Country Of Origin information needs to be a significant part of your product traceability initiatives and required on all product imports.
One forward one back reporting is not enough if we plan to limit food borne illness outbreaks and other product safety issues that continue to put consumers and companies at risk.
According to Wikipedia, Country of origin (COO) is the country of manufacture, production, or growth where a product comes from.
All products clearly need to require is specific country of origin labeling, particularly as we continue to source more offshore products and services. Today, standards tend to be inconsistent from country to country. By example products enter North America from Europe that may carry country of origin labeling like ?Europe? or ?EU? rather than specific labeling indicating a product comes from France or Germany.
Manufactured products create a more unique issue, as individual products may include up to hundreds of components, pieces and parts from dozens of countries and assembled in other countries. While this issue requires significant work, there is absolutely no reason that we can not include country of origin labeling on all food products that enter our country.
We appreciate and look forward to your comments.
