Capital City Fruit Sets New Standard with Farm-to-Retail Produce Traceability

Capital City Fruit has become the first produce distributor to implement farm-to-retail traceability, enhancing food safety, supply chain transparency, and product tracking from growers to retailers.

ReposiTrak announces that Capital City Fruit has successfully implemented Touchless Traceability through its distribution center operations by utilizing the ReposiTrak farm-to-retail traceability network.  Capital City Fruit, based in Norwalk, Iowa, is a grower, shipper, repacker, and supply chain manager of fresh fruits, and vegetables serving customers with fresh produce, repacking, distribution, and supply chain services. Capital City Fruit can now establish, and maintain traceability records throughout product movement without the need for case scanning at receiving, putaway, picking, or shipping through its DC operations.

“Capital City Fruit has proven what forward-looking produce operators are now demanding: traceability can be completed through the distribution center without slowing down the business.” - Randy Fields, Chairman and CEO of ReposiTrak.

ReposiTrak touchless traceability generates the necessary traceability events as products pass through the facility by connecting distribution center product movement data with supplier-provided traceability records. The method avoids the labor, expense, and disruption to operations that come with manual case-level scanning while supporting FSMA 204 preparedness.

According to the reports tracked by CIO Bulletin, ReposiTrak's interactive supplier onboarding program is an essential part of the implementation. ReposiTrak works together with suppliers to clarify specifications, build relationships, map data, offer training, and address data problems. ReposiTrak's U.S.-based onboarding and customer support teams help suppliers with limited technical capabilities, which lessen the implementation load for Capital City Fruit and its trade partners.

The distribution of fresh fruit has special traceability issues due to the perishability of the product, quick turnaround times, different pack formats and intricate supplier networks. By automating the gathering, verification, linking and retrieval of crucial traceability data while lowering reliance on human interaction, ReposiTrak's technology assists in addressing these issues.

Suppliers, wholesalers, distributors, and retailers may share traceability information in a safe, scalable, and uniform setting using the ReposiTrak traceability network. ReposiTrak works directly with suppliers at all technical readiness levels and supports a variety of data types. While sophisticated validation and error-detection procedures enhance the quality of traceability records, its staff offers onboarding support, training, data mapping, file monitoring, and issue resolution.