PTI: Where We Are

The Produce Traceability Initiative adjusted its milestones this summer to that Milestones 4, 5 and 6 now have a target date of 2011. In addition, the leadership structure of PTI has been reorganized to better represent the industry segments.

Language for the milestones has been updated to emphasize the voluntary nature of PTI, said Ed Treacy, vice president of supply chain efficiencies for the Produce Marketing Association. The language for the milestones was changed to “target date” rather than deadline, as implementation will be decided between trading partners and not PTI.

The new governance structure of PTI is being implemented, and representatives were expected to be named in August, Treacy said. The restructuring was based on concern that participation in PTI guidance was closed to the original 49 founding members. The new structure is based on the Foodservice U.S. GS1 Initiative, which PTI has been sharing information with to streamline and synchronize data.

PTI will be led by a leadership council made up of 33 company and association representatives. The goal was to have CEOs and executive presidents in the leadership council, Treacy said. The 33 spots on the leadership council will be represented by 6 retailers, 5 foodservice operators and distributors, 14 grower-shippers and suppliers, 4 wholesale and terminal markets and 4 association presidents (Canadian Produce Marketing Association, PMA, United Fresh Produce Association and GS1 US).

The Leadership Council will guide the direction of PTI and hear from interest groups, including specific commodities. The four working groups will work on implementing parts of PTI in their respective areas. The four working groups and what they will be working on are:

•Master data: how to handle substitutions, data exchange and synchronization

•Implementation: GS1-128 bar code specifications, substitutions, quality and pallet labels.

•Communications: communications with industry and media on return on investment, success stories, etc.

•Technology: software, hardware and consultants, barcode height and width.

The next steps for PTI are to confirm participation in the leadership council, put out a call to action requesting participation on working committees, put out a call to action regarding participation in pilot projects, form sector interest groups, initiate pilot projects that span every sector of the business, update traceability best practices based on new data, develop a business case for PTI from pilot data utilizing key performance indicators and communicate the success seen so far.

PTI will continue to work closely with GS1 moving forward to coordinate labels for the Fresh Food Initiatives, which is a traceability initiative covering produce, foodservice, floral and seafood. GS1 has been coordinating unique identifiers and barcodes so the labels won’t have to change for each item going through a line or distribution fa