According to FMI, online grocery purchases soared to 27% of all grocery spending for the March/April period of this year, compared to 14% in February. Think back to the early days of COVID-19. A tool for telling a storyĪccording to a 2020 study by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and Label Insight, shoppers have higher expectations for transparency when shopping online compared to in-store. And, if consumers fall ill from the incident, a bruised reputation for the retailer or brand, regardless of the outcome. In the case of a food safety incident, quick trace-back can mean the difference between a small recall involving one or two growers, or a larger investigation that involves tens of millions of dollars of impacted product. We’ve all seen the many recalls for romaine lettuce. We’re told of a few brands and bar codes to be aware of, but how do they know? The ability to trace-back a product to a particular warehouse or field is very important for a retailer and the consumer. That could come in the form of cost savings by eliminating a portion of the supply chain, or through increased margin at the checkout stand demanded by a premium label.Īt the same time, it could also be an opportunity to protect market share. The most tangible benefit is financial, of course. Like with most technologies, there must be a benefit for increased transparency to become more ubiquitous. But equally important, it’s a way to keep track of the product in case of food safety inquiries and also ensuring the quality of food arriving at its final destination - a nudge for growers to improve transparency.Ī push for transparency: Savings & security When I speak with growers, transparency means building deeper loyalty with retailers and the consumers they serve (with hopes the loyalty is returned). What type of land was the crop raised on? What chemicals were sprayed, if any? What similar products can I purchase from that particular farmer? Some will say they want to get to know the specific grower that produced the beans or apples. When I speak to consumers about transparency, they reflect with varied responses. The promise of technology and its impact on transparency will forever change the produce aisle, just like moving from 3G to 5G technology.
Or at least that is the past, and singular, view of how consumers connect with the most perishable of products in their shopping cart. Arguably, the consumer’s relationship with fruits and vegetables is the most complicated one in the supermarket. And if at a farmer’s market, they’ll often quiz the farmer on how the product was grown, what crop protection products were used, and when was it picked. But it wasn’t until I entered the highly-perishable fresh produce sector a decade ago that I gathered a true appreciation for how complicated – and how powerful – a transparent supply chain can be.įor many deep-rooted and emotional reasons, consumers have a close relationship with their fresh produce, scanning the produce aisle high and low for just the right piece of fruit to take home. I have been working in the agriculture industry for a long time. How are growers, distributors, processors, and grocery stores implementing transparency at each point in the supply chain? And with Covid, many of us demand even greater assurance that our food supply chain is as safe as possible. Is the Genetic Literacy Project a corporate ‘front’? GLP responds to ongoing false allegations from US Right to Know / Organic Consumers Association / SourceWatch / Baum Hedlund / Church of Scientologyįew technologies can transform the relationship between growers and consumers like the promise of transparency.Copyright and Repostings, Privacy Policy, Editorial Ethics and Corrections.Mission, Financial Transparency and Governance.
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