Apps have been great for the natural foods industry. Long-time wellness consumers are used to creative thinking. I mean, back in the days before online shopping, if there was a natural/organic lifestyler who needed something special, they either did it themselves or tapped into the word-of-mouth network, shopped specialty catalogues or subscribed to newsletters.
Those inspired approaches to filling their pantries is serving them well as mobile technology continues its dizzying expansion. Indeed, a recent app in particular has the potential to satisfy all consumers with real-time data on food recalls. ReachEverywhere, developers of the Shopper iPhone Shopping Assistant application, announced that it is integrating real-time recall information from the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Now, both the FDA and USDA currently offer online access to the information (FDA even has its own app), but this new one promises to take the confusion out of trying to figure out which agency oversees the product in question.
According to my colleague, SN tech editor Michael Garry, “Users of the application who put an item on their list that is associated with a recall will automatically see the warning information for that product.”
In addition, ReachEverywhere, which launched personalized retailer circulars on the Shopper application one month ago, has added weekly circulars from Stop & Shop, Publix, Giant Food and Winn Dixie to the more than 100 existing retailers on the platform.
(Photo credit: Thibault Poix )
