The penetration of digital tools in all areas of consumption reaches out to labels that, with platforms such as Naturcode, allow large distribution customers and manufacturers to exchange information beyond ingredients, nutritional data and origin of products.
The way of shopping has changed. It is a fact and this is reflected by rising data in the use of online platforms for the acquisition of food, including fresh food. The digitization accelerated by the pandemic does not only affect the replacement of the physical shelf with a digital one, but it is also noticeable in the way the customer interacts with the final product in the establishments themselves. It is something that the promoters of the Naturcode firm were able to see, the first Spanish platform for the identification of agri-food products through smart labels that can be read with digital devices.
“My experience as head of marketing for Mercasevilla and founder of a digital marketing firm is that we usually met companies that wanted and understood the need to show the information of their products as differential value for better marketing. For example, the need to transmit the difference between bananas and plantains, highlight traditional methods of preparation or gastronomic singularities. We detect the need for food and beverage companies to communicate with consumers and send them all this information that does not fit on physical labels and that many of them are looking beyond the value for money “, explains Fernando Vázquez, CEO of Naturcode.
These smart labels, in addition to being a greener alternative to all physical informational materials, notably improves their informational function by collecting safety, healthy, sustainable, satisfaction, social and solidarity parameters of each product. addition to offering access to multimedia content.
This element, explains Vázquez, allows “no longer to offer all this information, but it can also be expanded or modified at any time without the need to produce new physical labels. The product code is maintained, the only thing that changes is the information that is displayed. to the consumer, being able to update with recognitions, awards, certifications, etc., especially in those matters that the client is sued and are detected through the information we receive. And this, in addition, responds to the obligations of information to the consumer that marks the law and that few distribution companies are complying “.
Agri-food chain
In summary, this exchange of information benefits all the actors in the agri-food chain, from end customers to producers at origin, passing through surfaces that sell food and beverages, since it allows interaction through the public’s smartphones .
With the transparency of the information, through intelligent labeling, this system helps consumers to have a more balanced and healthy diet, “but we also get them to value the products not only based on the value for money but also on other characteristics that They distinguish them. Our goal will always be to empower the consumer and to make the decisions based on the information himself. “
In the case of Naturcode, the companies that register on the platform must sign an ethical code endorsed by the four consumer associations that are part of its advisory council, which obliges them to offer truthful information, accredit their certifications through documentation. and submit to to a system of recognitions and sanctions that are made public. In the same way, clarifies the person in charge of the platform, “as an important part of Naturcode’s smart labels are the opinions and evaluations of consumers, the moment someone detects false information about a product, they can leave it registered in the opinions of the same”.
The platform also has a Scientific Advisory Committee made up of five experts from the university field who support each review of the product’s evaluation parameters within a food model based on what those responsible for Naturcode call the 6S (safe, healthy, sustainable , satisfactory, social and supportive). This committee also interprets and offers application guidelines on new legislation on Food Safety and Nutrition. “The objective of this committee is to provide better information management to empower the consumer in an effective way,” explains the founder of the platform.
Against ‘fake news’
A good example of the usefulness is this type of information systems, Vázquez reminds us, we found it in the food crisis caused by pollution with ethylene oxide last summer. “One of the issues that can be solved with this type of tool will be the possible crisis of fake news, allowing to inform in real time about certain products, since the information can be updated at any time, allowing any message to be transmitted to the consumer instantly via smart tag “.
Ron Wills is Based in Cape Town and loves playing football from the young age, He has covered All the news sections in WideWorldMag and have been the best editor, He wrote his first NHL story in the 2013 and covered his first playoff series, As a Journalist in WideWorldMag Ron has over 8 years of Experience.