Saturday, August 29, 2015

NextGen Barcodes Will Store Data and Tell Stories About Products

by REUTERS

BERLIN - Growing demand for more information about the products we buy could mean the end of the simple barcode - the blocks of black and white stripes that adorn most objects for sale and are scanned 5 billion times a day.

First used on a pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit chewing gum in 1974 in a store in Ohio, barcodes have revolutionized the retail world, allowing cashiers to ring up products much faster and more accurately, while also streamlining logistics.

But shoppers are now demanding far greater transparency about products, and store owners need more information to help with stock taking, product recalls and to fight fakes. The basic barcode is just not up to the job.

Image: barcode — The barcode has become ubiquitous since its introduction in 1974. Volker Hartmann / dapd via AP, file

That could mean a costly upheaval for retailers and brands to change packaging and invest in new systems and scanners. But it should also bring benefits as more data helps them manage the flow of goods better.

"The barcode did a great job, but it is now time for succession," said Capgemini consultant Kees Jacobs, who is working with the world's top retailers and food manufacturers to try to agree new global standards for labels and product data.

"The current barcode is not sufficient to be the carrier of much more granular information that is needed," Jacobs said.

The most ubiquitous barcodes allow an eight to 14 digit number to be read by a laser scanner. For example, barcode 4-003994-111000 identifies a box as being a 375 gram pack of Kellogg's Corn Flakes.

However, that number does not directly capture any other information that might interest a shopper - such as ingredients, allergens or country of origin - nor does it provide a retailer with useful details such as the batch number or sell-by date. That data is usually printed on the pack, but consumers increasingly want to read it online, or with a smartphone app such as one that measures calories. Retailers want data that can be scanned for tasks such as quickly locating faulty goods for recall or about-to-expire products for mark downs.

Sustainable and safe?

GS1, the nonprofit organization that assigns the unique numbers in barcodes, has developed a double-layered barcode it calls the "data bar" which can carry some extra details such as expiry date, quantity, batch or lot number.

That has allowed German retailer Metro to launch PRO Trace, a smartphone app that shows, for example, that a filet of salmon on sale at a store in Berlin on Aug. 25 was caught at the Bremnes Seashore fish farm off the coast of Norway on Aug. 17 and processed in Germany on Aug. 21. The app also displays a map highlighting the fishing area of the catch and a detailed description of the Atlantic salmon.

Metro says the app helps customers at its cash-and-carry stores such as professional chefs from hotels and restaurants, as they can now embellish their menus with information about the exact origin of pricey delicacies such as wagyu beef.

"We are the only ones in Germany that can do this for fresh fish. It's about trust. Our customers challenge us to offer sustainable and safe products," said Lena vom Stein, a corporate responsibility project manager at Metro.

Metro set up the tracking scheme to help it comply with European Union regulations aimed at stemming overfishing and started making the data available to customers in 2012. It now extends to meat, and fresh fruit and vegetables will follow.

Other retailers are also opening up, often supplementing the barcode with a pixilated square known as a quick response (QR) code. It can store dozens more data points and can be scanned by a smartphone camera to lead to a web page, but can still not be read by the majority of store scanners.

Image: QR code — The quick response (QR) code is capable of communicating much more information. Juergen Schwarz / Getty Images, file

Dutch retailer Albert Heijn recently introduced "Check Origin" QR labels on locally grown radishes and blueberries. Scan the sticker on a mobile phone and it plays a film that rewinds to show the journey from the shelf back to the packing factory, then back to the farmer's field.

Such tools are likely to fuel demands for more transparency. A GS1 survey found consumers are most interested in nutritional and ingredient information, details on allergens, organic certification, environmental impact and ethical standards.

Harmonizing data

Making such a wealth of data accessible via codes that can be scanned is only part of the problem. A bigger challenge is gathering, storing and standardizing the information in the first place.

Fiona Wheatley, sustainable development manager at British retailer Marks and Spencer, says keeping tabs on all the company's suppliers can be a daunting task. "Your ability to give your customers more confidence that they can rely upon is proving to be increasingly challenging," she said, adding that M&S relies on certification schemes such as Fairtrade to help audit small farms.

David Linich, supply chain expert at consultants Deloitte, advises retailers to find ways to work together to monitor the thousands of producers they buy from: "If you go it alone it can be really burdensome, really cost prohibitive."

The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), a global network of some 400 retailers and manufacturers from 70 countries, is coordinating efforts to harmonize product data and labeling.

Most firms accept that more transparency is needed after scares such as the 2013 scandal about horsemeat being sold as beef in Europe, but it is still proving hard to persuade them to share data that many see as commercially sensitive.

Capgemini's Jacobs, who is working on the CGF project, hopes pilot schemes to standardize digital information, like one between rival retailers in Belgium including Delhaize, Carrefour and Colruyt, could be the precursors to new global data standards.

GS1 already holds data from 30,000 companies on some 18 million products that its industry members share with each other behind the scenes to smooth logistics. It is trying to persuade its members to let consumers access more of this information, while keeping some of it confidential, such as detailed pricing and stock levels.

Malcolm Bowden, president of global solutions at GS1, predicts agreement could come quickest - within a year - on sharing nutrition data as there are already broadly accepted standards, and calorie and allergen apps are proliferating.

"The will is there. It has to happen. Like any major change, big companies have to have time to think through the implications," he said.

GS1 is also working to create identifier numbers for individual farms and is trying to harmonize standards on sustainability data, such as a measure of water efficiency for detergents and washing powders currently being piloted.

But making such a wealth of data available will sound the death knell for the barcode. Only a QR code can carry that much information without taking up too much space on packaging.

Longer term, more products could carry wireless tags such as the RFID labels that are being widely rolled out across the fashion industry. These tiny tags, which can be embedded in an object and, unlike a barcode or QR code, do not need to be within the line of the sight of a reader, were long too expensive for everyday goods but their price is falling fast.

Bowden predicts different systems will probably have to coexist for the next decade or so as retailers and logistics providers gradually upgrade their scanning systems.

"I am convinced we will have a day where pretty much all information about all products will be available to all consumers," he said.

P&G Cuts CEO Lafley’s Bonus After Earnings Shortfall

The consumer-goods company’s sales and profit growth came up short of its targets

SERENA NG

Procter & Gamble Co. cut Chief Executive A.G. Lafley’s bonus by $1.1 million in the company’s recently ended financial year, after the consumer-goods company’s sales and profit growth came up short of its targets.

Mr. Lafley, who came out of retirement in May 2013 to run P&G a second time, received total compensation of $18.3 million in the year ended in June, a 6.2% decrease from his $19.5 million compensation package the previous year, according to a proxy statement the company filed on Friday.

The decline was mainly due to a smaller bonus of $3.29 million, which was down from $4.4 million a year earlier. P&G said it paid Mr. Lafley 66% of his target bonus because the company didn’t reach its profit and sales goals.

P&G reported net income of $7 billion for the year through June 30, down 40% from a year ago. Sales fell 5% to $76.3 billion, weighed down by the weakening of many foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar. The company’s organic sales growth, a measure that excludes currency swings and the effect of acquisitions and divestments, grew 1%, as a result of weakness in P&G’s beauty division and challenges the company faced in China and other markets.

At the start of P&G’s last fiscal year, the compensation committee of P&G’s board had set a 3% organic sales growth target and a 5% target for growth in so-called core earnings per share, which excludes certain items like restructuring costs. The company ended up not meeting the earnings target, reporting a 2% decline in core earnings per share growth mainly because of currency swings.

Mr. Lafley’s salary remained at $2 million and he received stock awards valued at $12.4 million. P&G paid $512,040 to cover the cost of Mr. Lafley’s use of the company’s aircraft when he commuted to its offices in Cincinnati from his home in Florida and when he traveled to attend board meetings at other companies.

On Nov. 1, Mr. Lafley will become P&G’s executive chairman and hand over the CEO reins to David Taylor, a 35-year company veteran. The two will work together to pull P&G out of a yearslong performance slump.

Mr. Taylor, 57 years old, currently oversees P&G’s divisions that make up around 40% of its sales. He received a $6.1 million compensation package in the year to June, including $945,000 in salary and a $790,272 bonus.

P&G earlier said that after Mr. Taylor becomes CEO, he will receive a base salary of $1.6 million, with a target bonus of 200% of his base salary, as well as equity grants under the company’s long-term incentive program. Mr. Lafley will receive a base salary of $1.25 million in his executive chairman role, with an annual bonus target of 150% of that amount.

Fast-Food Industry Embracing Snack-Size Culture

August 28, 2015 11:21 AM

Photo Credit: Juliet Farmer

NEW YORK (AP) — Forget the Big Mac attack. Now is the time of the snack attack.

After years of slinging super-sized servings, some fast-food chains are starting to see the benefits

of offering daintier bites. That includes mini-hot dogs, little chicken sandwiches and shakes that are smaller than a small.

It’s all intended to entice people who are searching for a small treat between meals, a cheap bite or a little something extra at mealtime.

This week, Arby’s introduced a lineup of sliders, with the miniature versions of its regular sandwiches costing less than $2 each. Earlier this year, Sonic introduced “Lil Doggies” and “Lil Chickies,”or petite hotdogs

and chicken sandwiches, for around the same price. They were so popular the chain is bringing them back next week.

Taco Bell is promoting its “Dare Devil Loaded Grillers,” which are smaller burritos for about a buck.

The more modest serving sizes are intended to serve a variety of eating habits, including the uptick in people snacking and eating smaller meals around the clock. That means giving people options that don’t make them feel like they’re pigging out.

They aren’t all shrunken versions of regular items, either.

Burger King said the return of its chicken fries is helping push up sales, with many people stopping in to get French fry-shaped fried chicken as a snack. And Dunkin’ Donuts CEO Nigel Travis has said the chain’s new sandwiches are meant to be snacks — not lunch — to fit with the changing way people are eating.

“What we’re seeing is the definition of meals is changing,” said Popeyes CEO Cheryl Bachelder.

She said Popeyes’ new menu items are developed to work as snacks and be easy to eat on the go, such as its “Rip’n” chicken, which is shaped so pieces can be torn off easily.

Snacks on fast-food menus aren’t entirely new; McDonald’s has offered snack wraps for years — and White Castle might as well have patented the slider. But overall, Arby’s Chief Marketing Officer Rob Lynch thinks chains are losing customers to convenience stores like Wawa because they haven’t done a great job with smaller, cheaper bites.

“They’re getting this business because the restaurant industry

hasn’t built a platform that meets this need,” Lynch said.

Reduced portion sizes can also be a way to attract deal-seekers, because smaller sizes usually mean smaller prices. That’s an area some fast-food chains are struggling with, as rising costs for ingredients like beef and dairy have made it tough to keep offering traditional dollar menus.

McDonald’s and Wendy’s, for instance, have both replaced their dollar menus with value menus that offer options at a variety of prices. But the CEOs of both chains have admitted they need to do something more to satisfy the value-seeking crowd.

Relatively dainty sizes can also entice people into indulging in treats they would otherwise avoid.

It’s why Sonic introduced a “mini” size for its ice cream shakes, and why Starbucks offered a “mini” 10-ounce version of its Frappuccino this spring. The idea is to bring in customers who are careful about caloric splurges, while still dishing out bigger portions to others.

If restaurant chains are lucky, the smaller offerings can also be a way to get regulars to spend more. When Arby’s tested its sliders, the chain said some people add a slider to their orders as a way to sample another sandwich.

“They want to try different things, but they don’t want a whole additional sandwich,” said Lynch, the chain’s chief marketing officer.

Sobeys debuts South Asian-focused discount store

Sobeys Thursday opened a South Asian-focused version of its FreshCo discount banner called Chalo! FreshCo, the company announced.

Located in Brampton, Ontario, the 50,000-square-foot store features ready-to-eat South Asian meals; an outpost of Amaya, a local Indian restaurant; full-service seafood and halal and non-halal meat; bulk bins with spices, lentils and nuts; and a wide selection of discounted products typically found at FreshCo.

“Chalo” means “let’s go” in South Asian languages.

“Chalo! FreshCo is a significant and unique addition to our Company’s food retailing lineup,” Rob Adams, general manager, discount format, Sobeys, said in a press release. “This store caters to the South Asian market while also driving our mission to inspire Canadians to discover new foods, products and recipes, and to help them Eat Better, Feel Better and Do Better.”

“Our research indicates that many South Asians visit multiple grocery stores each week to fulfill their food shopping needs, from traditional grocers to small, specialty stores for specific products,” he added. “Now, they can find the popular and unique products that they regularly look for and enjoy in one convenient location.”

Friday, August 28, 2015

McDonald’s, supplier cut ties to poultry farm

Animal rights group posts video depicting abuse of livestock

Aug 27, 2015Ron Ruggless

McDonald's Corp. and one of its chicken suppliers have severed ties to a Tennessee poultry farm from which an animal rights group obtained video of birds being mistreated.

“We believe treating animals with care and respect is an integral part of a responsible supply chain and find the behavior depicted in this video to be completely unacceptable,” Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald’s said in a statement provided by Jeanette DeBartolo, communications supervisor.

McDonald’s said it supported the decision of its supplier, Springdale Ark.-based Tyson Foods Inc., to terminate its contract with T&S Farm in Dukedom, Tenn., where an investigator with the group Mercy for Animals secretly recorded birds being beaten with a spiked stick. The video was released on Wednesday.

“We’re working with Tyson Foods to further investigate this situation and reinforce our expectations around animal health and welfare at the farm level,” McDonald’s said.

Worth Sparkman, a Tyson spokesman, said in an email sent to Nation’s Restaurant News that “animal well-being is a priority at our company, and we will not tolerate the unacceptable animal treatment shown in this video. We’re especially concerned about the inappropriate methods used to euthanize sick and injured chickens.”

Sparkman said Tyson is investigating further. “However, based on what we currently know, we are terminating the farmer’s contract to grow chickens for us,” he said. “There are currently no chickens on the farm.”

Sparkman added that the Tyson FarmCheck program employs third parties who audit farms for such procedures as animal access to food and water, human-animal interaction and worker training.

“We also have veterinary-approved procedures in place for euthanizing sick or injured birds,” Sparkman noted.

Vandhana Bala, an attorney for West Hollywood, Calif.-based Mercy for Animals, told USA Today that the video was recorded by an investigator for the group who applied for a job at the farm and worked there for about four weeks.

FDA Wants Food Companies To Hand Over Their Pathogens

Aug 27, 2015 09:41 AM By Reuters

An electron micrograph of a Listeria bacterium in tissue is seen in a 2002 image from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). REUTERS/Elizabeth White/CDC/Handout via Reuters

Previously, samples from sick patients were sent to state and federal labs, where disease detectives ran tests to see if the infections were caused by the same bug. When enough matches emerged, typically a dozen or so, epidemiologists interviewed sick people, looking for a common food that was causing the outbreak.

But the testing wasn’t definitive, and linking one case to another took time. "While all of this was going on, more contaminated product was getting out into the public," said Dr. Steven Musser, deputy director for scientific operations at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Now, the FDA is building a network of state and federal labs equipped to map out the exact DNA sequence of strains of Listeria, Salmonella and other foodborne pathogens found in sick patients. These sequences are then uploaded to a public database housed at the National Institutes of Health. The technology can not only differentiate a pathogen from multiple related species, but can also show slight mutations within the same strain.

At the same time, the FDA has begun sequencing pathogens found during routine plant inspections and adding those to the database. One benefit of that, they say, is being able to quickly connect patients within an outbreak. Another is the potential to identify the source of an outbreak after just a few patients fall ill, shortening the time it takes to get tainted food off store shelves.

To increase the odds of a match, the FDA wants manufacturers to contribute samples of pathogens found during their own plant inspections. Some contamination is common in food plants. When it is found in the manufacturing facility, but not in food products, companies generally are required only to clean it up without recalling products.

But eliminating pathogens is tough, and convincing companies to offer up potentially incriminating evidence has been a hard sell, according to interviews with public health officials, food manufacturers and experts on recalls.

"That is not something that we've solved yet," said Ruth Timme, an FDA microbiologist who has talked to 10-15 companies over the past year about the benefits of sequencing.

'BAM! YOU'VE GOT EM.'

The FDA became convinced of the superiority of the new approach during a 2014 outbreak of salmonella affecting peanut butter made by nSpired Natural Foods of Oregon.

The FDA had just activated a network of state, federal and academic laboratories to do whole genome sequencing, and the agency had also begun sequencing pathogens it collected from swabbing surfaces during factory inspections. All of these codes were uploaded to the database, known as GenomeTrakr.

When people started getting sick, FDA scientists and partners searched GenomeTrakr, looking for matches with inspection samples. They found the DNA of bugs taken from two sick patients were "almost indistinguishable" from salmonella the FDA had found at nSpired Foods, said Dr. Eric Brown, director of FDA’s Division of Microbiology.

The match allowed officials to quickly recall tainted peanut butter. Only six people got sick.

"You catch things far earlier" with sequencing, said Dr. David Lipman, director of the National Center for Biotechnology Information. "It can be two cases. If you see a match, Bam! You've got em."

A MORE PRECISE TOOL

Since the start of GenomeTrakr in 2012, 25,000 genomes from a variety of pathogens have been added to the database, and several state and federal partners, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have signed on.

The participants agree that sequencing offers huge advantages over the 20-year-old genetic fingerprinting technique used previously, known as PFGE.

David Acheson, a former official at both the USDA and the FDA, who now advises companies on food safety, likens the difference to a witness in a hit and run accident. While PFGE might identify the vehicle as a brown Toyota Corolla, whole genome sequencing provides the license number and even the vehicle identification number.

"They both help identify the culprit," he said, but one identifies the specific bug implicated.

The CDC began experimenting with whole genome sequencing in the fall of 2013, joining the FDA and USDA in a pilot project to sequence all reported cases of Listeriosis in patients and upload those sequences on the GenomeTrakr database.

For the pilot, CDC compared whole genome sequencing to PFGE, and found that sequencing reduced the number of red herrings - cases that look similar but aren't.

In the first year of the Listeria project, whole genome sequencing identified 19 Listeria clusters and solved four outbreaks. That compared with identifying 14 dusters and solving one outbreak the year earlier.

MIXED BLESSING

For the food industry, the ability to more quickly match bacteria from a patient sample with their plants is a mixed blessing.

FDA's Musser thinks the technology will ultimately be embraced by industry, which could use sequencing to see if suppliers are bringing contamination into their plants or if bacteria has taken up residence in a corner of the plant.

"These are things industry could just never get to before," Musser said.

Bernie Steves of Aon Risk Solutions Crisis Management Practice, who advises companies on product recalls, said sequencing is tying illnesses in people to the source "faster than we've seen before," allowing companies to "nip things in the bud."

Conversely, he said, "it gives regulators another tool to find out where a potential problem is being sourced from."

That could mean more recalls. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, only about 40 percent of reported foodborne disease outbreaks from 2002-2011 were ever solved, letting many manufacturers off the hook.

To allay some of those concerns and still get more samples, the FDA and its partners are working on ways to allow companies to provide blind samples through a third party.

One such program called VoluntaryNet at the University of Georgia would allow companies to provide samples anonymously. For companies, the program could alert them pathogens residing in their plants. If a submitted pathogen starts making people sick, public health officials could alert companies about the problem, and possibly pull food off market shelves more quickly.

FDA statistician Errol Strain said several companies have agreed in principle to supply samples and they are working out details on how to participate anonymously.

Europe and the food industry are at war over whether pesticides are dangerous

Barbara Lewis, Reuters

Aug. 27, 2015, 1:01 AM

REUTERS/David W CernyA bee flies to collect pollen on a mustard field in front of the cooling towers of the Temelin nuclear power plant near the South Bohemian city of Tyn nad Vltavou April 12, 2014.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Widely-used pesticides made by Bayer CropScience and Syngenta pose a risk to bees, the European Union's food safety watchdog said on Wednesday, reinforcing previous research that led to EU restrictions.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which guides EU policymakers, said leaf spray containing three neonicotinoid pesticides could harm bees, whose pollinating role is estimated to be worth billions of euros for the bloc's farm sector.

"The protection of bees and the protection of pollinators is one of the essential elements that we consider in the risk assessment of pesticides," the EFSA said in a statement.

The previous research had found that the three pesticides -- clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam -- posed a risk when used as seed treatments or granules, prompting the European Commission to limit their use from Dec. 1, 2013.

"They (the EFSA conclusions) confirm that the Commission was correct to take precautionary measures in 2013," the Brussels-based EU executive said in a statement.

Bayer CropScience said its scientists were reviewing the new EFSA findings, adding it was "convinced that neonicotinoids are safe, when used responsibly and properly".

The European Crop Protection Association, which represents the European pesticide industry, said the EFSA approach was flawed and that this meant the watchdog was "able to identify risks for neonicotinoids as they would for any other insecticide, including organic ones".

The use of the three neonicotinoid substances in seed or soil treatments is prohibited in the European Union for crops attractive to bees and for cereals other than winter cereals except in greenhouses.

Their use in foliar treatments -- feeding plants by applying liquid fertilizer directly to their leaves -- is banned for crops attractive to bees and on cereals, except in greenhouses or after flowering.

Environment campaigners said the pesticides should never have been allowed in the first place.

"Questions need to be asked about how these products were ever approved for use," said Paul de Zylva, a campaigner at the environmental group Friends of the Earth.

The group this month launched a legal challenge to a British decision to allow some farmers to use neonicotinoids after London won an exemption from the EU restrictions.

As part of a two-year review process, the EFSA has asked national authorities, research institutions and other interested parties to submit new relevant information by Sept. 30.

Depending on an evaluation of the information, the Commission says it could change the rules.

Proponents of neonicotinoids say they have a major economic benefit because they destroy pests and help to ensure abundant food for a growing world population.

But those demanding greater protection for bees stress the insects' economic value. Some 75 percent of crops traded on the global market depend on pollinators and the value of pollination in Europe is estimated at 14.6 billion euros.