A growing trend for ‘Myspace’-style online profiles for the fresh produce industry has been enhanced by the introduction of two new initiatives.
Belgian strawberry specialists Hoogstraten is launching a traceability element to its website next month which includes grower profiles while Dutch website eFresh.com has introduced industry profiles to aid business contacts.
Hoogstraten has begun to put new codes on its strawberry boxes with 60 per cent of their 350 growers already online allowing direct emails, pictures and a background history of the grower to be accessed - something previously piloted by a number of Fairtrade companies.
Marketing coordinator Bram Vandecruys told freshinfo: “It is an idea that has been done before but it is not really brand new but what is extremely valuable for us is to do it for the fresh produce industry. It happens a lot when it comes to Fairtrade coffee and spinach but we are one of the first but to go to the consumer show them we have complete traceability and are so confident in our product and quality that we want to show off the product.
“A lot of the growers are craftsmen and have been in the business generations and so the only slight issue we’ve had is that some of them don’t always see the value in schemes like this.”
efresh.com offers a similar service based on grower and supplier interaction - a tool it hopes with help open up communication lines between the industry further.
Kimberly St Andre, who presents the site’s web bulletins, told freshinfo: “Some people have their own certain ways of doing things and they maybe need to open up to innovation as we are trying to bring people who don’t want to work through middlemen together.”
Hoogstraten is part of the Flandria group whose Speciality Street brand turned heads at the show as their Baby-leaf salad was nominated for the Innovation Award whilst eFresh.com was intent on spreading the message of its Get Foundation which supports producers in developing countries by providing sponsored memberships and market making services.
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