Where has the salmon been caught? From which cow does the filet come from? Restaurant owners, caterers and traders often have to face questions about the origin of meat and fish. METRO GROUP helps to find the answers: Since summer 2014, the wholesale expert METRO Cash & Carry has been offering a unique traceability solution for sensible products to its professional costumers. While purchasing in our markets, they can use a smartphone app to access product details such as species, origin, trapping or keeping methods. The underlying technology was developed together with the standardisation organisation GS1 Germany and METRO's IT subsidiary "METRO Systems".

The EHI Retail Institute has now honoured this solution with the Retail Technology Award Europe (reta). The awards are granted to retail companies by the EHI every year in Düsseldorf during the EuroShop trade fair for the use of innovative solutions in the area of information technology. "The EHI award, which shows us once again that we are on the right track with our commitment to greater transparency in procurement and a harmonised approach to traceability", says Hans-Jürgen Matern, who is responsible for Corporate Responsibility projects at METRO AG.

The system is to be implemented in further countries

METRO GROUP presented its traceability system to the public for the first time in mid-2014 at its store in Neuss, Germany. In the meantime, customers in all METRO Cash & Carry stores in Germany can trace fish and meat products back to their origins. Currently, METRO GROUP is working on implementing the system in further countries and for other product groups.

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