LOS GATOS, Calif. — FoodLink®, the buying platform that connects fresh food retailers and wholesalers to a network of over 2,000 supplier companies, announced a definitive agreement to acquire TRUETRAC™, the leading provider of mobile traceability solutions to growers, harvesters, packers and shippers of fresh-packed produce. The combined company will be the food industry’s first integrated network for produce traceability (PTI) that links crop planning, harvesting, packing, order management, shipping, receiving and individual item tracking from the field to the supermarket checkout line.
“Today, produce traceability enters the mainstream,” said Eric Peters, CEO, FoodLink. “The combination of FoodLink and TRUETRAC signals the emergence of a standard platform that brings exceptional value to the ‘first mile’ of food production and lets retailers leverage a single network to manage their fresh food buying processes, supply chain operations and overall food safety and traceability program.”
A True Field-to-Consumer Solution
With the acquisition of TRUETRAC, FoodLink becomes the first fresh produce industry solution that directly connects the critical “first mile” information in the field such as product harvest date, temperature and lot number with sales order information between supplier companies and retail buyers. The combination, managed across a single integrated network, aligns many different industry functions, systems and participants from the field to the consumer. The integrated solution also accelerates the flow of information from farm to store, and enables retailers and wholesalers to source the safest, highest quality products while reducing waste and inefficiencies across the entire supply chain. For growers and shippers, FoodLink can now offer TRUETRAC’s mobile platform to print and apply PTI-compliant labels to every packed case of produce. That information can be instantly associated with specific retail orders and delivery details over the FoodLink network.
“By joining with FoodLink, we are combining two great teams and also realizing TRUETRAC’s long-held vision of a simple, smart and connected PTI solution that can be rapidly adopted by all fresh produce suppliers,” said Ray Connelly, CEO, TRUETRAC. “When you link the critical first mile of harvest operations with the essential second mile sales processes and then bring product visibility all the way to the retail buyer and consumer, you’re solving one of the biggest challenges in this industry.”
A Market Leader
With more than $10 billion in annual commerce and more than 2,000 fresh food suppliers, brokers and transportation carriers on its network, FoodLink is a leading platform for produce buying. The acquisition of TRUETRAC will enable customers to access online traceability data, comply with PTI requirements and gain insight into the product on their shelves and feedback from their shoppers. For suppliers, the new FoodLink suite of products now includes a low cost mobile PTI solution for case-level packing and shipping that can scale to growers of any size, as well as modules for crop planning, harvesting and item-level tracking. FoodLink suppliers can easily add any TRUETRAC product to their annual subscription plan.
FoodLink’s retail customers include industry leaders such as Ahold USA, Associated Wholesale Grocers, C&S Wholesale Grocers, Unified Grocers, Topco & Associates and Supervalu, as well as major regional grocers such as Giant Eagle, K-VA-T Food Stores, Price Chopper Supermarkets, Roundy’s Supermarkets and United Supermarkets. TRUETRAC customers include leading suppliers in the industry such as Del Monte, Duda Farm Fresh Foods, Pandol Brothers, Kirschenman Enterprises, Growers Express, Mann Packing and Tanimura & Antle.
For More Information
FoodLink will host a webinar for current customers on Thursday, Nov. 1, at 1:00 p.m. PDT to provide additional information about the new PTI solution and the TRUETRAC acquisition. To register, go to: https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/877918311.
FoodLink and TRUETRAC are also exhibitors in booths #2879 and #3287 at the 2012 PMA Fresh Summit in Anaheim, Calif., Oct. 26-28. At the conference, FoodLink CEO Eric Peters will present an educational session on “Selling Produce in an Era of Unprecedented Opportunity and Challenge,” Oct. 26, at 8:45 a.m. For more information, visit www.freshsummit.com.
About FoodLink
FoodLink is the network for fresh food, connecting the perishable goods supply chain from the farm to the customer with an online network representing more than 2,000 companies including grower-shippers, carriers, retail grocers and wholesalers. For more information, visit www.foodlink.net.
Source: FoodLink