The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) has announced the launch of SmartLabel—a technology that will enable consumers to have access to detailed information about thousands of retail products. The new program, created by manufacturers and retailers, enables consumers to get additional details about products by scanning a bar code or doing an online search to reach a landing page with information on ingredients and other attributes of a wide range of food, beverage, pet care, household, and personal care products. More than 30 U.S. food, beverage, and consumer products companies are already committed to using SmartLabel, including: ConAgra Foods, Campbell Soup, Hershey, J.M. Smucker Company, General Mills, McCormick, and Unilever.
Each product in SmartLabel will have a landing page containing detailed information from the manufacturer on ingredients and other product attributes. Consumers will be able to find this detailed product information in several ways: by scanning a QR code on the package, using a web search, going to a participating company’s website, or eventually through an app.
“People want more information and are asking more questions about products they buy, use, and consume, and SmartLabel puts detailed information right at their fingertips,” said Pamela G. Bailey, GMA’s president and CEO. “SmartLabel is a modern technology that will change how people shop and will help them get answers to questions they have on the products they purchase when they want that information.”
Some companies are beginning to offer products using SmartLabel late this year and early in 2016, with projections of nearly 30,000 total products using SmartLabel by the end of 2017. GMA estimates that within five years, more than 80% of the food, beverage, pet care, personal care, and household products that consumers buy will be using SmartLabel.
Companies are projecting that, by the end of 2017, they will disclose via SmartLabel whether 20,000 food products do, may, or do not contain ingredients sourced from genetically engineered (GE) crops, commonly known as GMOs. Current estimates indicate that number could triple once a uniform national standard is set for GMOs.
