Growers get Food Trak tech A group of six soft fruit growers supplying fruit to Berryworld has won a MAFF agricultural develoment scheme grant to install integrated traceability throughout their supply chain. The system provided by Food Trak will help the soft fruit industry deliver the service levels required by the multiples, and give an advantage over imports. The Norwich based Food Trak will create a tailormade software package to be used by the Berryworld growers plus 10 of Winterwood Farm's own UK suppliers. The intention is to roll the system out to the rest of the soft fruit industry in 2001. With the list of allowable chemicals changing on a monthly basis, Food Trak provides automatic checks on chemical use, becoming in effect consultant and legal adviser. In the event of a food scare or of a supermarket needing specific product information, all relevant detail on all participating growers can instantly be recalled, detailing precisely which chemicals have been used on a particular product at any stage of the chain. Food Trak director Nicholas Reed said the system provides traceability down to the punnet and is far faster and provides more accurate information than paper based systems. Talking about the system at a London conference on Wednesday, Reed said: "Food Trak provides one standard for all customers and what's more it's a British design with a global application. "It is being used by most of the major retailers and a number of big brand owners are showing interest." {{FRESH PRODUCE }}

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