The U.S. Food & Drug Administration has repeatedly called on the food industry to embrace new technologies and innovations focused on improving the ability to secure the food supply chain and engage in more effective tracking and tracing of food from farm to fork.

JBT Corp., a top-tier technology solutions provider to the global food and beverage industry, and SafeTraces, a leading food safety and traceability solutions provider, have announced a global alliance to integrate SafeTraces' breakthrough, patented, DNA-based technologies into JBT's solutions portfolio for worldwide distribution.

According to The U.S. Public Interest Research Group, food-related recalls in the U.S. have risen 10% from 2013 to 2018. The Grocery Manufacturers Assn. also estimates that each recall results in more than $10 billion in direct costs, not including indirect costs related to long-term damage to the brand reputations of food industry actors.

The strategic alliance will focus on incorporating SafeTraces' groundbreaking 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. Instead of waiting for days or weeks to verify food safety, sustainability or purity, the integrated solutions will provide the food industry with actionable results in minutes, fundamentally changing the way safe, sustainable food is produced and delivered, the announcement said.

JBT said it is committed to continued innovation by applying differentiated and proprietary technologies to meet its customers' food processing needs and continually strives to improve its existing solutions and develop new solutions by working closely with its customers to meet their evolving needs.

"Food safety and traceability is a mega-trend that will transform the marketplace over the next generation," said Carlos Fernandez, JBT 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 Grail of safety assurance," SafeTraces founder and chief executive officer Anthony Zografos said. "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."