For a number of years, we’ve dedicated TAG’s year-end newsletter article to an overview of the ending year and predictions for the upcoming. But this year, we took a slightly different angle, recording two TAG Talks videos – one on my reflections on 2023, the other looking forward with predictive insights for 2024 – and the media took notice. Our insights were republished in written summaries, our expert views disseminated, and interviews sought. (See below for details and links to each of these.)
So, rather than adding one more article on the same, I’d like to take this opportunity to focus instead on TAG’s thankfulness for the trust our incredible clients place in us. It has been a good year for TAG. We have helped numerous companies assess and build their food safety culture, train workers in various aspects of food safety and defense, and certify qualified individuals in preventive controls and food defense. We have helped clients get through recalls and other crisis situations, jumping on calls or booking last-minute flights to ensure we are on top of everything; we have partnered with some industry-leading suppliers; and we’ve expanded into new geographic areas, including extensive growth in India.
But the area in which we saw the strongest need in the industry, which will only expand in 2024 and 2025, is that of traceability, i.e., building toward compliance with the new Traceability Rule, due January 2026. TAG experts spent a great deal of time studying the particulars of the rule, developing a Traceability Toolkit, and aiding clients in their understanding and application of its complex provisions. And each time we have aided a client, we have learned more ourselves – which most distinguished educators and consultants will tell you is one of the greatest benefits of our calling. Probably our most significant learning is that compliance is complex and will take time. One thing I will repeat here is my advice to use 2024 to understand the rule and its application to your products; spend 2025 implementing it; then use the last quarter of 2025 to pressure test your program.
As we wind up 2023, I’d like to thank all those with whom we have interacted over the year; and as we journey into 2024, I look forward to the continuance of all our relationships and the building of new ones.
All of us at TAG wish you a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2024.
2023 Review/2024 Insights Links:
Food Industry 2023 In the Rear-View Mirror
Food Industry 2024: What’s on the Road Ahead?
QA Magazine Legislative Update
