September/October 2024 - 9

DATA MANAGEMENT
that the previous structure of the foods program
" significantly impaired FDA's ability to operate as an
integrated food team and protect the public. "
The federal agency announced sweeping structural
changes to its Human Foods Program, including a
restructuring of the Office of Regulatory Affairs, last year.
That top-level view left Yiannas, also Walmart's former
vice president for food safety, convinced of the need to shore
up food production and distribution - and fast.
" Most people are talking about food traceability in the
context of regulation, but a lack of visibility, transparency
and traceability in the food system is what I've described as
an Achilles' heel, " Yiannas told Produce Processing. " We
have some great food companies and great systems in place,
but the Achilles' heel is when a crisis happens, we just don't
really know with specificity, accuracy, precision and speed
where the contaminated food came from. "
ACCESSIBLE TECH
That's where Wiliot hopes to make a difference. Wiliot's
Visibility Platform utilizes Wiliot IoT Pixels, massmanufactured,
postage stamp-sized devices affixed to
products and packaging, such as a crate of tomatoes. The
pixels transmit real-time information including location,
temperature, carbon emission and humidity sensing, to the
Wiliot Cloud via standard Bluetooth devices.
Wiliot has taken steps to make its technology easier and
faster for users, partnering with food safety product
development company Trustwell and its FoodLogiQ
platform, as well as food traceability platform iFoodDS, to
enable a no-labor option for automatically capturing CTEs.
The supply chain management software, tailored to FSMA
204 compliance, will help make Wiliot's technology scalable
for smaller users, according to Steve Statler, Wiliot chief
marketing officer.
" We recognize we can provide the no-labor generation
of these Critical Tracking Events, but that's really just
part of the picture, " Statler said. " What you need is a
spreadsheet. To go beyond compliance, you need a
solution. Our strategy is to have an open platform that
works with apps. "
On Aug. 20, the company unveiled WiliBot, a generative
artificial intelligence chatbot. WiliBot connects Wiliot's
pixels to a Large Language Model, which facilitates generalpurpose
language generation and other natural language
processing tasks. Through WiliBot, companies can " talk " to
their products, ask questions and analyze data, and then
take corrective action if, for instance, produce has been
handled at unsafe temperatures.
Select Wiliot customers have begun piloting WiliBot, with
a broader rollout scheduled to launch later this year. Wiliot
envisions consumers eventually using the technology in
store and at home through the mobile apps to improve their
shopping experience.
" Humidity and temperature sensing are key to reducing
the number of times you go home with something that's
bad, " Statler said.
Currently, Statler said, produce is bred for resistance
rather than flavor, leading to too-frequent substandard
quality of products such as strawberries, which " don't come
Wiliot's stamp-sized, self-powered compute devices affix to
a product, such as a crate of tomatoes, and connect it to the
internet, transmitting real-time information including location,
temperature, carbon emission and humidity sensing.
PRODUCE PROCESS ING
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September/October 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September/October 2024
