Customers globally are becoming more and more conscious of the food they are buying and demanding more transparent information about the lifecycle of the products. The trend of a shift in consumer preferences towards more healthy diets is continuously accelerating and is expected to reach its fastest pace so far in 2024.
At the same time, an increase in food safety quality controls led to product withdrawals even by some of the major global food brands. Rising media coverage of such happenings increased awareness of both agrifood companies about the risks for their brands, as well as of consumers to rethink what they eat.
However, while carefully picking the food we want to consume, making healthy decisions on the ingredients, choosing products with less fat or sugar, and buying organic and local food, do we actually know what we eat and drink?
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Why Do Labels Fall Short in Communicating Food Production Practices?
Taking this into account, the right question is are labels enough to communicate transparency and traceability to buyers?
Although a processed product, e.g. pickled cucumbers, or tomato sauce, has labels that indicate the additives added during processing, or the nutritive levels of the products, they do not give information about how those cucumbers or tomatoes were treated, produced, and if there are residues of pesticides still contained in the product.
At the same time fresh produce like apples or bananas, usually don’t have any labels that indicate how they were grown which means buyers cannot see the list of pesticides and other substances used in production or during the post-harvest (e.g. in a warehouse).
This means that buyers still don’t really know how the food they are buying was grown and produced, which makes buyers more and more concerned and distrusted by the companies and food brands.
The solution is traceability, meaning giving the buyers information on how the food was grown, and providing them with transparency and reliability about the origin, quality, and safety of the purchased products.
The Critical Role of Traceability in Building Consumer Trust
Confidence in the origin and quality of the food impacts the customer’s choice. By being able to trace the origin of a product and the processes it has undergone, buyers can be sure that the product they are purchasing is safe and of high quality.
This is where technology comes in as a solution. AGRIVI Traceability digital solution gives food and retail companies the ability to provide transparent insight into the lifecycle of fresh or processed food products to the end customers, from seed to shelves.
It enables to digitalize of all production stages which allows the generation of detailed traceability reports at the end of the production process on every single product, providing buyers with information such as:
- from which field apples come from,
- what resources were used in production,
- when and how much the apple was treated or if it was given additional nutrients, etc.
Giving that information to the buyers through one simple QR code can lead to increased trust in the brand and the company, confidence about the buying decision, and raise knowledge about the production processes. Some of the newest examples of retail companies that introduced transparent and traceable produce witness an increase in sales of traceable products versus non-traceable product categories.
Enter the Era of Food Transparency with AGRIVI Traceability
The ability to monetize transparency and higher food safety by implementing production traceability is a major benefit and a strong incentive for agri-food companies to digitalize their agriculture supply chains.
In combination with the obligations of companies to report on ESG, awareness of consumers about all the aspects of products they consume is expected to skyrocket. Companies that will take the lead in the transparent approach to consumers are expected to benefit from the premium until transparent and traceable products become a norm.
So, it’s time to let your customers know what they eat with AGRIVI Traceability solution:
- position your food products as premium quality, transparent, and compliant with food safety standards
- get scannable QR codes to provide detailed information about food products
- ensure top quality and total production traceability toward end customers.
Sign up for a consultation with our experts and find out how AGRIVI Traceability fits into your business strategy.
