Food supply visibility system provider ReposiTrak has added two seafood suppliers to its track and trace network as the deadline continues to draw nearer for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s FSMA 204 food traceability law.
Beginning in January 2026, Section 204 of the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) will set tightened traceability recordkeeping requirements for companies that manufacture, process, pack, or hold certain types of foods. The goal of the rule is to better protect the public from foodborne diseases, and it has companies throughout the food supply chain scrambling to expand their recordkeeping and data sharing systems before the deadline arrives.
Salt Lake City-based ReposiTrak says its food traceability and regulatory compliance network can help keep all those companies in compliance. The system works by establishing a system called the ReposiTrak Traceability Network (RTN) where members can exchange complex, FDA-required key data elements (KDEs) for each critical tracking event (CTE) in the supply chain.
For example, the two newest members—a Massachusetts-based seafood processor and a Chesapeake Bay company operating a shellfish factory, seafood processing plant, and aquaculture farm—will use the RTN to do traceability with an in-network retail grocery chain with nearly 300 stores.
According to the company, its RTN requires no additional hardware or software. Food suppliers can connect to an unlimited number of trading partners and begin sharing data for a flat fee; there is no cost to retailers. The network now includes more than 400 connections between supplier and retail facilities for more than 1,500 SKUs.
“For many seafood companies like these, many if not all of the products they harvest or handle are covered under the FDA’s new FSMA 204 food traceability law,” Randy Fields, ReposiTrak’s chairman and CEO, said in a release. “Our solution makes traceability easy and inexpensive so that operators can continue doing business the way they always have.”
