Keep in mind: PTI is not FDA compliant as it is only a produce organization initiative with a brand tracking code, much of which applies to Big Box stores in the US and Canada. It still doesn’t work throughout the whole food and feed supply chain. If you ship to other countries you are aware of the significance of this situation.
If the customer of your product is one of the more then 60,000 small and medium size retailers, without the new readers on the check-out counter, it is useless to put them a GTIN code on it. If you are re-sorting, re-packing and commingling you will experience difficulty with GTIN tracking code. We can implement easily a GTIN code on existing labels as there is no science behind it without extra charge if someone has one.
When you have to make a decision which system is the right one for your company, just let them take the pizza test.
Think about all the ingredients in a pizza with all your favorite toppings. Every single ingredient with their compounds has to be traced back to the source.
As a producer you need to think about where your product will end up. Will it become a nut in a candy bar, an anchovy on the pizza, a berry in a jam jar or cake or the flour on breaded fish? Or will it simply be your cheese or your tomato on a hamburger?
The labels have to match the information from the required records and have to be 100% human and machine readable on the case level; soon it will be also on item-level.
The searchable product code has to point to the record to confirm the information on the label like, date harvested, and have proof of origin plus product and PLU code.
Dr. David Acheson (former acting director of FDA)
