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IBM Collaborates with InSync for Food Safety

Food safety is a top-of-mind issue around the world today. In the United States alone, the Centers for Disease Control estimates that 76 million Americans become ill, more than 300,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 die each year from food-borne illness. President Obama's budget proposal included $1 billion for the Food and Drug Administration to spend on improving food safety, and legislation was recently introduced in the U.S. Senate to address this issue. Sensor technologies can also play a role creating a safer food supply.

In effect, IBM signs an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement with InSync Software Inc. that will allow the company to integrate IBM open technology into its own Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and sensor-driven food safety and asset management products. InSync will offer IBM's InfoSphere Traceability Server software as part of its food safety solutions for customers worldwide.

Aimed at companies in the fresh and processed foods, meat and poultry, construction, and chemical industries, InSync's products use sensor technologies that aim to locate and track assets and processes, improve efficiencies and manage risk.

To enable food producers to share information with trading partners outside their four walls, InSync is embedding IBM's InfoSphere Traceability Server into its applications. InfoSphere Traceability Server is industry-standard software that allows trading partners to track their products as they move through the global supply chain. The product is fully compliant with GS1 EPCglobal's Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS) standard for capturing and sharing information on a product's location, temperature and other relevant data. The IBM software will allow companies to use InSync's software to share information concerning food origins or other important information with any trading partner that is also using an EPCIS compliant solution.

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