The grocery industry is the driving force behind food traceability — even though retailers and suppliers have more than a year longer than expected to meet a key federal compliance deadline.
Originally set for Jan, 20, 2026, the compliance deadline for section 204 of the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was extended by 30 months to July 20, 2028. Under FSMA 204, businesses must be able to quickly provide detailed records for specific high-risk foods on the Food Traceability List to help trace contamination.
While the grocery industry hasn’t been shy about calling for regulatory changes to make food traceability requirements less burdensome, it is also making progress in pushing suppliers to get compliance-ready.
During a webinar in late 2025 hosted by Repositrak, which provides a food traceability platform for retailers, wholesalers and suppliers, the company said that more than 70 retailers, wholesalers and foodservice companies, including Walmart, Kroger and Albertsons, have already established their own traceability requirements — many of which are more extensive than the federal requirements.
“Many [companies] have more data requirements for more foods with faster deadlines than the FDA, and that’s why we say it’s not the FDA deadline that matters,” said Mark Johnson, a then-partner at Repositrak and former merchandising leader at C&S Wholesale Grocers and United Natural Foods, Inc., during the webinar.
Albertsons, Sam’s Club, KeHE, Kroger, Walmart and Target are among the companies requiring traceability for all foods — not just the ones on the FDA’s Food Traceability List, Repositrak shared during the webinar. For food retailers, requiring suppliers to meet traceability requirements for all foods makes data collection easy and consistent, according to Repositrak, noting that the FSMA 204 requirements have become a “baseline” to which most retailers and wholesalers are adding unique traceability requirements.
“We’ve discovered that nearly half of the 70-plus retailers and wholesalers who have announced traceability programs are asking all food suppliers for traceability data,” Brian Shanahan, a partner at Repositrak, said on the webinar.
Some grocers, such as Aldi, H-E-B, Meijer, Publix and Wegmans, have deadlines that are sooner than the FDA’s, Repositrak noted.
Meanwhile, suppliers have different levels of technical capabilities, which can be a hurdle for food traceability efforts, said Shanahan, who was a category manager for Stop & Shop and Rite Aid before joining Repositrak.
Some suppliers haven’t started working on traceability requirements because of the delayed federal compliance deadline or because their food products aren’t on the Food Traceability List. Repositrak is urging suppliers to get started on this work sooner rather than later.
“It can take months for a supplier to complete all of the steps to begin to share traceability consistently and accurately,” Shanahan said on the webinar.
Repositrak has been working through traceability requirements with suppliers over the past several months. Earlier this week, the company unveiled an expanded partnership with the National Grocers Association for traceability compliance management that will include jointly rolling out new education, training and resources geared toward independent grocers.
