The Food and Drug Administration has the responsibility for implementing FSMA and has issued seven proposed rules on each of the critical elements. These include Hazard Analysis and Preventive Controls for both human and animal food; Produce Safety; Intentional Adulteration; Foreign Supplier Verification Programs; Accreditation of Third-party Auditors; and finally the Sanitary Food Transportation Act (SFTA).

The recent occurrence of faulty ignition switches in General Motors cars should serve as a wakeup call to companies that lack good visibility into their global supply chains. But most have failed to implement adequate supply-chain risk-management programs that could head off such problems.

Descartes Systems Group, a provider of information systems technology for logistics, has acquired Computer Management USA, a U.S.-based specialist in security filing and air-cargo management services for airlines and their partners.

As part of a 10-year effort to improve technology in the safety inspection arena, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced it will be coordinating a field test to see if wireless technology can be used to conduct roadside inspections.

Several industrial linen companies in the United Kingdom and France are testing a new RFID tag that is literally woven into a textile or fabric product, which could hamper counterfeiters and thieves.