Sysco Corporation, the world’s largest food distributor, announced its comprehensive plan to support the Food Traceability Rule, issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

The new Food Traceability Rule mandates establishing a traceability recordkeeping system for certain foods to facilitate faster identification and rapid removal of potentially harmful products from the market. Effective summer of 2024, Sysco will begin to implement advanced traceability measures to ensure its food products' safety, quality and transparency from farm to table.

"Sysco is dedicated to leading the industry in food safety to protect our customers and our communities," said Charles Leftwich, Sysco’s Vice President of Food Safety and Quality Assurance. "As the industry leader, we’re not just working toward our own regulatory compliance, we’re also taking steps to help our suppliers comply.”

To bolster its traceability efforts, Sysco will partner with iFoodDS, a leader in traceability, food safety and quality management solutions. This collaboration will give Sysco's extensive supplier network flexible, interoperable and pragmatic options for sharing data required by FSMA 204.

Sysco will leverage state-of-the-art digital technologies to streamline product tracking through every stage of the supply chain to provide real-time visibility and ensure the integrity of traceability data, working closely with its vast network of suppliers to implement traceability practices. 

 An internal task force to monitor compliance and continuously improve traceability processes. 

About Sysco
Sysco is the global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and other customers who prepare meals away from home. Its family of products also includes equipment and supplies for the foodservice and hospitality industries. With more than 76,000 colleagues, the company operates 340 distribution facilities worldwide and serves approximately 730,000 customer locations. For fiscal year 2024 that ended June 29, 2024, the company generated sales of more than $78 billion.