A new internet based tracking system will be able to track the tomato you put on your salad all the way back to the field it was grown in, when it was picked and by whom.
The system, called HarvestMark, was rolled out Monday and is being adopted by one Utah produce distributor.
"Its people's lives that are at stake," Eagle Eye Produce warehouse manager Mike Jacobson told ABC 4 News. "We'll be able to trace it all the way back to the original box which in turn will trace it back all the way to the original field where it was grown."
The tracking system, a barcoded label placed on each produce box, will be invaluable in case of a disease outbreak such as last year's e-coli contamination of spinach which killed and sickened a number of consumers nationwide.
One infant boy from Idaho died at Primary Children's Hospital because of the e-coli contamination.
If someone gets sick from produce, investigators can determine where it was purchased, what box it came from, and then use the label from that box both to trace back to the source of contamination, and to trace forward to see where other boxes from the same field went.
Time is essential when a food recall is issued.
"We generally try to keep within four hours to keep account of where every box went," Jacobson explained. In the past, he says, "Its been difficult. That's why we've gone to this system."
For more information, visit
www.harvestmark.com
