The American food supply industry is both interesting and massive. With large operations such as food production and delivery, there is a lot of information both processed and maintained. Information Technology (IT) is what makes the machine tick, and without it, businesses across the industry would be faulty at best. A particular focus of this conversation relates directly to supply chain recall, and how the food industry in 2013 can utilize sound technology in the identification and retrieval of defective products. Identifying a Recall A huge step of a recall is identifying the affected area or product. If this is not done correctly and in a timely manner, lawsuits can spring up and the country’s health can be affected. If someone...

by Kevin Payne 2,000,000,000 is a big number and when applied to tons of food waste it’s a massive problem.  A recent report , published by The Institute of Mechanical Engineers ,  a U.K.-based engineering society and think tank, states that of the four billion tons of food produced annually worldwide up to half of it goes to waste – that’s 2 billion pounds of food into landfills. Among the causes: Poor harvesting, storage and transportation methods Plain old consumer waste (people buy too much and throw it out) Overly conservative and misunderstood “sell-by” dates, driven mostly by grocers looking to avoid legal actions to reduce risk due to poor food quality I italicize the last part because part of the...