What is PFT?
The Partnership for Food Traceability (PFT) is an industry-driven, independent, sector-neutral nonprofit partnership developing a shared, overarching vision for food traceability across the supply chain, allowing for streamlined implementation of compliant traceability systems. FDA and state governments also participate in PFT and provide technical expertise.
The primary objective is to facilitate implementation of compliant traceability programs and the adoption of interoperable electronic traceability systems for FTL foods throughout the United States while maintaining the flexibility to accommodate and support alternate and non-electronic methods for small businesses. PFT will provide clear rules for engagement between sectors within the supply chain.
PFT is an independent nonprofit organization led and managed by Leavitt Partners and The Acheson Group. PFT decisions will be led by a Board of Directors comprised of industry and trade association members.
PFT membership is an investment in your company’s future, providing decisive clarity on which you can move forward confidently and efficiently with your traceability implementation.
What DOES PFT DO?
PFT will deliver tremendous value to the industry in multiple ways. It will provide:
- A decision-making mechanism for critical questions of how traceability should be implemented.
- A forum for technical implementation discussions between industry and FDA.
- A common vision for traceability across sectors, industries, associations, and consortia.
- A consistent set of business and functional requirements for traceability that provides clarity to solution providers and ensures solutions meet business needs.
- An organized public-private plan for how the industry will migrate to enhanced traceability.
Specifically, PFT will:
Define open-source consensus business requirements and functional requirements for food traceability. PFT’s specific technical vision will be determined through decision-making mechanisms that promote balance, sector-neutrality, and equitability. PFT will leverage and incorporate existing work from the various sectors of the food industry to the maximum extent practical.
Coordinate pilots and share pilot learnings to advance electronic traceability. PFT will provide a forum to (i) consolidate learnings from private and public pilots, (ii) identify the need for, and support the coordination and planning of, new pilots, and (iii) promote industry-regulator interactions through pilot activity.
Provide a forum for the sharing of common practices in setting supplier requirements for data sharing. Through a dedicated work group, PFT will strive to ensure its consensus business and functional requirements build on, and limit disruption to, supplier requirements. PFT will provide a forum for discussing consistent and interoperable requirements, and each company will remain free to establish its own customer and supplier requirements.
WhO IS PFT?
PFT members represent diverse commodities (including produce, seafood, cheese, packaged, and prepared food) and include:
Together, members are working to establish a comprehensive vision for enhanced food traceability in the U.S.
FAQ
PFT has begun work, with the goal of developing baseline cross-industry, cross-sector consensus on business and functional requirements to support compliance with the January 2026 deadline. The partnership is making key decisions and coordinating industry efforts. Given the urgency, we believe the current compliance deadline will help catalyze the work of the partnership, and PFT will accelerate decision-making processes to ensure that participating companies are well-prepared ahead of the deadline.
In addition, the consensus vision PFT is developing and advancing extends well beyond January 2026. We recognize that FSMA 204 does not require electronic interoperability, although it is also recognized that business and commercial dynamics are moving the industry in that direction. The PFT vision for interoperability will incorporate FSMA 204 compliance and will simultaneously recognize that work on optimization and interoperability will continue well beyond the January 2026 compliance deadline, as companies and trading partners potentially realize operational efficiencies or other emergent ROI propositions. These efforts will also include considerations of including small businesses as part of any interoperable solutions.
PFT is in process of developing concrete work plans that include specific timelines for progress for Committees and Work Groups. Each Committee and Work Group will be supported by a written charter including, among other things, critical milestones for their success.
Becoming a member of PFT offers a strategic advantage in having input on the business requirements to enable compliance with FSMA 204 and beyond. As a member, you will influence how traceability systems are developed and implemented, ensuring they align with both regulatory requirements and your business needs. PFT provides unique access to collaboration with the FDA, allowing you to contribute to systems that are efficient and effective, while understanding the Agency’s technical interpretation of the rule.
Membership also offers the chance to network and collaborate with a diverse group of stakeholders across sectors in the food supply chain. PFT will define industry-wide approaches and put forth best practices so your company can improve its traceability processes. This collaboration will lead to greater operational efficiency, reducing duplication of efforts and lowering compliance costs, ultimately providing long-term cost savings.
In addition to these practical benefits, joining PFT positions your company as a leader in food safety and traceability. The insights gained through PFT membership will keep you ahead of industry trends and you will shape the future of food traceability. In essence, PFT membership is an investment in your company’s future, ensuring that you play a key role in advancing safer, more transparent food supply chains that align with your company’s needs.
PFT final documents and materials will be made freely available to the public on an open-source basis, ensuring broad access to these resources. This approach reflects PFT’s commitment to promoting food safety and traceability across the entire industry. However, members of PFT will benefit from direct involvement in the creation and refinement of these materials, as well as access to additional resources and opportunities. By making these materials freely accessible, PFT aims to support widespread compliance with FSMA requirements and encourage best practices throughout the food supply chain.
No. Existing workgroups and collaboratives are doing great work to advance important components of food traceability, and this organization will not seek to duplicate or displace their efforts. To the maximum extent possible, the organization will seek to incorporate the work of other forums by reference—with full due credit to those other forums—into one overarching, comprehensive vision for traceability. The governance body will focus on (1) bringing disparate pieces of work on traceability together into one comprehensive vision, and (2) developing new requirements and recommendations only where existing work is not already underway.
Trade associations are critical voices and have a unique ability to represent broad sets of stakeholders. PFT will not replace their important work, but rather will provide a common space for their work to be integrated with the work of other sectors or industries in the supply chain.
PFT plans to align with existing trade associations by serving as a coordinating body that integrates and harmonizes ongoing workstreams across sectors. This could include benchmarking against existing initiatives and ensuring that the partnership’s activities complement rather than duplicate efforts. PFT will also facilitate communication and collaboration among its members, many of whom may belong to multiple organizations, to ensure consistency and coherence in traceability practices.
It is also important to recognize that the purpose and work of a public-private partnership is very distinct from that of a trade association. Trade associations are, first and foremost, advocates for their members and industry. As a public-private partnership, PFT is not intended to advocate specific policy positions; rather, it is a collaboration with FDA and other regulators that enables the joint creation of a shared vision for traceability. PFT currently has a number of trade associations members across product areas and up and down the supply chain.
PFT plans to address the challenge of varying systems and procedures across the supply chain by developing consensus business and functional requirements that accommodate different systems while promoting interoperability. This effort will be supported by dedicated work groups focused on specific aspects of traceability, such as data sharing and small business integration. The aim is to ensure that the transition to interoperable systems is as smooth as possible, allowing companies to continue using their existing systems while meeting new traceability requirements.
No, the governance body is not a standards development organization (SDO). It will focus on the development of compliance, business, and functional requirements—a layer between individual companies’ legal and compliance decisions and technical standards. The governance body may (likely will) recognize existing standards and/or call for SDOs to develop new standards, but it does not plan to develop technical standards itself.
Certification Bodies could fit within the PFT structure as Technical Expert Members and thereby participate in the Committees and Work Groups that focus on developing and documenting business and functional requirements for traceability. Their role could be critical in ensuring that the traceability systems developed are certifiable and meet both regulatory and industry standards. They could also contribute to discussions on interoperability and best practices, given their experience in auditing and certifying compliance with food safety regulations and technology systems.
It is also important to recognize that membership is not the exclusive mechanism for engaging with PFT. The PFT Board is empowered to establish additional mechanisms for engagement with organizations that do not fit neatly into a membership category. PFT may also host workshops that are open to non-members or solicit written input on drafts from non-members.
FSMA does not explicitly mandate interoperability of food tracing key data elements, but PFT recognizes that interoperability is likely critical for the success of traceability efforts. FDA has encouraged companies to go beyond what is in the traceability rule, and individual businesses have recognized the importance of interoperability and are increasingly requiring interoperability as a commercial requirement. We believe interoperability should continue to be advanced through the commercial market—not through regulatory mandate—and we aim to support the reality that the commercial market is doing so. The partnership is designed to work closely with the FDA as a technical partner, and with feedback from the agency and other stakeholders, develop systems that promote interoperability, even if it is not a strict regulatory requirement.
At this time, there is no role envisioned for PFT in individual tracebacks as these are conducted under FDA and state regulatory authority. However, PFT is ultimately an industry organization managed by the industry. If the industry determines there is an important role an independent nonprofit organization can play in sharing information and best-practices related to tracebacks, the industry has the ability to position PFT to do so in the future.
Yes!
PFT is being established as an independent Delaware nonprofit and will seek 501(c)(6) tax exempt status. The organization will be managed by a Board of Directors drawn from the industry and trade association membership of PFT. Leavitt Partners and TAG have supported the development and launch of PFT on a voluntary basis and will serve as staff and facilitators of PFT’s work.