Avoid Bad Meat with QR Codes

How many times have you ended up buying gross raw meat just because you couldn’t tell just by the way it looks? Because, really, looks and smell can be deceiving when it comes to our favorite cut of beef or pork.

And for sure, there were also times when you were doing the groceries and you wished you knew just where a particular produce came from. You wished you knew just how clean and uncontaminated it is. You wish you can be sure your meat came from a reputable slaughterhouse and is free of steroids.

So we can only thank certain brands for bringing in QR codes to give grocery shoppers more information about their goods.

But speaking of meat, there’s Heinen’s Fine Foods, a regional retailer that has 17 locations all throughout northeast Ohio. Heinen’s has launched the “WhereFoodComesFrom” program which uses quick response codes to ensure that families get good meat to eat.

By scanning the code, shoppers will be taken to a backstory or an information page about a meat product’s origin. Shoppers will get to know where a cut of beef came from, where the cow was raised, what kind of farm it is, and how the farmer handled that farm.

If a farmer, rancher, or food supplier uses the “WhereFoodComesFrom” verification seal of approval, this means that the source of the product is verified through a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Process Verified Program (PVP) or Quality Systems Assessment (QS) auditing system.

This program is a great concept, especially for those who put value on the importance of getting only fresh and raw food products. We can only hope other stores or retailers follow Heinen’s lead and start applying QR code technology to ensure the quality of quickly-perishable goods. And hopefully Heinen’s and other stores apply QR codes on fruits, vegetables and dairy products next.