SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) intends to extend the compliance deadline for the Food Traceability Rule in Section 204(d) of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

The original compliance date was to be Jan. 15, 2026. In its Constituent Update March 20, the FDA confirmed that the intention to extend the deadline by 30 months does not include intention to amend any requirements of FSMA 204’s final Food Traceability Rule.

The purpose of the extension is to give all parts of the supply chain enough time to implement the requirements fully, the FDA said.

“The final rule requires a higher degree of coordination between members of the food industry than has been required in the past,” the FDA said. “Therefore, to achieve the full public health benefits of the final rule, all covered entities must be in compliance. Even those few entities who are well positioned to meet the final rule’s requirements by January 2026 have expressed concern about the timeline, in part because of their reliance on receiving accurate data from their supply chain partners, who are not similarly situated.”

The FDA said it intends to use the extra time to work with stakeholders on solutions to current traceability challenges and to provide technical assistance, tools and other resources to assist the food industry with implementation.

ReposiTrak CEO responds to FSMA 204 compliance extension

Randy Fields, CEO of ReposiTrak, released a statement praising the FDA for the decision on March 21.

“For the last two years, ReposiTrak has been anticipating and encouraging the FDA to push back the compliance deadline for FSMA Section 204 in the interest of the industry. Traceability requires not just data, but good data. Because traceability is complex, and the biggest supply chain collaboration in the history of the food industry, every trading partner needs to learn how to collect, analyze, manage and share that quality data so that the next participant in the supply chain doesn’t have a garbage-in-garbage-out problem.”

“ReposiTrak is the preeminent provider of traceability services. In fact, we have been leading the industry and helping our customers make the supply chain safer for more than a decade. We are obsessed with the success of our customers, so having additional time increases the likelihood they will produce the required quality data for their supply chains. Our team knows how beneficial a move like this is for the industry and we welcome the FDA providing some additional time for companies to successfully implement traceability systems.”

“ReposiTrak also commends the FDA for maintaining the essence of traceability. Importantly, the FDA is only moving the deadline to accommodate tens of thousands of companies that have to modify their internal processes and deploy new technologies for traceability to work. As the FDA pointed out in its press release, if one participant in the middle of the chain is unable to provide quality data traceability for that particular product will be impaired.”

“ReposiTrak recognizes that it takes time for people and companies to change, and we’re providing services that accommodate this need for change. We have the only field-proven solution and are deploying it every day in the marketplace. We will use the additional time allotted by the FDA to educate and onboard thousands more retailers, distributors and suppliers.”