Enter the Nature & More code found on your fruit, vegetables or wine and trace your product back to the producers and growers who cultivate your food.

Nature & More originated as a quality assurance program of EOSTA, a Dutch company dealing in fresh organic and bio-dynamic fruit. In response to consumer demand for healthy, organic and fairly traded food, Nature & More was created. The aim is to communicate the commitment and effort that individual organic growers make towards the planet and its people.

Consumers can “travel to the origin of each organic product” Dole produces. By entering the three digit Farm Code located on the sticker of their fruit.  You can visit the country, the farm, view photos and learn more about their products and people.

However, read the comments on TreeHugger to see how some consumers feel about tracing goods from companies such as Dole, who have dubious ethical backgrounds.

A fresh look at the design of barcodes by Japanese firm D-Barcode. Creating subtle branding opportunities and injecting fun into a practical device.

Ecover – extending the brand identity through the barcode

‘An airplane sticker is of no environmental value whatsoever, as studies have shown air-freighted products are not necessarily less sustainable than local produce grown in heated greenhouses,’ said a spokesman for Tesco. ‘Thus we may remove those plane labels in future. What people are actually interested in is the amount of carbon that is emitted during a product’s manufacture and import.’ As a result, Tesco has promised to put carbon labels on 30 of its own-brand products in the near future: six types of potatoes, 11 types of tomatoes, five types of washing power and liquid capsules, four types of orange juice and six types of light bulbs. ‘We want to see how customers react and find out how it affects their purchasing behaviour,’ added the spokesman.

“Organic or fairtrade? Sustainable or certified? With so many labels on food, clothes and white goods, it’s a miracle that we make it to the checkout before closing time. So just how useful are ethical labels to the average shopper – and which ones live up to their eco credentials?”