The next time you want a cheeseburger, you might consider hopping a plane and flying to Germany. Or France. Or New Zealand. Basically, anywhere but the United States of America.

Almost across the board, the United States ranks at the bottom (“regressive”) for produce traceability programs as ranked by a new Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) report.

IFT checked out 21 countries and rated them “Progressive,” “Moderate,” or “Regressive” based on a handful of criteria.

Although the landmark Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is expected to improve things here in the United States, “development of regulations are still in the early stages,” the study noted. Technically, the study is called “Comparison of Global Food Traceability Regulations and Requirements.” That’s quite a mouthful, pun intended. 

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