FoodLogiQ’s leadership team will meet with FDA officials and other food industry execs on Oct. 21 to discuss the importance of traceability, digital technologies, and evolving food business models that will foster a culture of food safety.
Members of the senior leadership team from FoodLogiQ will travel to Washington, DC, on Monday, October 21 to provide comment at the FDA Public Meeting “A New Era of Smarter Food Safety.” The highly-anticipated event kicks off an initiative that focuses on food traceability, digital technology and evolving food business models.
According to Dr. Norman (Ned) Sharpless, acting FDA Commissioner, “This new initiative is intended to build on FDA’s efforts to implement the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act by leveraging, among other things, the use of new and emerging technologies, as well as new approaches to some of the food system’s biggest food safety challenges.”
FoodLogiQ CEO Sean O’Leary will attend the FDA meeting, as well as Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer Katy Jones, and Vice President of Supply Chain Strategy and Insights Julie McGill. During the open public comment portion of the program, McGill will speak on behalf of FoodLogiQ, sharing commentary on the topic of traceability. McGill is an industry expert on the subject, as she previously spent over 15 years with GS1 US. There she led the Foodservice GS1 US Standards Initiative, working with manufacturers, distributors, operators and supply chain partners to increase efficiencies and build a foundation for traceability and supply chain visibility through the use of GS1 standards. McGill was recently selected as one of the “Five Food Logistics Champions You Need to Know” by Food Logistics Magazine.
“FoodLogiQ is honored to have the opportunity to share our intricate knowledge of the food supply chain, as well as best practices regarding whole chain traceability during this monumental meeting with the FDA and other food industry leaders,” says O’Leary. “Since 2006, FoodLogiQ has been developing solutions that meet the increasingly complex global food chain issues, and we look forward to collaborating with our colleagues from across the country as we rise to the challenge of ensuring safe food for all.”
End-to-end traceability—the ability to trace a product from its original source all the way to market—is the foundation for any comprehensive food safety program and a critical piece of the FDA's efforts to bring increased attention to this global issue. With a 16-year history of traceability experience, FoodLogiQ dominates the food safety space and is perfectly poised to play a key role in the FDA’s new initiative.
The FDA Meeting Agenda
More than 100 FDA experts representing the Office of Food Policy and Response, the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, the Office of Regulatory Affairs, the Center for Veterinary Medicine, and several individuals from the Office of the Commissioner participated in brainstorming sessions to determine the most critical topics for the meeting discussion. Those include:
- Tech-enabled Traceability and Foodborne Outbreak Response
- Smarter Tools and Approaches for Prevention
- New Business Models and Retail Modernization
- Food Safety Culture
The FDA’s goal for the meeting is to engage stakeholders and to foster a dialogue on how to most effectively prepare for the work that lies ahead as part of the New Era of Smarter Food Safety. In early 2020, FDA plans to release a blueprint that outlines critical steps to protect public health and keep pace with the ever-changing global food supply chain.
