Washington, D.C. — March 17, 2004 — A new partnership between the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and the International Compliance Information Exchange Ltd. (iCiX) provides a Web-based solution for verifying, communicating and promoting supplier compliance with myriad food safety and quality standards, according to a joint announcement today by the two organizations.

“A new era in food safety is emerging that will expect, even require, that retailers and wholesalers have full knowledge of their suppliers’ food safety and security practices, including the new bioterrorism registration documentation,” said FMI President and CEO Tim Hammonds. “The FMI Safe Quality Food (SQF) initiative provides suppliers a rigorous, independent audit and certification program to ensure they meet all the necessary national and international standards.

“Our alliance with iCiX will provide suppliers a quick means to document that they meet those standards,” Hammonds said. “The records are readily accessible over secure Web links. This alliance provides an excellent complement to our SQF Program. This service is a first for the food industry and a must in this time of heightened concern about food safety worldwide.”

“This partnership will benefit food retailers, wholesalers, suppliers and anyone else responsible for managing the reams of paperwork required to document compliance with the vast range of safety and quality standards,” said iCiX President and co-founder Matthew Smith. “What we have done is created a community where people can demonstrate compliance and manage issues.”

Each company on the iCiX ApprovedSupplier™ Exchange has its own site. People can view company records in three different areas:

• Certification — for documents that must be continually renewed, such as organic, kosher and insurance certificates, bioterrorism registration and proof of adherence to Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) standards.
• Product Information — for specifications, pictures and nutrition labels. Trading partners can share both current and updated information.
• Compliance — for documents required to do business, such as compliance with health and sanitation codes, temperature guides for storing food before delivery and product recall procedures.

The ApprovedSupplier Exchange home site features a “Corrective Action” locale, where companies can verify that expired insurance has been renewed or a plant has been cleaned up to meet sanitation codes. To protect the technology from system disruptions and crashes, iCiX has signed an agreement with NEC to provide hosting services and worldwide support.

For more information, call iCiX at 877-888-4249 or visit the Web site www.iCiX.com.