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Report · FSMA 204

FSMA 204 readiness jumped 40%,but the gaps that matter remain

New data from 1,200 food businesses shows who's ready for the Food Traceability Rule, who isn't, and where the risk is hiding.

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Key findings

  1. 0162% of food businesses can now produce lot-level records within 24 hours, up from 44% a year ago.
  2. 02Yet only 1 in 3 can trace a product across a supplier handoff without manual work.
  3. 03Businesses that automated CTE/KDE capture scoped recalls 6× faster than those on spreadsheets.

Summary

Food traceability just hit a new milestone, and the ripple effects are showing up across the supply chain. Businesses that treated FSMA 204 as an operating change, not a paperwork exercise, are pulling ahead, while those still stitching records together by hand are falling behind.

Our 2026 Food Traceability Report tracks these shifts across more than 1,200 businesses spanning produce, dairy, seafood, and packaged foods, measuring how fast teams can trace, hold, and recall affected product.

What you’ll learn

Where readiness is improving fastest, which handoffs still break, and the practices that separate the teams who respond in hours from those who take weeks.