Saying they would create a better way for food industry logistics companies to comply with the precision track and trace rules soon to be required under FSMA 204, the internet of things (IoT) technology provider Wiliot today launched a partnership with iFoodDS and Trustwell.
The pending change is an expansion of the specific foods required to be tracked under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Beginning in January 2026, Section 204 of that law will require food suppliers, retailers, and wholesalers to monitor and store Key Data Elements (KDEs) for each Critical Tracking Event (CTE) in their supply chains for a broader range of foods.
The rule is intended to create better visibility within supply chains to enable a better response to foodborne illnesses, contamination, and other public health and safety issues, since the CDC estimates that roughly one in six Americans get sick from foodborne illness each year.
Collecting the required data would be difficult for most companies with current technology platforms, but San Diego-based Wiliot says the challenge becomes easier with “ambient IoT,” a battery-free wireless technology that is being incorporated into wireless standards such as Bluetooth, 5G Advanced, 6G, and Wi-Fi. In Wiliot’s view, tagging goods with its ambient IoT “pixels” would allow food products to be connected to the internet and the power of AI at a fraction of the cost of legacy technologies, including radio frequency identification (RFID) and barcodes.
Under terms of the new partnership, Wiliot’s ambient IoT data would be incorporated into software from iFoodDS—a Seattle-based provider of connected traceability solutions for the food supply chain—and Trustwell—an Oregon firm offering supplier compliance, enhanced traceability, and automated recall management for the food industry. That addition would enable both companies to add real-time, fully automated, item-level traceability data to their platforms, the partners said.
“Empowered by the unprecedented capabilities of the ambient IoT, the entire food industry can move beyond QR codes, advance shipping notices, and electronic documentation to a new traceability paradigm that is infinitely faster, entirely real-time, and drastically reduces the cost of manual labor and technology infrastructure,” Wiliot CMO Steve Statler said in a release.
The partnership is the latest technology initiative being offered by providers to cope with FSMA 204 demands, following data collection solutions from Repositrak, Trace Register, and Mojix.
