Turmeric caused lead poisoning. To South Asians, it’s equivalent to a medicine turning out to be poision. There are many reasons why this continues to happen and many of us are working on supply side to ensure it doesn’t.
But while working with growers and processors is important and we know that’s where high value technology will see probable mass adoption and sustain our revenues, there is an equal need of consumer technologies that can place the power on the retail buyer’s hand.
Currently, the individual small buyer has no way of knowing what he is buying. The brand won’t share much, the retailer is only a stockist and there is no governmental or non-governmental lab where he/she can go to get the product tested before giving it their children.
Consumer facing technologies have a way of spiralling out and growing faster than every projection made.
Food safety technologies are struggling on the production side. B2B, B2G, B2B2C – whatever you call them, we need more C in there.
I know even after half a decade, spectrometry is not even halfway there when it comes to guaranteeing accurate test results. But imagine how the sector will explode if consumers could point their mobile cameras and decide which brand is safer.
The ripple effect that will have on processors, buyers and governments is unimaginable in impact. Most of the brands we talk to are still unsure if investing in traceability will deliver the ROI.
May be. May be not. But when there is a sea of demand out there, traceability itself will change. The decades of slow evolution in food safety protocols will suddenly reach turning point.
May be, we are months or even years away from such consumer facing technology. May be, it doesn’t have to mobile based. It can be a chain of labs like there are labs for blood and other tests. Walk in with your food. Walk out with a report in minutes for a small fee.
Suddenly, everything changes.
