In 2012, China released a five-year plan to upgrade its food safety regulations to address food safety concerns. As demand for safe produce continues to rise among consumers, China, as well as the global produce industry, is constantly seeking efficient tools to ensure food safety at every level of the supply chain. In the words of the Produce Marketing Association’s vice president of supply chain efficiencies, Ed Treacy, “growers and produce industry professionals want to do the ‘right’ thing.”

At this year’s PMA Fresh Connections: China, Treacy was once again invited to present on global standards for produce, covering five topics, including trends in food safety, cold chain management, traceability, traceability requirements and PLU (Price Look Up) codes.

“There’s a lot of interest from the produce industry here on what the PLU code means. Since last year, people want to know more about PLU because they see it on imported fruits. They will see a sticker on that and they do not understand. Or some people thought that they knew what it was [but they didn’t],” he said.

To read the full article, including more on what PLU codes are for and the continuing global rollout, please click here

Source: http://www.freshfruitportal.com