Table of Contents
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Zest Labs, a subsidiary of Ecoark Holdings Inc., is working with one of the leading supermarket chains in the Midwest, Hy-Vee Inc., in conducting a trial of Zest Fresh solution to help automate farm-to-fork traceability of fresh produce coming to Hy-Vee stores.
The retailer, which operates more than 245 stores across eight Midwestern states, says it is committed to providing a vast assortment of high-quality natural, organic and locally sourced products and empowers consumers to understand where their food comes from.
Zest Fresh, according to a Zest Labs spokesman, is the only freshness management solution that leverages the Internet of Things to autonomously track and report in real time the freshness of products from harvest to store, in its work with a premium supplier of seedless Holiday grapes.
Leveraging the industry’s first dynamic freshness metric — “the ZIPR code” — Zest Fresh is providing Hy-Vee with traceability data and continuous real-time visibility of the remaining freshness capacity of the grapes.
“We are excited to work with Zest Labs to determine how Zest Fresh can help both monitor and improve freshness, while providing complete traceability through the cold supply chain,” says John Griesenbrock, Hy-Vee’s vice president of produce and Health Markets. “With traceability support, we will become even more invested in bringing the freshest and highest quality produce to our customers.”