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With food recalls at a five-year high and the upcoming Food Traceability rule poised to transform the industry, now is the time for businesses to enhance their data practices. Despite a potential delay in the rule's implementation, the need for standardised, accurate data across the supply chain is urgent. Roger Hancock (left), CEO of Recall InfoLink, and Matt Regusci (right), a supply chain compliance expert, discuss the importance of improving traceability and recall effectiveness through better data management, collaboration and technological integration, ensuring safer food and more efficient recalls.

The good news is that the new Food Traceability rule aims to improve food recalls by facilitating faster identification and removal of contaminated food from the marketplace.

The less great news is that the implementation date may be later than the anticipated January 2026 deadline. There’s also ambiguity around what requirements will be upheld for compliance. The lack of data standardisation will make the execution and enforcement of the new rule very difficult.

A pressing need for traceability through better data

Food recalls have recently reached a five-year high, with many foods – including crabmeat, candy, macaroni salad, walnuts and more – being recalled because of contamination from listeria, Salmonella, E.coli, foreign objects and undeclared allergens.

Unfortunately, the food and beverage industry lacks standardised supply chain traceability processes and data, which causes confusion, inaccuracies and delays during time-sensitive recalls. That means contaminated products often remain in the marketplace longer, jeopardising public health.

Food businesses, regulators and consumers hoped that the Food Traceability rule would force companies to get their compliance 'ducks in a row,' but a possible delay in the deadline means companies may push this to the backburner, waiting to address their traceability practices until there’s more definition around the requirements.

That would be a mistake!

Organisations should still elevate their data practices now to protect their customers and reputations, and improve recalls. The benefits of strong data practices are worth the effort now – well before regulatory requirements come into force.

Traceability and data challenges

A major challenge food and beverage businesses face when improving their traceability efforts is understanding how products are moving through the supply chain to better identify (and remove) potentially contaminated items.

Consumers, regulators and industry peers have increasingly been demanding better traceability and stricter policies in light of the recent rise in recalls.

During a recall, visibility and traceability are essential to determine what happened, the extent of the contamination and where the contaminated products travelled. But when supply chain partners use different data, systems and processes, it hinders visibility and obstructs recalls.

Disparate data makes it difficult to precisely pinpoint the whereabouts of contaminated foods, hindering efforts to remove them quickly and completely.

Tips to improve data, traceability and recalls

To successfully improve recalls, companies must boost traceability, which can only happen if all supply chain partners improve their supply chain traceability data practices. So, how can they accomplish this?

Even though there’s no nationally or globally recognised product data set, food and beverage businesses can still collect, store and provide standardised data for all their products, using resources like GS1.

Prioritise data management: Pay close attention to how you gather, receive, store, maintain, clean and share your data to ensure it is always comprehensive and consistent. Also, consider the usability of your data: Is it customer-centric? Can your warehouse, store or consumer easily understand what the data conveys? Is it presented in a way that enables actionable insights?

Use tech tools: Tech tools are vital for managing, storing, analysing and interpreting your data. They help ensure data accuracy and enhance the transparency of the information you share with supply chain partners. In fact, tech platforms are revolutionising data management and the recall process.

Collaborate with supply chain partners: Build and maintain strong relationships with your supply chain partners to ensure seamless data flow. Use centralised information repositories that enable real-time sharing, access and updates with your partners. This approach is valuable for day-to-day operations and absolutely critical during a recall, where time and accuracy are paramount. Remember: a connected supply chain is a safer supply chain.

 Standardise, simplify and streamline: When companies standardise processes, streamline protocols and simplify workflows, executing reverse logistics during a recall becomes much easier. This ensures that data is already in place to efficiently identify, trace and remove recalled products. Effective data management also connects the supply chain, making everyone’s job easier and achieving the end result – safe food and safe consumers – faster and more effectively.

Moreover, these practices simplify compliance with regulations beyond just traceability, as the necessary information is readily accessible.

Create 'recall ready' communities within your supply chain: Become 'recall ready' by using standard data and recall processes, and practising with your trading partners. Communicate about data expectations and look for opportunities to integrate and build interoperability into your processes.

Practice recalls, by doing mock recalls, with your trading partners to ensure everyone knows what data needs to be sent and received, and so that any knowledge or process gaps can be addressed. There’s also growing industry precedent for requiring standard data from suppliers. Kroger, for example, is going to require the same dataset from all their suppliers by 6/30/25, as publicly announced, well in advance of the new rule’s deadline, regardless of whether the item is on the food traceability list.

Final thoughts

While the new Food Traceability rule will help make foods safer (and recalls more effective), the 2026 deadline, which is still a year and a half away, may get extended even further. Meanwhile, the food industry, regulators and consumers are demanding immediate improvements.

Food and beverage businesses must improve their data management, traceability compliance, and process standardisation now – well in advance of the upcoming deadline – because it will significantly improve their recall responses at a time when recalls are at a five-year high. An environment of traceability is essential for a safer food supply – and better data management is key to this effort.