Food Safety and Traceability Headline Fresh Foods and CPG

Lawrenceville, NJ: Traceability and food safety will be at the forefront of the fresh foods and consumer packaged goods (CPG) track at GS1 Connect 2012, the annual conference presented by GS1 US.

The information standards organization will feature more than 40 educational sessions presented by industry stakeholders June 5-7 at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

Speakers will include executives from leading food suppliers, retailers, trade associations and technology providers such as Bumble Bee Foods, Kraft Foods, Meijer, SUPERVALU, Tyson, Wakefern, and Wegmans.

In addition, attendees can take advantage of fresh foods and CPG-focused trading partner roundtables, "How to Do Business With A" sessions, and other networking opportunities. Target and Kroger are only two of many companies that will offer special opportunities for rading-partner collaboration. Details on the conference program can be found at http://speakers.uconnectevent.org/2012/agenda/

"If you need to know where the food industry is headed in terms of traceability and food safety, you can't afford to miss GS1 Connect," said Debra Noyes, IT change management process owner at Johnsonville Sausage, and co-chair of the GS1 Connect fresh foods/CPG planning group. "You will not only learn how to take full advantage of GS1 Standards, but will hear from end users representing every aspect of the supply chain and find out how they achieved successful standards implementations to address their specific business processes."

Topics to be addressed at fresh foods/CPG track sessions at GS1 Connect 2012 include:

  • How GS1 Standards support traceability and food safety
  • The emergence and importance of data quality, data governance and mobile commerce
  • Benefits of the GS1 DataBar and adoption progress
  • Lessons learned and best practice recommendations from the Produce Traceability Initiative
  • Impact of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)
  • GS1 US collaboration with the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT)

"Industry-wide adoption of GS1 Standards is critical to improving food traceability and safety," said Angela Fernandez, senior director of industry engagement at GS1 US. "GS1 Connect will offer specific examples and guidance on how to integrate traceability across the supply chain and leverage existing investments in GS1 Standards."

More than 1,200 professionals representing all points of the supply chain are expected to attend the conference and expo, which will showcase keynote speaker Biz Stone, cofounder of Twitter. Updates will be posted to Twitter: @GS1Connect.

For more information about the fresh foods/CPG track at GS1 Connect, which was previously known as U Connect, visit http://www.gs1us.org/resources/gs1-connect/program

Latest