Applebee's, McD, vendors back safety-tracing effort

Nation's Restaurant News,  Dec 10, 2007  

Tags: Applebee's

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SALISBURY, N.C. -- Representatives of Applebee's International Inc., McDonald's Corp. and distributors Sysco and U.S. Foodservice are serving on the steering committee for a new multi-industry Produce Traceability Initiative, or PTI, aimed at enhancing food safety.

"It is evident that we must help drive a more comprehensive industrywide commitment to trace-back and trace-forward systems that can be used throughout the produce supply chain," said Cathy Green, chief operating officer of Salisbury-based grocer Food Lion LLC and chair of the steering committee. "A preventative food safety system begins with a sound, whole-chain traceability system that allows us to rapidly trace product movement up and down the supply chain."

The PTI is sponsored by the Produce Marketing Association, Canadian Produce Marketing Association and United Fresh Produce Association. Its steering committee, whose first meeting is scheduled for Jan. 9 in Atlanta, includes representatives of more than 30 agriculture firms, distribution companies, restaurant operators and retailers.

Organizers said they have invited the National Restaurant Association and International Foodservice Distributors Association to join the PTI, whose launch comes in the wake of multiple food-borne-illness outbreaks tied to fresh produce during the past decade, including 2006's deadly E. coli 0157:H7 outbreak from tainted spinach.

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