A recent blog over at the The New York Times reminded me of a recent interview I did with Rob Hemsley, European director of procurement at Heinz. The blog reports on the story of how House of Representative Democrat member, Diana DeGette, sees understanding supply chains as the key to food traceability.

A recent outbreak of salmonella in the US, which has left nearly 1,000 ill and, according to some reports, the death of a cancer patient, illustrates the importance of the issue.

While the US Food and Drug Administration and Center for Disease Control and Prevention are busily trying to get to the bottom of the outbreak, precise understanding of supply chains would soon get to the root of the problem according to DeGette.

It's an issue that isn't lost on Heinz - according to Hemsley, any single Heinz tomato can be traced back to the exact field in which it was grown...

(By the way, the full interview with Hemsley will be published in the next issue of Procurement Leaders magazine. In the meantime, a video teaser of the interview will be available for viewing in the next few days.)