Radical Food Transparency? Yes, Please

I recently visited a Target store in Minnetonka, MN, that was testing a futuristic “smart scale” in the produce department.My head swimming with visions of a food spectrometer that would send a beam of light into a piece of fruit and tell me exactly where and how it was grown as well as when it was picked, I arrived at the store and headed straight for the scales. They were positioned on carts in the produce department and outfitted with a counter sign inviting me to learn more about my food by placing it on the device. I quickly grabbed a nearby lemon and set it on the platform.The touchscreen on the device illuminated to ask me what I would like to know more about and presented a broad array of choices spanning such categories as freshness, production and storage chemicals, brand reputation, nutritional info, animal welfare, environmental impact and GMO status. However, the scales turned out to be only prototypes designed to help Target understand what information is most important to shoppers. The last screen displayed during my interaction with the device thanked me for helping Target “define the future of food,” and declared, “One day, this device will bring radical transparency to the grocery aisle. It’s just not quite ready yet.”Unbeknownst to me, I was being watched. After stepping away from the device, a clipboard-wielding employee approached me and asked a few follow-up questions about my experience in exchange for a $5 store gift card: why I chose to interact with the device, why I chose that particular item to scan, what else I would like to know about food, and if I would use this type of device regularly.The test is one of the first projects to come out of the Food + Future coLab, a multi-year partnership with MIT’s Media Lab and design firm Ideo charged with brainstorming how to create food transparency and increase access to good food.The retailer ran the test at four total locations on three separate weekends. During the experiment, Target also offered a 50-cent discount on certain older produce, such as strawberries and raspberries, based on their freshness. The items' arrival times and corresponding prices were depicted on headers, letting shoppers have their pick between “more fresh” and more expensive or “less fresh” and cheaper.Target also launched another project from coLab in Boston dubbed "Good & Gather" that emphasizes ingredients by clearly listing them on the front of product packaging instead of in small print on the back while also eschewing any imagery, logos and health claims.

Radical Food Transparency? Yes, Please

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