July 15/Chicago/Newswise -- Today’s global food supply chain has become increasingly complex as companies seek greater efficiencies to feed the world’s growing population. Product tracing has emerged as a critical tool for increasing the transparency of the attributes and origin of food products -- from farm to processing to retail and foodservice, or to the family table.

On July 12, The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) board of directors approved the launch of a new food traceability center designed to protect and improve the global food supply. The Global Food Traceability Center will serve as an authoritative, scientific, and unbiased source for food traceability. Currently there is no single entity, public or private, that brings together key stakeholders in the agri-food system to collaborate on providing timely product tracing solutions, an IFT release notes.