JBT Corp., Chicago, announced a global alliance with SafeTraces, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based provider of food safety and traceability solutions, to integrate SafeTraces' patented DNA-based technologies into JBT's solutions portfolio for worldwide distribution.

The strategic alliance will focus on incorporating SafeTraces' food safety and traceability technology into JBT FoodTech businesses, including fresh produce technologies, fresh-cut technologies and coating equipment solutions, enabling rapid verification of sanitation processes and item-level tracking and tracing of food materials.

"Food safety and traceability is a mega-trend that will transform the marketplace over the next generation," says Carlos Fernandez, JBT's executive vice president and president, liquid foods. "Consumers are increasingly rewarding food companies that provide greater transparency on how their food was produced and leaving behind those that don't. SafeTraces has developed a game-changing technology that has wide-ranging applications across our business. We're thrilled to partner with them and offer this breakthrough to our customers."

"On-product, item-level traceability is the holy grail of source assurance, and rapid on-site verification of sanitation process is the holy grain of safety assurance," says Anthony Zografos, founder and CEO of SafeTraces. "We're the first company to develop a technology that is commercially viable, scalable and delivers clear benefits and a clear return on investment to customers. Partnering with a renowned market leader like JBT presents a tremendous opportunity to commercialize and distribute our technology at a global scale."