Supply Chain

How the Food Industry Prepares to Keep Shelves Stocked

We continue to experience a convergence of challenges in this country – the COVID-19 pandemic; a historic hurricane and fire season; economic distress; and heightened political and social expression – all of which are influencing changes in the way ...

What the Food Industry Needs to Know about the FDA Food Traceability Proposed Rule

The proposed rule on food traceability is in response to Section 204 of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and applies to those who manufacture, process, pack or hold foods on the Food Traceability List....

Are You Ready for Some Food Ball? The Road to Supper Bowl I

Baseball has its World Series, hockey has the Stanley Cup, tennis has its Wimbledon and football has its Super Bowl. Now the food industry has its Supper Bowl! All of these landmark competitions offer teams the chance to prove they are the best of ...

Four Common Misconceptions About Food Prices

A number of misconceptions regarding grocery prices regularly permeate both the news and our water cooler conversations. These are due to a combination of outdated ideas that should have been put to rest long ago and high profile “examples” that are ...

A Tale of Two Years: A Look at The Food Retail Industry in 2019 and Early 2020

The most recent The Food Retailing Industry Speaks report identifies a striking similarity between ”A Tale of Two Cities” and a tale of two years, 2019 and 2020, for the food industry. Both relay the story of how stark change and challenging times ...

Considering the Importance of the WTO and Its Leadership

One of the things the COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us is that our supply chains are no longer regional or even national, but international. In the U.S., we depend on trade to help increase efficiency, keep product flowing year-round and lower ...

A Fly on The Wall: A Look at The Food Industry’s Performance

FMI is about to release our 71st annual The Food Retailing Industry Speaks report, which tracks operations and strategic initiatives of the food retail industry. This year’s Speaks report reviews performance for 2019, but it also incorporates ...

A Rollercoaster Ride for The Meat Department in 2020

The past six months has been so “unprecedented” that FMI and NAMI decided to break our trend of annual reports to conduct a The Power of Meat: Midyear 2020 Edition to take a fresh look at what was happening in the meat industry from the shopper’s ...

A Work of Majesty and Awe

This Labor Day, I am grateful for the thousands of grocery workers who day-in and day-out pay attention to the details of their work, who maintain the discipline of devoted sacrifice and service to their communities, and who overcome fear and ...

Water is Foundational to Our Food System and Economy

Water is not just for safety and cleanliness. Water is foundational to our food system as well as to our world’s economy. According to McKinsey & Company’s recent article water is as important to the world’s economy as oil or data....

Finding Helpers in Your Neighborhood

With the help of SAP, the FMI Jam COVID-19 Online Community was built and opened in late April to provide FMI members a place to go to connect with others on issues and find providers of personal protective equipment (PPE) that was in short supply ...

Prioritizing Food to People: Packaging, Plastics and Avoiding Food Waste

According to data from ReFED and Feeding America, the number of Americans struggling with hunger since the COVID-19 pandemic has risen from 40 million to a staggering 54 million ...

Beyond TP and Sanitizers: Why a Virtual Exchange Platform Serves the Food Industry Year Round

The new Food Industry Exchange, an electronic, subscription-based sustainable marketplace developed for FMI by The Seam is a valuable tool in shoring-up supply chains in anticipation of disruption. The Food Industry Exchange launched during the ...

SQF Code Edition 9: Your Input on The Next Step in Global Food Safety

Food retailers play a critical role in influencing food safety protocols and expectations between food manufacturers and ...

Variety to Rationalization to Pantry Loading – Are SKUs Poised to Recover Post-Pandemic?

The food supply chain disruption has brought up, once again, the question of just how many products do we really need on grocery ...