Food Microbiology

Statement of the problem: International food supply chains have made tracing contaminated food products back to their source difficult and time-consuming. Once a contaminated food product has been identified, investigators must first retrace its journey backwards from the retailer through one or more distributors to its original manufacturer, farm, or ranch. Once investigators have discovered the original source, investigators must then reverse course and trace the product’s route forwards through the supply chain this time from farm to manufacturer, through distributors, and to all its ultimate retailers. Currently, traceback investigations can take weeks or even months. Traceback investigations are complicated because: (1) there is no single database for tracking food products through supply chains from their original source to their ultimate consumers; (2) not all supply chain information is digital and critical supply chain information exists only in paper documents; (3) paper documents must be physically gathered to reviewed by investigators; (4) our food supply chains are now international, with food products routinely shipped from farms in one country to markets in another country or continent; (5) often investigators live in the market country, not the country of the product’s origin; (6) there may be language or interpretation barriers; and (7) the food supply chain has grown so complex that some retailers have great difficulty in guaranteeing the provenance of the food products they sell.