Facilitating expedited food traceability and data dissemination in emergency situations

Section 306 of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act, known as 'the Bioterrorism Act', requires the establishment and maintenance of records that allow for the identification of the immediate previous sources and the immediate subsequent recipients of food. These records, commonly referred to as aeone-step-forward one-step-backAE traceability pointers, enable traceability along the food supply chain in the event of detecting contaminated food. The Guidebook for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Plan Development published by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) dictates various data gathering regulations that should be employed pertaining to food safety. These regulations will be significantly enhanced if the data gathered is disseminated in an efficient manner to relevant partners. Expedited traceability along the food supply chain in the case of emergency is of the essence. This should be facilitated by a computerized process and a communication network that covers an emergency center and databases along the food supply chain for real time traceability and data dissemination, based on accessing the aeone-step-forward one-step-backAE pointers provided by the Bioterrorism Act. Such a system should further be enhanced by a convenient interface between the operator and the information retrieving system. This proposal concerns a communication network, and convenient user interface, providing for expedited traceability and data dissemination along the food supply chain.