FDBusiness.com

A Cotswolds-based supermarket has experienced a flood of customers wanting to use new provenance-scanning technology after it became the UK’s first major retailer to make it mandatory for suppliers to tell shoppers where their ingredients are sourced from. Midcounties Co-operative in Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, recently made it obligatory for a relevant group of its suppliers to prove and publish where they source their ingredients from across its entire ‘Best of our Counties’ range.

In a bid to deliver consumer transparency through the food chain, Happerley QR codes were made available at point of sale so consumers could check the ingredient supply chain of their produce via the Happerley app, which is free to download on android and iPhone devices. The groundbreaking initiative marks a major milestone in the journey of Happerley, the organisation working on behalf of the whole UK food industry and all consumers to develop and implement a means to secure provenance, honesty and transparency, and empower the consumer to know the journey of their food.

Happerley founder Matthew Rymer (pictured left) comments: “We’ve developed the QR technology to be accessible to any food and drink supplier. It’s a no-brainer in terms of the benefits. The Happerley mark shows the supplier has no need to hide its ingredients and that there’s a value to its ingredients that it is keen to reflect. Ultimately, we want this to be a sign of reassurance, so the consumer can explore the journey of their ingredients.”

Phil Ponsonby (pictured right), CEO of Midcounties Co-operative, adds: Transparency in the UK food supply chain is something that consumers are increasingly becoming more aware of. The Happerley app will allow our customers to find out exactly where their food has come from and the journey it’s been on to reach their plates, and we’re proud we can prove traceability in our locally sourced products.”

Peter Jinman OBE, Chairman of Happerley’s Advisory Board and DEFRA’s Farm Animal Welfare Committee, says: “If you’re not sure where your produce has come from, how can you be sure that the animal has been looked after? Ensuring transparency and openness will help the consumer to feel confident about the animal welfare on the farm where the produce has come from. The whole chain from producer to consumer will work better.”

For further information on Happerley, please visit https://happerley.co.uk/.