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TECHNOLOGY A23
Tuesday 26 May 2015
Latest in food-track tech: Swipe a code, meet your fisherman
By PATRICK WHITTLE This April 2015 photo provided by Ecotrust Canada via This Fish shows the “Boat To Plate” smart- zon in food traceability in
Associated Press phone app being created by a group of Maine fishermen and scientists that will allow consumers that it will use data from
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) to source seafood all the way back to the fishermen who caught it. multiple sources to bring
-- After eyeing a piece of traceable seafood from
haddock on the supermar- Associated Press a large, diverse fishery to
ket counter, a customer supermarket consumers,
scans a code and finds out boat fishermen. “We just the different pieces of the from the previous year, ac- Levin said.
the fish was caught in the don’t think that’s the way supply chain - including cording to market research Hannaford Supermarkets,
waters of Georges Bank of the future.” catch, landing, auction, firm Visiongain. which has more than 150
and learns the name of the Gulf of Maine Research processing and delivery - Consumers have had ac- locations in New England
fishing boat - and maybe Institute in Portland is de- and allows the buyer to see cess to technology that and New York, is on board.
even sees a picture of the veloping the tool, which all the way back to the fish- connects them with the his- Despite the growth of food
smiling, rain-slickened fish- was recently awarded a erman, Levin said. tories of such items as flour, tracking technology, it’s
erman who reeled it in. $175,000 federal govern- The plan is the latest in the berries, Alaskan salmon not well-known to many
Welcome to the future of ment grant, in cooperation fast-growing food trace- and antibiotic-free beef consumers, and the indus-
buying New England sea- with Maine Coast. ability tech sector, which since the late 2000s, indus- try is trying to change that,
food. Final release is about two seeks to connect retailers, try professionals said. said Phil Werdal, CEO of
A group of scientists and years away and will likely restaurants and customers The QR codes - the black Trace Register, a Washing-
fishermen said the technol- take the form of a smart- with the origin and journey and white digital squares ton-based digital trace-
ogy isn’t about a gimmick phone app, said Jen Levin, of their food. readable with a camera ability company and one
so much as survival. They’re the institute’s sustainable The world market for food - appear in both farmers of the industry’s key play-
working on a new tool they seafood program manag- traceability technologies markets and high-end res- ers.
say will allow consumers to er. will reach $11.15 billion in taurants. “I think it’s in the very early
learn the backstory of a The project involves bring- 2015, an increase of more The Gulf of Maine seafood stages of development,
piece of fish while stand- ing together data about than a half-billion dollars tool represents a new hori- the consumer piece,”
ing in the supermarket aisle Werdal said. “It’s evolving
with their smartphone. and improving, but it’s not
In an era when many sec- that common right now.”
tors of the New England fish- Gulf of Maine Research In-
ing industry are struggling stitute is working with Trace
with depleted resources Register and Vancouver-
and choking catch quo- based This Fish to make the
tas, increasing the cachet tool possible.
of local seafood could be
the last, best hope, said The institute will likely ini-
Ben Martens, executive di- tially apply it to seafood
rector of the Maine Coast labeled through its sustain-
Fishermen’s Association, able seafood verification
one of the groups involved program, Levin said.
in the “Boat to Plate” proj- That program includes
ect. popular New England sta-
“Most fishermen don’t ples such as cod and lob-
want to be involved in this ster that are pulled from
kind of stuff. They want to the waters in and around
go out into the water,” the Gulf of Maine, a critical
said Martens, whose group fishing ground that touches
represents 35 mostly small- three states and two Ca-
nadian provinces. q
PayPal’s new chief promises new services for a mobile world
By BRANDON BAILEY Google Wallet are com- even when they make pur- in India and China. PayPal apps that remembers an
AP Technology Writer peting to handle transac- chases in traditional, brick- also touted a recent part- individual’s account infor-
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- As tions in stores and on mo- and-mortar stores. Almost nership with Burger King mation and shipping ad-
PayPal prepares to split bile devices. a third of transactions han- that lets consumers pay for dress, so they don’t have to
from its corporate parent, Veteran executive Dan dled by PayPal are now their meals with a smart- be re-typed with every new
its new chief executive is Schulman, who will be CEO made on mobile devices. phone app. purchase.
promising to expand the of the new PayPal, says his “Those worlds are blurring,” “We want to be more than PayPal, which is based in
popular online payment company will compete by Schulman told The Associ- just a button on a mer- San Jose, California, has
system, adding a variety of positioning itself as a “full- ated Press in an interview chant’s website,” Schul- stumbled in one arena.
services for consumers to service” payments partner Thursday. “When you go man said. “We really want Without admitting wrong-
use when shopping on their for consumers and mer- into a store environment, to provide a full suite of ser- doing, the company
phones or in traditional chants, handling mobile and you have your mobile vices and products.” agreed this week to pay
stores. transactions, credit pur- phone with you, it should That includes expanding a $25 million over U.S. regu-
PayPal will be spinning chases and even customer be a simple step to do a PayPal credit service that lators’ allegations that it
off from parent company loyalty rewards programs. checkout from that de- lets shoppers spread pay- signed up some customers
eBay later this year at a PayPal was best known for vice.” ments over time and the for credit they didn’t want.
time when it’s facing new many years as a payment Schulman spoke after an Venmo mobile app that “Sometimes you try and
competitive challenges. Al- method for purchases event where PayPal an- lets individuals exchange do things and they’re not
ibaba, Amazon and even made on desktop com- nounced new partnerships small sums when they split a always perfect. We want
Facebook are promot- puters. But consumers are with companies that help bill or repay a debt. PayPal to fix them as much as
ing online payment sys- increasingly using mobile merchants sell goods online is also extending a service any regulator wants to fix
tems, while Apple Pay and phones to shop online and around the world, including for websites and mobile them,” Schulman said.q
