The North American edition of the Sustainable Foods Summit will concentrate on food traceability when the event takes place in San Francisco on January 21-22. The summit will cover such developments in the context of traceability of food ingredients.

The fifth North American edition of the Sustainable Foods Summit aims to highlight major developments in food traceability, sustainable ingredients and customer behavior. With new expectations in sustainability, the summit will cover advancements in this area and industry-best practices.

As the labeling issue of genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) continues in the US food industry, retailers and consumers are increasingly asking questions about transparency, production methods and provenance. Sarah Bird, board member of Just label It! and Organic Trade Association, will give an update on legislative developments, including Vermont’s labeling law and recent ballots. Following Colorado and Oregon, she will touch on what other states are likely to hold GM labeling ballots in 2015.

In the absence of mandatory labeling, an update will be given on voluntary GMO labeling schemes. Kenneth Ross, CEO of Global ID, will highlight vulnerabilities in global supply chains for food ingredients. The question: “How can food and ingredient firms guarantee non-GMO supply chains?” will also be asked.

With a growing number of natural food retailers like Whole Foods Market taking a pro-labeling stance, the National Cooperative Grocers Association shows how retailers can improve transparency.

The Summit will feature sustainable ingredients, as well. Many food and beverage companies are reducing their environmental footprints by using sustainable ingredients, while others are using such ingredients for product innovations.

Kristina Locke, founder of Conscious Food, highlights developments in natural sweeteners. With palm oil continuing to be a debatable issue for the food industry, IOI Loders Croklaan and Daabon Organic will give an update on sustainable palm oil production and consumption. Hampton Creek will show how sustainable proteins are creating innovative meat alternatives. Other papers will cover sustainable value chains, gluten-free products and superfood ingredients.

The customer behavior session will discuss approaches to encourage sustainable purchasing and consumption of food products. Jon Dettling, managing director of US Quantis, will present the latest environmental footprint measurements for food production, consumption and waste.

Globescan will show how consumer attitudes toward sustainable products and foods are evolving. Matt Jones, chair of Slow Food USA, will give case studies on how positive consumer change can be instigated. Keller & Heckman will give an update on the regulatory environment for marketing claims, too.

Another seminar features mobile apps for traceability.