April 5, 2010, Watsonville, CA – California Giant Berry Farms has a new look on their four-pound clamshell labels this year. The company is testing the item level traceability program offered by HarvestMark to evaluate the overall system from the field through distribution. This marks the second season the company is working with the HarvestMark program, adding a valuable consumer component to the process.
In an effort to determine consumer interest, impact and demand for the traceback system, California Giant has added a call-out feature on each four-pound clamshell label encouraging the consumer to visit www.HarvestMark.com and enter the code on the berries they purchase. Once they have entered the website to view sourcing information, consumers will be asked to answer questions about their experience on the website to determine if the information they received was helpful and what was expected.
As an industry leader in food safety and quality practices, implementing this traceability program extends our ongoing food safety program and provides us with critical feedback from our consumers reports Cindy Jewell, Marketing Director. Encouraging consumers to visit the traceability website will help us to really determine level of interest in this type of information, if the information itself was satisfactory, and determine what percentage of consumers after purchase actually follow through with tracking their berries adds Jewell.
California Giant chose to launch the HarvestMark as a pilot program first to ensure complete success and accuracy throughout the system from field to consumer before rolling out the complete program to all pack sizes in all regions.
California Giant