Meet the "Chicken Tracker"

by Emily Matchar, Posted Feb 4th 2009 @ 3:00PM

chicken number

While grocery shopping recently, Eat Me Daily discovered a Murray's Chicken with a Farm Verification sticker on it, allowing the purchaser to "find out where this chicken came from and learn more about the family that raised it." When you plug the code from the sticker into the website it pulls up a Google Map showing the location of the chicken's farm of origin, along with the farmer's name and address. You can even see little pictures and satellite images of the farm, along with quotes from the farmer himself. How cool is that?

This "chicken tracker" is clearly part of the wave of the future, as consumers demand to know where there food came from (and "Grown in Venezuela" does not cut it) in order to make informed choices.

Has anyone seen any similar tracking codes on their food?

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Filed Under: Farming, Food News
Tags: chicken tracker, ChickenTracker, local eating

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

2-04-2009 @4:10PM Rt said... Cool? Indeed.

Useful? Not so sure.

Easily faked? Probably.

Like any label, this must be tested over time.

If it is going to cost more then 'unknown' chicken then I doubt I will play. It was American chicken "processors" who spit chewing tobacco in the chicken's eyes. Still, America has a good reputation for processing quality (deserved or not).
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2-04-2009 @8:12PM Michael Schmitt said... There is no certification program associated with this, so, yes, this program could be easily spoofed or counterfeited at this point.

While having access to Country of Origin information may be what a consumer "wants", how many would want it for trivial purposes (and would answer "yes" to a question such as "wouldn't it be great to have COO information attached to all your food?"), and how many would want it to make food purchases?

Honestly? I'm a food scientist, and I RARELY care where my food comes from. I've got food, that is what matters to me. I've got family in Vietnam who are happy to have enough food most of the time throughout the year.

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2-05-2009 @8:34PM Paul K said... This is great to see in the US.

I'm very familiar with such source verification systems as they are used in Japan since around 7 years prior. Technology their takes it a step further providing a q-code (square shaped barcode) that you snap a photo of with your cell phone. The phone reads the barcode and takes you directly to the site, at where you can view information about the farmers, production etc.
This was very valuable to consumers when tainted beef entered the food supply as everyone wanted to know exactly from whom and where their food comes from.
I have seen it on not only beef but fruit too!
If only the FDA and Department of Agriculture would get onboard and run with such systems. Then again, we probably wouldn't want them controlling it either. With the abundance of contaminated food both in the human supply and others, TRACEABILITY PROGRAMS are a must.
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