A mistake we keep seeing: US and Canadian buyers assume FSMA 204 traceability became mandatory in January 2026, and either rush suppliers who aren't ready or re

The FDA pushed the compliance date to July 20, 2028. The rule itself didn't change. Lot-level tracking, Key Data Elements, 24-hour traceback, all of it is still coming. Suppliers who start now will be ready; suppliers who wait until 2027 will be scrambling, and you'll inherit that risk during a recall.

Türkiye is a serious supplier here. It's the world's top fig producer and holds roughly two-thirds of global hazelnut exports, with dried fruit exports reaching US$1.7 billion in 2025 according to the Aegean Dried Fruit Exporters' Association. But "Turkish supplier" covers a wide range of operations, from facilities running AI-driven optical and hyperspectral sorting that flags defects and contamination automatically, to lines that still depend on manual visual checks.

That gap matters more than price per kilo. A supplier already capturing sorting data digitally can generate lot-level records fast. One running on paper and eyeballs cannot, no matter how good this year's crop looks.

Before you commit to a Turkish exporter: ask to see their sorting technology, not just a quality certificate. Ask how they'd produce a traceability record within 24 hours today, not in 2028.

What does your current supplier audit actually test: the product, or the system behind it?