Online meat retailer enables customers to see precisely where their meat originates
Farmison & Co, the online meat retailer, has unveiled a new traceability system designed to enable customers to use their smartphones to see where their whole cuts come from – right down to videos of the pastures where the cattle graze.
As part of its Farming the Future (FTF) programme, using a QR code on the packaging, with a link to the Farmison & Co website customers can trace the origins of their meat, including the breed, videography of the farm where it was reared and the food miles.
The launch coincides with the tenth anniversary of the horse meat scandal in January 20131, when horsemeat entered the food supply chain and was found in a series of beef products that reached the supermarket shelves – resulting in millions of products being withdrawn.
Although the food industry has since taken steps to make food safer, Farmison & Co founder John Pallagi warned that the supply chain remained vulnerable and that more than ever consumers were demanding – and deserved to see – full traceability of produce.
“I fear the answer isn’t enough – and that meat food supply chains remain as opaque and difficult to trace as ever. Reputation management – I would venture – has been more important than addressing the fundamental wrongs of these systems.”
He said: “The horsemeat scandal undoubtedly inspired a great deal of scrutiny from retailers into their supply chains at the time, but I wonder what reforms have been introduced.
The new QR codes will be offered on whole cuts of meat allowing customers to see:
- details about the animal the meat comes from
- information about the breed
- details of the farm and farmer
- video footage of the land where the animal is fed and reared
- exclusive recipes from Michelin-starred chef Jeff Baker
John Pallagi added: “Here at Farmison & Co, the core of our business has been traceability from farms and farmers we know intimately – and as we grow, we’re determined to do all we can to share that detail with our customers from farm to fork.
“We already encourage people to ‘Eat Better Meat.’ From today we also encourage them to ‘Trace Better Meat.”
Tech partners
Through its continued in-house investment into its supply chain, Farmison & Co has developed bespoke processes and systems with its tech partners to help accelerate the move to ‘direct from farm’ transparency that’s easily accessible to customers. It will be extended to more producers in the months ahead.
Farmison & Co’s FTF programme will initially apply to full cuts of meat. Product ranges that are traditionally a means to manage carcass balance and reduce waste – such as sausages or its Sauce Pan Ready meal range – while not initially included, will still be sourced from within Farmison & Co’s network of accredited suppliers and be fully traceable.
“In time, our ambition is that every item we offer will be in our new FTF programme,” added John Pallagi.
[1] Details of the horsemeat story was front page news on 16 January 2013 – two days previously, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) informed the UK’s Food Standards Agency of its research findings and on 15th January 2013, the FSAI advised five retailers -Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Aldi, Lidl and Iceland – who withdrew the offending burgers.
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