{"693212":{"#nid":"693212","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Small Farmers Being Weighed Down by Food Traceability Rule, New Paper Finds","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Food and Drug Administration\u2019s (FDA)\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/media\/183514\/download\u0022\u003EFood Traceability Rule\u003C\/a\u003E requires producers and distributors of perishable foods to submit electronic data records during a contamination outbreak.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, a new paper by a Georgia Tech-led research team suggests that the requirements can disproportionately burden family farms and other small food producers due to a lack of technological infrastructure, resources, or compliance expertise.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe rule is mandated by Section 204(d) of the Food Safety Modernization Act, which Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed into law in 2011. Intended to help the FDA quickly identify the source of contamination, the rule requires producers or distributors with more than $25,000 in annual produce sales to comply or face significant fines.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEarlier this year, the FDA extended its compliance deadline to July 2028. One reason for the extension may be the volume of feedback from stakeholders affected by the rule. The FDA received more than 1,200 comments during an open forum, with feedback from stakeholders ranging from major distributors to small farmers.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMany small farmers commented on how they may not have the devices needed to input this data,\u201d said\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.kwonsoonho.com\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESoonho Kwon\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, a Ph.D. student in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Interactive Computing (SIC) and lead author of the paper. \u201cDoes this mean they have to purchase it themselves? Do they need to become educated on how to use computing systems?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKwon is a member of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.google.com\/view\/escapelab?pli=1\u0026amp;authuser=0\u0022\u003EEquity and Sustainability in Computing Lab\u003C\/a\u003E, which is led by SIC professor and chair\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/shaowenbardzell.com\/about\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EShaowen Bardzell\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMany small farms also said they can\u2019t afford to hire someone to track the data.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne small farmer said the amount of data tracking required by the rule is overwhelming. Some of the required data include:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022ea1cd1b17babad7a094193ce3cfcdc1e5\u0022\u003Elocation and name of the field where food was harvested\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022e3e0b858de04d537ed1544ed215d6a3ca\u0022\u003Edate of harvest\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022e513b4f8aa9e9d9f23b57363206857f61\u0022\u003Epacking dates\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022e619ee0212b73538d858d6c2bed7b8f07\u0022\u003Eshipping dates\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPlease do not force us to do technology stuff,\u201d the commenter said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard enough to keep up with the local demand as it is. We run a pretty low digital technology effort. It\u2019s basically harvest fresh organically grown veggies and sell them to local people.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKwon said the intention of the Food Traceability Rule is admirable.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPreventing foodborne illness is critical, and data- and technology-driven governance can be a powerful tool toward that goal,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s equally important to think critically about who is supposed to be the default user of these systems, and who gets missed in the process. It\u2019s undermining the people who are unable to comply.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOther factors didn\u2019t appear to be considered by the FDA, including the lack of technological infrastructure in rural America, where many foods are grown.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMany parts of rural America have limited or unreliable internet access,\u201d Kwon said. \u201cIf the FDA wants them to send this data, they must comply within 24 hours. Does that mean they have to stop their daily routine and drive to a city that has internet to send it? The rule is operating on the assumption that everyone is dealing with the same physical environment.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECulture and religion also seem overlooked. Some commenters raised concerns that Amish farmers who avoid certain technologies for religious reasons would be pressured into digital record keeping.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMany major distributors and organizations expressed support for the Food Traceability Rule in the FDA\u2019s forum.\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cathwieczorek.com\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECatherine Wieczorek\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, a Ph.D. student in SIC and co-author on the paper, said these organizations don\u2019t have the same tension points as smaller producers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cLarger food producers have the operational capacity to do the type of work the rule requires,\u201d Wieczorek said. \u201cWe find there\u2019s a power imbalance when it comes to smaller food producers like a family farm. Change at that scale is difficult for smaller producers.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBardzell, who advises Kwon and Wieczorek, said the situation provides computing researchers an opportunity to create interventions that will benefit those with fewer resources.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIn a data age when we\u2019re adding AI into our work processes and labor practices, we need to think about how this need creates unequal burdens on different stakeholders in our food system,\u201d Bardzell said. \u201cIt\u2019s a significant challenge for computing going forward.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKwon will present the paper on behalf of his collaborators next week at the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cscw.acm.org\/2026\/\u0022\u003EACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing\u003C\/a\u003E (CSCW) in Salt Lake City, Utah. Their research is supported by the National Science Foundation.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new paper by a Georgia Tech-led research team suggests that the FDA\u0027s Food Traceability Rule can disproportionately burden family farms and other small food producers due to a lack of technological infrastructure, resources, or compliance expertise.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A new paper by a Georgia Tech-led research team suggests that the FDA\u0027s Food Traceability Rule can disproportionately burden family farms and other small food producers due to a lack of technological infrastructure, resources, or compliance expertise."}],"uid":"36530","created_gmt":"2026-10-13 14:42:39","changed_gmt":"2026-10-13 14:46:17","author":"Nathan Deen","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-10-13T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-10-13T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"681417":{"id":"681417","type":"image","title":"AdobeStock_615559252.jpeg","body":null,"created":"1791902571","gmt_created":"2026-10-13 14:42:51","changed":"1791902571","gmt_changed":"2026-10-13 14:42:51","alt":"A farmer holds a tablet while a woman to his right assists him","file":{"fid":"265820","name":"AdobeStock_615559252.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/10\/13\/AdobeStock_615559252.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/10\/13\/AdobeStock_615559252.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":129552,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/10\/13\/AdobeStock_615559252.jpeg?itok=pcEMK4t4"}}},"media_ids":["681417"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"50876","name":"School of Interactive Computing"}],"categories":[{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"194609","name":"Industry"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}