The U.S. Food and Drug Administration was nearly ready to release its new guidelines governing safety of the nation’s food supply in March when the COVID-19 pandemic superseded that rollout. As the FDA now prepares to release its “New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint,” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn writes that the new plan could potentially address some of the systemic imbalances in the food chain in the future. “Enhanced traceability, coupled with advanced analytical tools, could provide greater supply chain visibility and potentially help the FDA and industry anticipate the kind of marketplace imbalances that resulted in the temporary spot shortages of certain commodities we’ve seen in recent months,” Hahn said. “And it could help us anticipate and help mitigate the kind of food waste we saw when food producers lost customers in restaurants, schools, and other entities temporarily shuttered by the pandemic. In other words, we believe a digitized food system is likely to be a stronger, more agile, and resilient food system.” The article, co-authored by Frank Yiannas, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for food policy and response, can be found here.