Dive Brief:
- Food traceability technology supplier ReposiTrak on Tuesday announced a partnership with store operations specialist Upshop under which the companies will provide grocers with improved access to supply chain data.
- The tie-up is intended to help retailers cut back on shrink, boost sales and comply with federal regulations governing how they track high-risk food items.
- ReposiTrak and Upshop described their alliance as a way to help grocers improve margins and fuel growth by using insights about where products they sell come from to improve how they run their stores.
Dive Insight:
Upshop said linking with ReposiTrak to create an end-to-end system will help give retailers a clearer picture of how goods reach their locations.
By linking data from the supply chain with information about activities it already tracks about products once they arrive in stores, Upshop expects to make it easier for grocers to create and store traceability records that meet updated Food and Drug Administration requirements laid out in the Food Safety Modernization Act, according to the announcement.
The agency has developed a new rule that compels food retailers and manufacturers to keep more detailed records to enable them to more quickly identify and remove goods that might be contaminated from the market. The FDA plans to begin enforcing the new recordkeeping requirements on Jan. 20, 2026, but grocery industry trade groups have said the rule has confused executives.
“Traceability requires data from the supply chain and — importantly — confirmation at the retail store that the proper and accurate lot code data from each shipment has been captured when the product is received,” Mark Hawthorne, Upshop’s chief innovation and strategy officer, said in a statement. “The missing piece for us has been the supply chain data.”
By partnering with Upshop, ReposiTrak said it will enable retailers to meet food traceability requirements without them having to change how they check in foods when they arrive at stores or tinker with systems they already use.
The partnership will also help retailers make better use of supply chain and store data to optimize inventory, labor and customer experience management systems, ReposiTrak and Upshop said.
