Albert Heijn and Refresco make orange juice supply chain transparent
Consumers can follow the route of their orange juice, using blockchain
Zaandam, 20 September 2018 - Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn and Refresco have made transparent the supply chain of Albert Heijn's own brand of ambient orange juice, using blockchain technology to do so. Refresco supplies Albert Heijn with this juice, sourced from Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC)'s juice business. Never before have consumers been able to follow the chain of a product like orange juice in this way. They can see, via a QR code, which route the oranges have traveled up until the juice is in a bottle on the store shelf. With this complete traceability, the next step is taken in transparency for consumers.
Marit van Egmond, Commercial Director Albert Heijn: 'We supply millions of customers with good food and drink on a daily basis. This brings with it a large responsibility, and we want to actively contribute to current themes in the world around us. We are making our products healthier, are working on reducing food waste and we look at how to reduce our impact on the environment. The importance of transparency in the supply chain continues to increase. We know all the steps in the supply chain of our products, to ensure they are produced with respect for people, animals and the environment. And we want to show these steps to our clients as well, be open and transparent'.
Albert Heijn has long-standing relationships with fixed producers and suppliers for its 11,000 Albert Heijn brand products. In some cases, a production process can be made transparent relatively easily, for example, with fruits and vegetables from the Netherlands. It is more difficult for other products because they have a longer chain or consist of multiple ingredients. By using blockchain, a technology that records every step in the chain, it is possible to show customers how and by whom these products are made.
Albert Heijn and Refresco are using blockchain for the first time with AH's ambient orange juice. The data from the steps in the production chain is linked and made transparent. The blockchain was developed in cooperation with Supply Chain Information Management (SIM), an expert in visualizing and providing continuous insight into chains via research and databases.
Juicy details
Via a QR code on the packaging, customers can follow the entire route that their orange juice has traveled before it ended up in their shopping basket. It starts in Brazil at the orange groves managed by LDC Juice, where the fruit is harvested. Among other things, the quality standards that LDC Juice has for food safety and sustainability are recorded there. The blockchain also contains information about the oranges themselves, including the harvest date range and degree of sweetness. Consumers can see these details in the chain and even send a compliment to the growers with the "Like2Farmer" functionality.
Maarten Kusters, Managing Director Refresco Benelux: 'This is a unique way of bringing together the grower, processor, bottler, retailer and consumer and making the entire process of fruit juice production traceable and transparent. We are pleased that we can make a contribution in this way as Albert Heijn's partner. Being the world's largest independent producer of juices and soft drinks, Refresco is committed to a sustainable fruit juice sector. We aim for 100% sustainably-sourced juice by 2030 in fruit juice products of our clients. In support of this ambition, we co-founded the Sustainable Juice Covenant last year, alongside other leading industry players.'
Murilo Parada, Head of LDC's Juice Platform: 'This project has been a great opportunity for LDC Juice to highlight the various steps in the juice journey in a transparent way. Seeing the details, from grove to bottle, helps consumers understand LDC's sustainable juice value chain. LDC completed the first agricultural commodity trade through blockchain in January 2018 and is convinced that there are tremendous opportunities by using the technology as an enabler of digital transformation.'
Rainforest Alliance
The farms in Brazil that grow oranges for AH's own-brand ambient orange juice, are managed by LDC Juice. These farms all have the Rainforest Alliance certification seal, a quality mark for the environment, nature preservation and working conditions for products from areas where rainforests grow.
Han de Groot, CEO of Rainforest Alliance: 'We congratulate Albert Heijn on introducing this orange juice for which Rainforest Alliance certified oranges were grown. It is good that so many consumers are able to enjoy orange juice that contributes to improving the environment and the future of orange grove keepers and their families. An ever-increasing number of consumers want to have information about where their food is from and how it's made, and it is therefore wonderful that Albert Heijn clients can follow the route of their orange juice. We encourage other parties to follow this example.'
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For more information, please contact:
Nicole McDonald
Communications Manager Refresco Group
Tel. +31 (0)6 12716869
nicole.mcdonald@refresco.com
External Communications Albert Heijn
Tel. +31 (0)88 659 2020
pers@ah.nl
Louis Dreyfus Company Global Communications
media@ldc.com
About Albert Heijn
Albert Heijn is the leading food retailer in the Netherlands and also has stores in Belgium.
The company's mission is to offer all the ingredients for a better life. Every day it brings good, safe, sustainable and healthy food to millions of customers. Stores offer a wide range of high quality items and friendly, helpful service. Long opening hours and online ordering enable customers to shop for groceries around the clock. Albert Heijn is committed to offering the best for its customers and associates and to being a better neighbor to the communities it serves.
Albert Heijn's other formats include ah.nl, ah.be and AH to go.
About Refresco
Refresco Group, the world's largest independent bottler of beverages for retailers and A-brands. Refresco offers an extensive range of product and packaging combinations from 100% fruit juices to carbonated soft drinks and mineral waters in carton, PET, Aseptic PET, cans and glass. Focused on innovation, Refresco continuously searches for new and alternative ways to improve the quality of its products and packaging combinations in line with consumer and customer demand, environmental responsibilities and market demand. Refresco Group is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and has more than 9,500 employees. Learn more at www.refresco.com
About Louis Dreyfus Company
Louis Dreyfus Company is a leading merchant and processor of agricultural goods. We leverage our global reach and extensive asset network to serve our customers around the world, delivering the right products to the right location, at the right time - safely, responsibly and reliably. Our activities span the entire value chain from farm to fork, across a broad range of business lines (platforms). Since 1851 our portfolio has grown to include Oilseeds, Grains, Freight, Global Markets, Coffee, Cotton, Sugar, Rice, Dairy and Juice. We help feed and clothe some 500 million people every year by originating, processing and transporting approximately 81 million tons of products. Structured as a matrix organization of 6 geographical regions and 10 platforms, Louis Dreyfus Company is active in over 100 countries and employs approximately 19 000 people globally.
Louis Dreyfus Company's juice business (LDC Juice) is one of the world's largest processors and merchandizers of citrus juices (orange, grapefruit, lemon and lime). Our extensive asset base includes approximately 30,000 hectares of citrus groves in Brazil. Active in the juice business for over 30 years, sustainability is a cornerstone of our juice production activities. For more information, visit www.ldc.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
About SIM
