Providing solutions for effective traceability

As produce has become distributed far and wide from its origins to the supermarket, GS1 Standards have enhanced food safety and product traceability. To promote a broader standards adoption, companies doing business in the produce industry are encouraged to join the following initiatives and adopt the following GS1 Standards:

Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI)
The most wide-reaching industry initiative in the produce sector, PTI promotes the adoption and implementation of GS1 Standards. PTI is a voluntary, industry-wide effort designed to help the industry achieve supply chain-wide adoption of electronic traceability for every case of produce by 2012.  For more information, visit producetraceability.org.

Industry Survey to Assess Sunsetting the Generic U.P.C. for Produce
Currently, packaged produce can use a label with a generic U.P.C. or a company-specific U.P.C.. A generic U.P.C.  begins with the manufacturer’s prefix of ‘033383'.  A company-specific U.P.C. begins with a GS1 assigned U.P.C.  company prefix which identifies the supplier/brand owner of the produce.

With technology on the rise and traceability and food safety of such importance to our industry, company specific U.P.C.’s are increasing.  A survey is being conducted to gain feedback on the possibility of establishing a sunset date to discontinue the use of generic U.P.C.’s. It is simply meant to gauge the readiness of the industry.

This survey should only take 3 – 5 minutes to complete, please provide your input
Generic U.P.C. Sunset Date Survey for Growers/Packers/Shippers

GS1 DataBar™
The GS1 DataBar is a point-of-sale barcode that enables tagging of small, hard-to-mark consumer goods like fresh foods and loose produce. In a much smaller space, the GS1 DataBar carries the same information as the standard U.P.C. barcode.

Global Data Synchronization Network™ (GDSN®)
The Global Data Synchronization Network makes it easy for trading partners in the supply chain to share information seamlessly, even when they subscribe to different GS1 GDSN-certified data pools.

GS1 US has a subsidiary, 1SYNC, that provides companies with GS1 data synchronization solutions and is one of 25 certified GS1 GDSN data pools. To view a full list of GS1-certified data pools, click here.

Learn more
The following GS1 US programs, educational materials, and events help companies in the produce sector learn more and implement GS1 Standards:

• PTI Webinar Series
• GS1 US Webinars for Fresh Foods
• GS1 Connect Conference

Visit our Tools and Resources page for more documents and guidance.