEs) related to the associated critical tracking events. The data you need to provide will vary depending on the activity.
The retail market is constantly subject to recalls and FDA audits will be transformed under FSMA 204.
Routine auditing or outbreaks of foodborne illnesses can prompt an investigation that identifies a certain batch of food as contaminated. In this event, retailers need to act quickly to identify where that batch of food originated, in order to conduct a thorough recall.
At the final stage of the food supply chain, food retailers and grocers face a unique set of challenges. Food retailers need to maintain active and ongoing communication with their suppliers, ensuring that they maintain compliance throughout.
In order to comply with the Food Traceability Rule, retailers must maintain accurate traceability records for up to 24 months, though some exemptions may apply.
Prepare your business for the Food Traceability Rule by downloading our free 7-Step Compliance Checklist.
Learn about the rule and the core requirements Understand your own specific food traceability duties Put a plan in place to help you comply Be part of creating a safer, more transparent supply chain 