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are already in use in society and the business customers because restaurants, schools, and
sector. other sites temporarily closed.
Some of this innovation is already creating In addition, enhanced traceability, coupled
a revolution in food production, supply, and with advanced analytical tools, could help us
delivery. spot potential problems in advance and help
These developments offer great opportu- us prevent or lessen their impact.
nity, but also pose many challenges, some
of which are complicated by an increasingly SMARTER TOOLS AND APPROACHES
complex global supply chain. FOR PREVENTION AND OUTBREAK
I want to note that while the New Era has RESPONSE
a strong emphasis in the application of new A second core element of the blueprint in-
technology, it’s not just about technology. volves our ability to draw on the power of new
It’s about using that technology to build and data streams.
put in place more effective approaches and One of our most important resources we
processes. have today lies in our ability to unleash the
power of data. We intend to do everything
ENHANCED TRACEABILITY we can to attain better quality data, conduct
I’d like to spend a few minutes going over a more meaningful analysis of it, and to trans-
the core elements of the blueprint. form streams of data into more meaningful,
The first is tech-enabled traceability. This is strategic, and prevention-oriented actions.
one of those areas that we’ve learned during The plans embraced by the blueprint inclu-
the pandemic has utility beyond our response de strengthening our procedures and proto-
to outbreaks of foodborne illness. cols for conducting the root cause analyses
One of the challenges we’ve faced over the that can identify how a food became contami-
years is recurring outbreaks of illnesses asso- nated and inform our understanding of how
ciated with the consumption of certain foods. to help prevent that from happening again.

What this daunting problem underscores is The need for greater traceability and pre-
the critical importance of the FDA working dictive analytics can be seen in our most re-
with industry so that we can rapidly trace a cent efforts to improve the safety of romaine
contaminated food to its source. And when I lettuce and other leafy greens, which have too
say rapidly, I mean minutes, not days, weeks, often been implicated in outbreaks of Shiga-
or even longer. -toxin producing E. coli (STEC) infections.
We want to explore ways to encourage com- The repeat nature of these outbreaks illustra-
panies to adopt tracing technologies and also tes the importance of achieving end-to-end
to harmonize efforts to follow food from farm traceability and of maximizing the effective-
to table. We should strive to speak the same ness of root cause analyses.
language, by espousing similar data standards Another example of the kinds of new tools
across government and industry for tracking we’re developing for prevention can be seen
and tracing a food product. in a pilot program we’re conducting that will
During the pandemic we realized that wi- leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machi-
despread traceability provides greater sup- ne learning to strengthen the agency’s review
ply chain visibility. This, in turn, can help the of imported foods at ports of entry to help en-
FDA and the food industry anticipate the kind sure that they meet U.S. food safety standards.
of imbalances in the marketplace that led to A proof of concept application of AI and ma-
temporary shortages of certain commodities chine learning models to historical shipment
and created food waste when producers lost data indicates that we can expect very promi-
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