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By adding IT solutions, we want to contribute to maintaining the global pioneering role of the Dutch fresh produce industry. That is why we continuously look at trends, the influence it has on the industry and how we as JEM-id deal with this, this time we discuss: 'Food safety, transparency and sustainability'.

Future proof development: Speaking with the Fresh Produce team.

Why do consumers increasingly choose sustainable, safe, organic food and other products?
The organic market has grown from a niche to a full-fledged market in recent years. Supermarket chain Lidl thus doubled the number of organic products in a short time. Albert Heijn (AH) was the first supermarket in the Netherlands to launch its own organic brand and now has more than 1000 organic products on its shelves. Reasons why consumers choose organic products are mainly health and reliability; they assess organic food more reliable because of the transparent chain and insight into the origin of the project. The increasing supply and accessibility are also leading to an increase in this segment.

In addition, the food industry places increasing demands on the working conditions of employees. Consumers more often ask for "fair" products, such as chocolate, coffee, vegetables and fruit. In addition, consumers and supermarkets more often attach value to the topics: "packaging" and "food waste".

Picture: Lidl via www.agf.nl

What influence does this sustainability and food safety trend have on the fruit and vegetable sector?

As a fresh produce company, you can hardly stay behind within these trends. Consumers' demands for a safe, healthy, qualitative and sustainable product are being 'pushed' throughout the chain. Certifications, demonstrable quality processes and data about production and logistics processes are therefore becoming increasingly important. Government agencies are shifting their focus to banning plastic and, together with companies, they are putting food waste issues high on the agenda. Below we discuss some of the market developments:

Valid certificates are increasingly important
The fresh produce world is moving fast, products come from all over the world and at the same time consumers demand safe and sustainable products. Retailers therefore ask for the correct documentation to demonstrate that these requirements are met. This can be challenging for trading companies with different suppliers. All documents, such as certifications / certificates must be up-to-date, valid and also easy to find when customers request them. Many certifications also require insight into the working methods, including the registration of complaints.
Registering complaints can also be a challenge. In addition to handling, more and more demands are coming from accountants and retailers. Certifications and demonstrable, transparent information is essential.
The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) uses MRLs (maximum residue limit) to check for misuse of plant protection products and biocides, among other things. The NVWA checks on a random basis whether these are met in order to guarantee food safety. In addition, the KCB inspects fresh fruit and vegetables. In short, it is becoming more and more challenging to meet all requirements.

The demand for chain transparency, such as origin data
In the field of chain transparency, for example, Albert Heijn is taking the next step with the new world map. The world map shows the more than 1,200 locations where the last step in the production process is carried out for the AH private label products. Albert Heijn is gradually expanding the information on the map with provenance data for fresh products such as fruit and vegetables (source: AH.nl).

Initiatives to combat food waste
Limiting food waste is becoming increasingly important; about a third of all fruit and vegetable products are thrown away. To avoid having to destroy surplus, consumers can buy them directly from the farmer, grower or shops at a low price. For example, anti-waste platform Too Good To Go creates a win-win-win situation. In addition, Local-for-local is increasingly seen as more sustainable and Lidl recently also responded to this sustainability trend.

Retailers increasingly want sustainable packaging
Retailers have the ambition to make packaging on fruit and vegetable products more sustainable. Supermarkets are increasingly taking measures to reduce plastic packaging. AH, for example, opts for sustainable packaging of its own brand and wants to be able to reduce and recycle packaging materials. They announced savings of 270,000 kilos per year by discontinuing packaging for bell peppers, bananas, red pointed peppers and carrots. Plus already took a similar measure earlier. And supermarket chains Deen, Lidl, AH and Vomar sell reusable, washable bags for fruit and vegetables. This means that fresh produce companies will increasingly have to take this into account.

Picture: www.ah.nl

How do we, as JEM-id AGF, support companies in these market developments?

Because we want to support fresh produce companies with these trends, various developments have been made that, among other things, give more control over daily processes. You can read more about this below.

As a fresh produce company, how can you easily manage certificates and inspection results?
Quality control is becoming increasingly important within the fresh produce industry. Not only because of the increasing demands of the buyers, but also because of the stricter requirements for food safety. Many certifications require insight into the working methods, including the registration of complaints. The complaints procedure of an organization is often a complicated process, also for the employees within the company. Complaints, for example, are registered in various ways, so that they cannot be handled or treated poorly. With the GreenCommerce quality and control package, complaints, date codes and certification tools are transparent and easy to manage. This gives users a central information source, which provides a good overview both internally and for customers.

With FreshTracker, users are able, among other things, to scan a pallet in order to immediately record and request important information such as inspection reports including photos of that pallet, anywhere in the world. By means of the FreshTracker app, inspection results can be used easily and directly throughout the entire chain, so that the traceability of the product can be taken to a higher level. Because one or more photos can be directly attached to a batch in a simple manner, visualizing inspection results is accessible and easy. Thanks to this quality control, the increasing demands of buyers regarding food safety can be met even better, which can ultimately also contribute to reducing food waste.

As a growers association, how can you improve traceability with growers?
Traceability plays a major role in efficiently organizing your business process. That is why we recently developed 'Scanning for greenhouses' for the United Grower's (before cooperation DOOR) cooperative and its growers with JEM-id. This development ensures that United Growers gains insight into progress in production and traceability. Because every pallet from the grower is provided with a unique pallet ID, tracing at pallet level is guaranteed. In addition to working more efficiently between growers, transporters and the cooperative, insight is gained into the entire logistics chain from the moment of production.

How do you, as a fresh produce importer, get better control over tracking and tracing?
The importer package has been specially developed for importers to monitor and manage their logistics and administrative process from GreenCommerce. With the importer package it is possible, among other things, to record sea transport and containers and to follow the full logistics status. Since we work with products that come from all parts of the world, good information about food safety is of great importance. The GGN number of each shipment can therefore be recorded at pallet level, along with information about the grower.

Via the link with FreshBabel Messenger, good digital communication is facilitated in the field of, for example, relations (GLN), article indications (GTIN), location indications (GLN), track-and-trace information (GGN, QS1 SSCC), etc. 

How do you get the fresh produce certification in order?
Certificate management is possible via an additional package, which actively monitors the validity of certificates and declarations. Since documents can be recorded at various locations, MRL test results, for example, can also be viewed quickly. Initiatives are also emerging in the market to manage certification around Global-GAP, such as Agriplace.

How can you prevent food waste by using data intelligently?
Data plays a more important role in many organizations. It is almost impossible to imagine life without Business Intelligence. The most well-known forms that are used are extensive reports and dashboards. There are several tools on the market that are good at visualizing data, such as Microsoft's Power BI. GreenCommerce also contains a lot of data from which you as a company can obtain very valuable information, for example in the field of finance, commerce or operational processes. As an organization, it is also possible to steer on the basis of data in the field of loss (and thus food waste). For example, you can find out which sales orders have been returned and which batches this concerned, including which suppliers have delivered these batches and send them accordingly. The complaints registration module can also be included in the Datawarehouse package, which can provide information about complaints and therefore also about quality, provided this is properly registered.

How do you get control over waste and packaging taxes?
In the Netherlands, companies that market packaged products are legally obliged to pay packaging tax. Because there is no standard percentage per item and customer for this, this often takes more time than desired. In addition, companies in a number of countries within Europe are obliged to pay "waste tax" (such as the German Packaging Law) to the government. For this, a tax percentage must be calculated on one-way packaging of purchased or used items; which makes for more administrative work. With the Tax package in GreenCommerce you get more control over various forms of waste and packaging taxes. The taxes can be set per material and customer, as well as the way in which they must be paid or charged. This lowers the error sensitivity and ensures that you can work more efficiently.

More information?
Do you have questions or suggestions about these trends and developments? Please contact us via: remco@jem-id.nl