The Fresfel-EAN initiative comes in response to the increasing number of issues the industry has to confront in these two sectors. The group is composed of leading fresh produce companies as well as representatives from national produce trade associations and EAN member organisations.

The first meeting was held last month and was attended by supply-chain and e-business professionals from across Europe and South Africa.

On the agenda was the implementation of Fresh Produce Traceability Guidelines (FPTG) and the group undertook to address an international e-catalogue for fresh produce as well as developing coding issues at future meetings.

The group comes under the retail division at Freshfel and will facilitate debate along the chain from grower to retailer. It is co-chaired by Philippe Binard of Freshfel Europe and Miodrag Mitic of EAN International.

"Standards are continually progressing," said EAN International's Graham Avory. "They are business led and as groups develop systems others are playing catch-up. Fresh produce is a sector that is beginning to think for itself."