Conserve Italia adds traceability to its peach products

Food producer Conserve Italia has introduced a traceability system for its Valfrutta brand peach products which allows consumers to check their origin by scanning a QR code.

"We want to make the cooperative agricultural supply chain more and more transparent in the eyes of consumers,” said Paolo Rosetti, general manager of Conserve Italia.

The code on the jars provides information on “the farmer who produced that fruit to all information on the farm, the variety, the harvest period, the establishment and the date of processing” via the company’s Valfrutta.it website, he added.

More than 30 farms – all members of the Conserve Italia cooperative – are currently involved in the traceability project, according to the company.

While the traceability project is more about building relationships with consumers, it will almost certainly help build confidence in the integrity of the Valfrutta brand.

That’s important because Italy has a major problem with food fraud, an illicit trade orchestrated by organised crime networks that Agriculture Minister Teresa Bellanova last year said costs the country €100bn a year.

According to the national farmers' association Coldiretti,, six out of 10 Italian food products sold on the international market suffer from some counterfeiting activity.