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Move to develop product tracing tags
John Roberts YORKSHIRE academics are leading a project to allow food producers from the developing world to digitally tag their products to pass on more information to consumers about what they are buying.
The aim is to encourage fair trade by informing customers where a product has come from and who has benefited from its sale
Researchers from Bradford University will lead the project which has been given 411,000 funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
The team will look at developing technology to allow producers in the poorest parts of the world to attach digital information to what they produce.
Dr Apurba Kundu, a senior cybernetics teacher and associate dean of Bradford University's School of Informatics, is in charge of the three-year study.
He said: "The information that may be attached to tagged products is virtually limitless, beginning with details of the product's date and cost of creation, as well as its individual creator and his or her working environment and pay, through the various steps of its transport to the eventual point-of-sale to the consumer.
"At each stage of the product's journey, information may be added or edited.
"We believe that attaching tracing technology to products will enhance their value for consumers seeking to make ethical purchasing choices and increase the sales of producers in the developing world."
The first case studies will be carried out with vintners in Chile and coffee growers in India and the technology used could involve customers entering a unique number found on the product into their mobile phones to receive more information about what they are buying through a text message. Products may also come with bar codes which could be scanned to download a website unique to the producer.
Dr Kundu said: "In the first instance, the project will work with vintners in Chile and coffee growers in India, as both these products have connoisseur ranges which readily lend themselves to information-rich provision, and are already sold in the UK.
"In the long-term, the specific digital tracing technology developed during this project should also have applications in the wider commercial world."
Academics and researchers from Cambridge University and University College London will be involved in the scheme.
Bradford University announced the project as it celebrated receiving Fair Trade status.
Graham Hill, chairman of the University's catering committee said: "We are delighted to have achieved the status from the Fair Trade Foundation.
"We are providing fair trade choice when purchasing a range of products on all campuses."
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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