ARLINGTON, VA — August 4, 2011 — Yesterday, the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) awarded Rapid Recall Exchange the Food Safety Innovation Award at the 2011 IAFP Annual Meeting. This prestigious award recognizes new ideas, practices or products that have a positive impact on food safety—improving public health and quality of life.

Launched in September 2009 by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and GS1 US, Rapid Recall Exchange provides timely and accurate product recall and withdrawal notifications to its members through a convenient web-based service. In less than two years, more than 650 companies have subscribed to Rapid Recall Exchange, including 21 of the 24 largest supermarket chains based in the United States.

“We are honored by this recognition,” Dr. Hilary Thesmar, vice president of food safety at FMI said. “Rapid Recall Exchange interlocks food safety and information technology and streamlines effective dialog between the retailer and the supplier during a time of crisis.”

“Rapid Recall Exchange clearly demonstrates our commitment to efficiencies in the food safety sector, and we look forward to future collaborations on industry standards with FMI” echoed Laura DiSciullo, vice president of solutions and marketing, GS1 US.

FMI and GS1 US Encourage Members to Get Involved:
Recognize Rapid Recall Exchange’s potential for your business and brands – enhance food and product safety for your customers. For more information and to subscribe, visit www.rapidrecallexchange.org or call +1 937.610.4233. Additionally, view the on-demand video seminar to learn more about Rapid Recall Exchange here.

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The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) conducts programs in public affairs, food safety, research, education and industry relations on behalf of its 1,500 member companies—food retailers and wholesalers—in the United States and around the world. FMI's U.S. members operate approximately 26,000 retail food stores and 14,000 pharmacies. Their combined annual sales volume of $680 billion represents three-quarters of all retail food store sales in the United States. FMI's retail membership is composed of large multi-store chains, regional firms and independent supermarkets. Its international membership includes 200 companies from more than 50 countries. FMI's associate members include the supplier partners of its retail and wholesale members.

GS1 US, a member of GS1, is a not-for-profit organization that brings industry communities together to solve supply-chain problems through the adoption and implementation of GS1 standards. More than 200,000 businesses in 25 industries rely on GS1 US for trading-partner collaboration and for maximizing the cost effectiveness, speed, visibility, security and sustainability of their business processes. They achieve these benefits through solutions based on GS1 global unique numbering and identification systems, bar codes, Electronic Product Code-based RFID, data synchronization, and electronic information exchange. GS1 US also manages the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code® (UNSPSC®). www.GS1US.org