Angela Nardone

Angela Nardone brings over two decades of expertise in traceability and traceability standards, with a career deeply rooted in advancing data-driven solutions for regulatory compliance and supply chain visibility.

Ms. Nardone began her professional journey as an analyst specializing in security applications at a boutique investment bank focused on physical security. Following the events of September 11, 2001, investment in emerging technologies surged—particularly in RFID and asset tracking systems for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). In her analyst role, she evaluated technologies and market opportunities for DoD asset tracking initiatives, laying the foundation for her future work in traceability.

Shortly after the DoD’s adoption of RFID, Walmart introduced its Top 100 Supplier Initiative, which mandated the use of RFID tags on all products delivered to its distribution centers. This initiative served as a catalyst for the development of the GS1 Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS) data standard for electronic data transmission, formally ratified in 2007. During this period, Ms. Nardone collaborated with companies implementing traceability technologies using the EPCIS framework.

In 2008, Ms. Nardone acquired an enterprise resource planning (ERP) company serving the fresh and processed produce sector. The company’s platform supported EPCIS data standards and offered full-chain traceability capabilities. This coincided with the aftermath of the 2006 spinach contamination outbreak—the first time the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a “Do Not Eat” advisory. In response, the produce industry formed the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI), aimed at establishing standardized data requirements and implementation guidelines for case-level traceability using GS1 standards. Ms. Nardone was a founding member of PTI, contributing to the development of these industry standards in collaboration with GS1 and other key stakeholders.

At that time, source traceability had not yet been fully defined, though it was a recurring topic of discussion. It became evident that ERP systems could play a pivotal role in enabling full-chain traceability, though cost remained a barrier to widespread adoption.

In 2012, Ms. Nardone led the effort to create a new technology solution built entirely by her team. The intent was to design a solution that could easily capture and share traceability information (and other information) between trading partners utilizing the most updated standards and technology.

Today that solution is called Trace-ify™.

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Section 204 (The Food Traceability Rule) was shared in November 2022, over 10 years after Ms. Nardone and her team began work on Trace-ify™.

The Food Traceability Rule borrowed concepts from PTI including some core principles and data frameworks established by PTI. However, FSMA 204 introduced a critical new concept: event-based data collection as a required element of traceability. While PTI focused on data standards and labeling, FSMA 204 mandated source traceability through the inclusion of the “Traceability Lot Code Source” and its corresponding reference data.

In 2023, industry trade associations once again came together to revise PTI guidance documents to align with FSMA 204. Angela Nardone was appointed Chair of the task force responsible for drafting implementation standards and guidance for Harvest, Pre-Cool, Transformation, and Initial Pack stages. She also contributed to the task force focused on Global Location Numbers (GLN) and case labeling guidance.

Ms. Nardone is commonly asked to participate in education webinars, committees, councils, and working groups to help create guidance documentation for companies subject to The Food Traceability Rule.

Ms. Nardone’s extensive experience in traceability standards, technology (including RFID and barcoding), and systems implementation has been instrumental in the design, development, and deployment of Share-ify’s traceability solution—empowering client companies to meet regulatory requirements and achieve greater supply chain transparency.