Supermarket Code Allows Tracing Origin of Meat Products

THAILAND - Tesco Lotus' Quick Response (QR) code system allows consumers to trace back the source of meat products sold on the shelves of its 1,600 outlets throughout the country.
calendar icon 24 January 2014
clock icon 3 minute read

"We are the first retailer in Thailand to implement this technology for meat products," Pornpen Nartpiriyarat, head of trading law and technical, said.

According to The Nation, FXA developed and deployed the QR software.

Tesco Lotus has worked with its five suppliers - CPF Trading, Betagro, Kanchana Fresh Pork, QPM and Golden Foods - to provide sourcing information to the Livestock Development Department to create a traceability database, make the system more complete and increase the confidence of consumers.

Over two years, the QR system would be expanded from fresh pork and chicken to four other main food product categories - eggs, frozen food, bakery, and ready-to-eat meals.

"Now we have already embedded QR codes onto some 100 fresh food items sold at 1,600 outlets," she said.

QR is the last mile in food traceability that allow consumers to get all the information of a particular food product including product source such as producers, farms, slaughterhouse and batch number, as well as nutritional information and recommended recipes such as the guideline for daily amounts by Tesco Lotus' chefs.

Consumers just have to scan the QR code with an app on their smartphone, then all the information on the food item will appear on their screens. The app can be used with iOS, Android and Windows Phone operating systems.

"This is the first time for Tesco Lotus to roll out QR code tracking fresh meat after we rolled out QR for traceability for vegetables and fruits last year and got a good response," she said.

The beauty of QR is it allows consumers to get extensive information on fresh foods, especially meat products sold at Tesco Lotus, to make them confident of the quality of products.

"Demand for pork and chicken peaks during the Chinese New Year, so our QR code traceability for fresh meat will reassure our customers that the food is safe," she said Pornpen.

Wimolporn Thitisak, deputy director-general of the Livestock Development Department, said the department has set up its e-traceability system to upgrade fresh meat safety standards and prepare for the Asean Economic Community.

Tesco Lotus's QR system will help support the department's policies and help give traceability information to consumers by the easy method of just scanning a QR code on the package.

"It is an innovation highly beneficial to consumers," he told The Nation.

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