Delayed Food-Traceability Rule Extends Vulnerability to Outbreaks

Congress enacted a traceability regulation under the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act to require detailed record-keeping for high-risk foods such as leafy greens, soft cheese, eggs and peanut butter. The rule, intended to let the FDA pinpoint contaminated products quickly, was slated for enforcement in early 2026. After years of industry lobbying, the FDA announced a 30-month postponement in early 2025, and a subsequent appropriations provision now bars enforcement until mid-2028. The delay coincided with the nation’s largest cyclosporiasis outbreak, which sickened more than 24,000 people and caused two deaths in the Midwest.

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Current U.S. traceback relies on the Bioterrorism Act of 2003, a “one-up, one-back” system that requires each link in the supply chain to document its immediate source. Experts say this framework makes it difficult to trace individual lettuce leaves that may have been mixed on pallets and shipped to multiple outlets. The traceability rule would obligate manufacturers and sellers to retain granular shipment data, enabling the FDA to follow contamination back to the farm.

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The Food Industry Association (FMI) affirmed its commitment to strengthening traceability while emphasizing the rule’s complexity. FMI said the regulation demands unprecedented coordination among growers, manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers and food-service operators, and that adequate time is essential to develop practical solutions without disrupting commerce. The Western Growers Association highlighted that a voluntary Produce Traceability Initiative has already collected shipment data for over a decade, but noted that without mandated record-keeping growers have limited ability to act once a product is in the market.

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• “Congress recognized this issue in 2010 and asked [the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA] to develop solutions,” — Sara Sorscher, an attorney

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• “For example, let’s do packaged salad – lettuce and greens,” — David Lennarz

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• “I think FDA does a pretty darn good job, but tracebacks are very, very challenging,” — Lennarz. Determining

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• “Since a field of leafy greens can go to multiple restaurants or multiple homes, we want to be able to find any lettuce that is offending and gather it and pull it back as quickly as possible,” — De Ann Davis, vice-president of science for the Western Growers Association

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• “If post-when-we-ship it is not traced well, or tracked well, there is very little our grower can do about it,” — Davis. The, founder

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