To better support industry standards for fruit, vegetable, and flower packers, FarmSoft has added the North American standard known as Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) compatibility for all traceability processes, and even produces PTI labels.
The Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) is an industry-led effort to enhance traceability throughout the entire produce supply chain. The Initiative’s sponsor associations include United Fresh Produce Association (United Fresh), Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA) and Produce Marketing Association (PMA).
Both internal and external traceability programs are needed in order to effectively track and trace product up and down the supply chain, achieving whole-chain traceability. At present, most companies have “internal” traceability programs, but not “external” traceability programs.
Internal Traceability = confidential or proprietary data and processes companies use within their own span of operations to track/trace product.
External Traceability = the data exchange and business processes that take place between trading partners to track/trace product.
Whole-Chain Traceability = Internal + External traceability.
The PTI uses a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) to achieve external traceability. A GTIN number includes a GS1 company prefix that can be readily incorporated into a UPC barcode and works with RFID or human readable codes. It also includes a unique item reference number. The “GTIN Assignment Strategy” has been created specifically for helping suppliers ensure consistency when assigning GTIN’s to the cases by using standard product attributes to organize and categorize products for GTIN assignment. Similarly, to ensure that one label can be used for the entire industry, a standard case label template has also been created as a result of the GTIN Produce Pilot conducted in the fall of 2006. The PTI Action Plan outlines the steps for achieving traceability at the case-level by 2012.
FarmSoft Supports PTI Pallet Labels
As a standard feature in FarmSofts packhouse traceability systems, the PTI Hybrid Pallet Label is an included feature. The PTI Hybrid Pallet Label is a GS1 128 barcode containing SSCC and Company Prefix data, accompanied by additional GTIN barcodes (GS1 128) which encode GTIN, Batch Number, and Quantity of Units. The PTI Pallet Label also contains human readable data such as company name.
FarmSoft Supports PTI Case/Carton Labels As a standard feature in FarmSofts packhouse traceability systems, the PTI Case and Pallet Label is an included feature. The PTI Case /Pallet Label is a GS1 128 barcode GTIN and Batch Number. The PTI Case label also contains human readable data such as Batch, Produce, Variety, GTIN.
FarmSoft Supports PTI Repacking
Repacking typically refers to the process of taking product from one pack type (e.g. carton) and repacking it into a new pack type which could include a different outer pack or inner pack, or both. Repacking involves homogeneous (same) product being reconfigured, including splitting cases to create new, smaller cases (e.g. splitting an 88 count case of apples into 2 cases, each containing multiple 5 lb units). FarmSoft supports Repacking and also manages the traceability of packaging materials and labor. "Repacking" is a traceability process required by the PTI, and has been a process supported by FarmSoft since its very inception.
Farm Soft Supports PTI Commingling
Commingling typically refers to the process of taking different, non-homogeneous, products from multiple sources and combining (commingling) it to create a new product. Commingling can occur for many reasons including commingling various items into one consumer sales unit (such as salad mix and stoplight peppers), quality assurance culling and replenishment from new lots, and utilization of byproduct (e.g. outer leaves of romaine hearts used to create diced salad or other products). Regardless of the reason for commingling product from two or more lots, it is crucial to link lot numbers to ensure the integrity of lot numbers and an organization’s ability to trace. FarmSoft manage commingled product with absoute ease, and allows the use of unlimited sources (orgins of inventory/materials), produce types, varieties etc in the one batch.
For full details on the FarmSoft packhouse management and traceability solution, download the materials from the top right of this page.
