On Monday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it is issuing a challenge to incentivize the development of better, affordable technology to allow it to trace the origin of foodborne illnesses. The department is reportedly seeking tools to rapidly identify and trace foodborne illnesses so that items can quickly be taken off shelves.
The press release cited that this is part of a goal made by the FDA in its New Era of Smarter Food Safety blueprint, which was released in July 2020. This goal is designed “to encourage the development of creative financial models for low- to no-cost traceability solutions that would enable food producers of all sizes to participate in a scalable, cost-effective way.”
In addition to seeking a tech-based efficient solution, the FDA said that affordability is also a large factor, and it hopes that even smaller companies will be able to adopt the newly designed systems. Because of this, the FDA said it is seeking solutions where the costs are proportional to the benefits companies would receive.
“Too many Americans suffer from foodborne illnesses every year. Making the food supply more digitally enabled and food more traceable will speed the response to outbreaks and deepen our understanding of what causes them and how to prevent them from happening again,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D in the press release. “One of the FDA’s highest priorities is protecting consumers from foodborne illnesses. We hope to find new, innovative ways to encourage firms of all sizes to voluntarily adopt tracing technologies that can help our nation modernize the way we work together to determine possible sources of foodborne illnesses as quickly as possible to keep Americans safe.”
The challenge is designed for anyone who is interested, specifically public health advocates, food technology solution workers, and innovators who work in the food supply chain. Specifically, the department said it is hoping for submissions for traceability solutions that would work for producers, importers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. Submissions can be based on new or existing technology models, and will be accepted through the end of July. The FDA will select 12 winners who will be given opportunities to present their work.
The department has taken other steps to address foodborne illness, including increasing reporting requirements and asking farmers to consider how grazing cattle can contribute to outbreaks.
