Many stages along the supply chain are marked out by fresh produce labelling, from sell-by and best before dates to country of origin, provenance, food miles, carbon footprint, branding and marketing. The list is endless and can be confusing to the consumer in the supermarket aisle.
But with other food sectors’ sometimes less than transparent supply chains put under the microscope by the British Retail Consortium recently, the fresh produce industry seems to be holding its own and even getting ahead.
News hit the nationals in October that Britain’s fruit and vegetables were set to be lasered with information as a replacement for the traditional sticky label, which has gradually become larger over the years in the case of mangoes, melons and pineapples, for example. The environment-friendly laser engravings, which are being championed by Valencia-based Laser Food, among others, can etch small graphics onto the skin of fresh produce, as well as information like the country of origin, best before date and retailer names.
It has been suggested that a lasered on use-by date would make it easier for supermarkets to stock control and remove individual pieces of fruit or vegetables that are past their particular date, but what are consumers looking for? There are different types of date warnings and shouldn’t some of these dates be instinctive for both the retailer and the consumer? Why can’t consumers be left to their own devices to decide when to eat or throw out their fruit and veg?
With the mass media branding lasered information as “tattoos”, the new concept may not have made the best impression on consumers in general. You just have to have a look on the various internet discussion forums about the subject to catch a glimpse of the rumours that are circulating about the concept. But the laser companies are said to be confident that the new technology will be accepted, as it has been in Japan and New Zealand already. Consumers are looking for provenance and proof of origin, so maybe laser etching is the correct way to get that across. But with all of these variables to include in the laser engravings, won’t consumers be baffled?
Growing Direct director Carol Ford agrees that there is a danger of overwhelming the consumer with too much information. “Sell-by dates and best before dates, in particular, are primarily there for the retailers’ guidelines because of legislation and not for the consumer,” she says. “I’ve yet to be convinced that the messages they convey are used properly or understood. I think that you tend to get two camps [of thinking]; those who throw out perfectly good produce just because the date says so and those who completely ignore the dates and go by the condition of the produce. I actually tend to believe that date coding is a waste of time for fresh produce, in the main.
“Is it not more useful to have what you can do with the product and how to store the product to optimise freshness or how to blanche the product if you find that you have too much, so that you can freeze it? Or how to get the best out of the product like bringing soft fruit and tomatoes to room temperature?”
Earlier in the year, the government-funded Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) highlighted the confusion brought about by use-by dates and claimed that 8.3 million tonnes of food is thrown away - 5.3mt of which could have been eaten. WRAP’s household food waste prevention programme manager, Andrew Parry, says that fresh produce is the largest category of food thrown away that could have been avoided and likens it to 17 billion
5 A DAY portions.
“The majority ends up being thrown away because it’s not used in time, either because it goes off or passes its best before date,” he says. “Clear and consistent on-pack storage guidance could make a significant difference in helping consumers to eat what they buy, for example encouraging greater use of the fridge for fruit and vegetable storage where appropriate, or alternative locations for produce such as bananas and potatoes. This could extend in-home storage by days or even weeks. The use of “best kept” labels by Morrisons, for example, is a great example of highlighting where produce should be stored for maximum quality and life. Similarly, date labels are appreciated by consumers, but ideally only the best before date should be used (rather than, for example, display-until dates) to avoid confusion. The shelf life given to consumers should be as long as can be achieved while maintaining the desired quality.”
Under the Food Labelling Directive, most pre-packed food is required to carry a date of minimum durability and only highly perishable foods that could constitute an immediate danger to health are required to have a use-by date. The Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC) supports the need to minimise food waste and believes that to achieve this, consumers need advice and information on how to store and enjoy fresh produce at its best.
“Given that the consumer only spends a few seconds reading product labels in the retail store, information on any label needs to meet the needs of consumers, be accurate, clear and relevant,” says FPC chief executive Nigel Jenney. “The fresh produce industry is already providing consumers with information on the product label regarding country of origin. Indeed, under the Marketing Standards it has been a legal requirement to do so for over 30 years and produce can be refused entry into the UK without this information clearly provided on the label. This is one example where the industry has led the way, rather than being driven by campaigning organisations. Perhaps it’s time for more practical education of consumers and to allow them to take a common sense approach in their decision making.”
But Ford believes the biggest problem is that the majority of fresh produce is under a retailer’s own label and therefore has to fall into the retailer’s specifications. “The retailers have to conform to legislation and principally, most legislation on fresh food covers all fresh food and not specifically fresh produce,” she explains. “However, I do think it is important to have the country of origin on products. I’d like to see more useful information for the consumer - promoting fresh produce and how to get the best out of it.”
Whatever the future of labelling, it is clear that consumer perception is vital. As Jenney puts it: “The jury is out with regard to how UK consumers may react to having laser labelling on fresh fruit and vegetables and whether they perceive it as natural enhancement and may prefer an easily removable stick-on label. Let the consumers decide.”
No comments yet