Packaging lets consumers message the farmers that made their food

Cisse Trading Co. includes QR codes on its baked goods and hot drinks that enable customers to send a message to the farmers that harvested the ingredients.

Consumers don’t often have an intimate knowledge of where the food they buy at the supermarket or consume in restaurants comes from, but we have seen efforts to greater inform customers, most recently with the Harney Sushi restaurant, which details its sustainable fishing practices through edible QR codes on the meals themselves. Going slightly further, however, Cisse Trading Co. is now including QR codes on its baked goods and hot drinks that enable customers to send a message to the farmers that harvested the ingredients.

The company focuses on Fairtrade chocolate-based desserts and cocoa beverages, whose ingredients are sourced from the Organic Growers Dominican Foundation (FUNDOPO) in the Dominican Republic. On each box or packet, a QR code can be scanned to take customers through to the company’s Facebook page, where they can leave a message to the farmers. Cisse then sends the messages along to members of FUNDOPO.

The idea is a fairly simple one that helps create a greater connection between its customers and the people that make their food. Could companies even go so far as to set up direct contact with farmers themselves, initiating a two-way dialogue between creators and consumers?