Midcounties Co-op

Midcounties Co-operative says that it has become the first UK retailer to make transparent ingredient provenance mandatory.

Food traceability scheme Happerley will apply its certification to all food suppliers across their best of counties range.

Customers can view the provenance of ingredient supply chains encompassing more than 200 food and drink ranges via a QR code, app and certification.

Over the coming months, this will be rolled out to over 230 food stores.

“We believe consumers increasingly want to know where the ingredients in their food and drink are from and I am delighted we are working with Happerley as their first multiple retailer to adopt this scheme,” said Midcounties Cooperative CEO Phil Ponsonby.

Happerley Advisory board member Adam Henson added: “Consumers should know where their food is from. Happerley enables consumers to see in an instant exactly where the ingredients have come from and make choices based on fact and insight, not fiction. We all hope this will become a national game changer,”

Gloucestershire farmer and Happerley founder Matthew Rymer said: “We want every consumer in the UK to be able to validate and connect to the journey of their food. For the sake of the farmer and the consumer and every honest food business in between, provenance currency needs to be based on truth, not fiction. The support of Midcounties is a major step forward.”