Phone technology offers promise of provenance

"I want to get my product noticed," says Sarah Gayton, founder and manager of Taste of the Moorlands bakery in Staffordshire. "The oats, flour, golden syrup and butter I use in my biscuits are all British so I thought it would be a great way to get some local farmers on film and promote our rural area at the same time."

The technology involves placing quick response (QR) codes on products. When the code is scanned by a smart phone, the phone will play a video of the farmer or producer of the product explaining where he or she is from and how the food was produced.

Gayton worked with mobile software technology firm CandiTV to make a demo video to demonstrate the technology, which she believes will cut through regulations and cynicism around country of origin labelling.

"People want to know where their food has come from and this could be a really clever way of informing them," said Gayton.

The technology is already being used in China, Japan and the US, according to Kevin Griffiths, md of CandiTV.

"It's been mainstream in Japan for a number of years," says Griffiths. "Customers can scan QR codes printed on menus to read nutritional information about the food."

Gayton and Griffiths believe QR codes also offer new possibilities for gathering data.

"Cycling brand Assos printed a code on an advert and received 400 scans in the first three weeks," said Griffiths. "Normally they can only fit six products on a page but the QR code linked customers to an entire catalogue in which they could browse items on their phones, click through and buy products.

"I think 2011 will be a big year for this technology," says Griffiths. "Only about 25% of the population have smart phones at the moment, but that's only going to increase."