Houser's Produce Farm Implements RFID Tracking for FSMA Food Traceability

Introduction

Faced with an outdated barcode system and desiring to comply with new food safety regulations, Houser’s Produce Farm (Houser) sought a solution that would improve their operational efficiency and meet the requirements laid out in the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) section 204. RMS Omega and SDG Systems collaborated with Houser to implement a solution based on rugged Zebra RFID technology paired with SDG Systems’ TallyFlow Asset Management software with traceability.

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Challenges

Starting out as a home vegetable sales stand, Houser’s Produce Farm (Houser) has grown and expanded operations over the past 30-plus years into several thousand acres of total crop land. Houser started selling to individuals, then to local grocery stores, and has gradually expanded into major supermarket chains. They are well-known for their fresh produce with quick field-to-store stocking cycles.

 

Houser installed a barcode tracking system several years ago. The tracking system provided some basic asset tracking information, but it was slow to record each box of produce, used out-of-date hardware, and it was difficult to retrieve sales records. Mr. Houser expressed, “It was faster for me to look up items in Quickbooks by date and food type than it was to use the barcode system.” This became more of a concern for Houser as traceability within the food supply chain started to take a spotlight with regulators.

 

On November 21, 2022, the Final Rule of The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) section 204 was published. Under the FDA Food Traceability Final Rule, businesses are required to keep records for certain foods to protect public health. The rule outlines the critical tracking information (CTEs) and key data elements (KDEs) that each producer must keep. As Houser looked at the upcoming deadline of 2026 for FSMA compliance and the limitations of its current barcode system, they sought a new solution that would be efficient to use and compliant with the new regulations.

 

The Solution

Working with RMS Omega as the system integration partner, SDG Systems and RMS Omega provided a complete solution to Houser including TallyFlow software, Zebra scanners, mobile printers, and RFID labels. RMS Omega provides comprehensive hardware maintenance, RFID tag supply, installation and services.

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Since 2018, businesses like Houser have looked to TallyFlow to help transform their asset management. The TallyFlow mobile and web (cloud-based) applications provide intuitive user interfaces to assist with tracking, traceability, inventory and management functionality, whether businesses rely on barcode or RFID asset tracking. TallyFlow provided Houser with an easy-to-use solution for tracking assets through the entire workflow-- from boxing produce to storage and shipping.

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To maintain compliance with the FSMA standards, TallyFlow can generate and use GS1 tags. The tags are encoded with a lot number, company prefix, product identifier and serial number. The GS1 tags allow shippers, grocers, and compliance officers to quickly identify the farm and product from either the barcode or the RFID tag. TallyFlow also records the invoice numbers and other information that is essential to Houser’s implementation. Using both parent and child tags allows TallyFlow to quickly move individual or groups of items.

 

Implementation

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GS1 Company and Product Identification

TallyFlow uses GS1 tags for global traceability. Producers register with gs1.org in order to obtain company and product identities. Once these are obtained from GS1, the producer can enter values into TallyFlow settings for the mobile application to correctly generate the tags required for traceability. Houser has approximately a dozen different types of produce that they sell.

 

Packing FSMA-Regulated Foods

While packing boxes of produce or other FSMA-regulated foods, TallyFlow Mobile prints GS1-compliant RFID and barcode labels for a box or pallet (a parent tag of the individual boxes). Encoded into each box tag is the producer, the product number, a lot number and a serial number. TallyFlow uses its product-category feature to determine which product is being packed. For example, a category of Cucumbers GS1-01 will use product ID 01 to associate with the product being boxed. A worker will place these tags on the boxes. When printing a parent tag, such as a pallet tag, each subsequent box tag is associated with the parent until a new parent tag is created or cleared. TallyFlow Mobile adjusts the lot numbers and serial numbers automatically.

 

Tracking Shipping through Fulfillment 

During the shipping process, the producer will scan or enter an invoice number or other identifier with the shipment so that the items are associated with this invoice. Employing optional parent tags for grouping assets together, a producer can move a pallet or group of tags together with a single scan.  In the TallyFlow web application, users can search for items by lot number, product type, specific tag or invoice number.

 

Results

In pre-season testing, the TallyFlow system performed according to the needs and expectations of Houser’s Produce Farm. Workers were able to generate pallet tags and item tags based on the produce that was being boxed. The mobile software allowed them to conveniently print multiple labels at a time to place on boxes, then scan a parent tag to ship the entire pallet.

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Houser’s Produce Farm was on a mission to update their existing food traceability system and to become compliant with the FSMA regulations. By implementing the TallyFlow RFID system, Houser is now able to easily ship their produce to grocery stores with full traceability. The TallyFlow cloud and mobile software associates the customer orders with the lot number and type of produce using GS1 SGTIN barcode and RFID tags. In the rare case of a food safety concern or recall, Houser is prepared to address such issues.

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The Food Safety 204 regulation deadline is quickly approaching. The regulations require full traceability of produce and other foods. Businesses have until January 20, 2026 to comply or face financial penalties.

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Learn more

If you would like to better understand how TallyFlow can help with FSMA compliance, please visit our TallyFlow FSMA Compliance page, or contact us if you would like to see an online demo.

 

For general information about TallyFlow, please visit our TallyFlow asset tracking page.

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