2026 FDA Meetings: Lot-Level Traceability

FDA MEETINGS

FDA is announcing a town hall on June 15, 2026, for the public to share information on continued implementation of the Food Traceability Rule and areas of remaining concern, specifically as they relate to lot-level tracking and flexibilities for compliance. Registration for the June 15 session is available at https://www.fda.gov/food/workshops-meetings-webinars-food-and-dietary-supplements/fda-public-meeting-challenges-and-solutions-lot-level-food-traceability-06152026. Individuals that have already registered through the Partnership for Food Traceability website do not need to register again. The town hall is free and open to the public.

PFT-FDA MEETINGS

PFT will be hosting two stakeholder roundtables with FDA in 2026 through the Public-Private Partnership. These roundtables will provide an opportunity for stakeholders and FDA to engage in cross-sector dialogue on Food Traceability Rule implementation of lot-level tracking, challenges facing regulated entities, and potential solutions.

The listening sessions will primarily be open to PFT members, which include trade associations representing thousands of individual companies, as well as individual industry and technical expert members. PFT will also include additional organizations outside of PFT’s membership to ensure that perspectives across all industries impacted by the Rule are present, along with organizations of different sizes. 

PFT’s role in the roundtable sessions is to facilitate information exchange between stakeholders and FDA. PFT, as an organization, will not advocate for specific policy positions with FDA as part of this process.

MARCH 6, 2026, 12-2PM ET

Food Traceability Rule Lot-Level Tracking Requirements

SEPTEMBER 25, 2026, 12-2PM ET

Additional information forthcoming. 

Background

The FDA final rule on the Food Safety Modernization Act’s Requirements for Additional Traceability Records for Certain Foods (Food Traceability Rule) establishes enhanced recordkeeping requirements for those who manufacture, process, pack or hold foods on FDA’s Food Traceability List. The Rule mandates lot-level tracking for foods on the Food Traceability List, requiring businesses to assign unique codes, known as Traceability Lot Codes, and record Key Data Elements (KDEs) at specific Critical Track Events (CTEs), like initial packing, transformation, and shipping. Lot-level tracking enables rapid tracing of contaminated foods during recall events, narrowing the scope of recalls and removing affected product from the supply chain quickly. The current compliance date for the Food Traceability Rule is July 20, 2028.

About PFT

The Partnership for Food Traceability (PFT) is an independent, sector-neutral nonprofit Public-Private Partnership developing a shared, overarching vision for food traceability across the supply chain, allowing for streamlined implementation of compliant traceability systems. Through the formal Public-Private Partnership structure, PFT provides a forum in which FDA and industry can work together, with FDA’s technical assistance and advisement, to coordinate food traceability approaches across diverse supply chain sectors to comply with the Food Traceability Rule, with the goal of effectively removing potentially contaminated products from the market more rapidly. PFT’s membership spans producers (including growers and harvesters), manufacturers and processors, distributors (including packagers, wholesalers, holders, and shippers), retailers and grocers, and restaurants across diverse commodities (including produce, seafood, cheese, packaged, and prepared food). Membership includes industry members, trade associations, technology vendors, and technical experts.

Contact

For questions regarding this town hall, please contact [email protected].