trulyresponsible.org

For sometime I’ve been considering at work how to get data from remote places into a structured form using only mobile phones and how to get data back to consumers in a form that is relevant and instant in a shop.

A few days ago I completed a simple prototype using just SMS on a standard mobile phone to collect information, process it and do something with it and send it back to the originating mobile phone.

To try this out for yourself send an SMS message as follows:

The message should contain a valid product code. Invalid ones at the moment are not handled and no message is sent to tell you it was invalid. A valid product code that has been setup is 070707 (those are zeroes).

So create a text message and text the message 070707 to the UK number 447781482120. Within a few seconds you should receive a message back telling you the name of the product and who the companies were that had some involvement in producing it.

I’d be interested to know where this works in the world. Already I know it works in the UK, Slovenia and The Netherlands. Please leave a comment if it works for you (anonymously if you like) and tell me where you are. I know people read this all over the world so I’m keen to know how well it works. The cost of the message is whatever it costs you to text a UK number, probably just a few pence.

I’m hoping that in a future version I can identify the type of phone the request comes from and maybe even send back pictures. But this is some way off, and not supported by the current platform I am using.

For those interested in this, I am using a service provided by Clickatel to enable me to manage the interaction with the phone. (http://www.clickatell.com) It was very easy to set-up and configure.

Here is a video about a company really doing things the right way. ROMP/IUV are making leather organically and telling the whole story about where the product comes from and what all the inputs are.

I saw and heard a fascinating report on the TV and radio yesterday.

In summary it would appear that the Bishop of Liverpool, curious about the origins and destination of large quantities of soy beans being landed at Liverpool docks discovered that they had come from cleared Amazon rainforest and are destined to become feed for the huge quantities of Chicken meat we produce in the UK and Europe.

What I found most interesting about the report was that I believe I heard him say we should be asking the retailer where the food for the chickens we buy had come from. So I’m going to put this to the test. Over the next few weeks as we buy chicken from various sources, I’m going to see if we can find out where the food ingredients that were fed to the chickens comes from. I don’t hold much hope that we’ll have much success. But lets see….

It’s been some time since I poked around to find out what the major supermarkets are doing to help us get more information about the food they sell us. I decided today that I’d write to Sainsbury as I know that for some time they have provided a look up service for discovering the origins of whole organic products such as potatoes. So far as I know not a single food retailer has ever done this for a complex processed food product.

I know it’s possible. For example, Made-By in Holland now provide customers with the full list of companies involved in production of a range of their fashion clothing. If it can be done for something as complex as clothing it must be possible for food, where there are generally fewer companies involved.

So here is what I wrote to them:

Hello,

I wonder if you can provide me with a document or a link to more information concerning what you are doing to improve transparency in the food supply chain.

Recent initiatives by companies such as Historic Futures Ltd, have made it possible for consumers to obtain the full details of production for complex clothing products and nutraceuticals. A simple example can be found at http://www.made-by.org

If it is possible for this type of product, I feel sure it must be possible for processed food. I know you already provide this sort of service for unprocessed whole organic food (e.g. potatoes, whole chickens etc) - when will you start providing it for processed food which by it’s very nature is much less transparent to the consumer?

Many thanks for any information you can provide.

Simon

It’s a while since I posted - been a bit busy lately. This caught my eye as something with possibilities along with a recent development at Historic Futures.

My Tago provide a means to tie a 2D style barcode to a location on the web. Cool. So you can print one of these on a product and link the barcode to a specific location on the web providing information on the product.

Link to : MyTago

I just had a conversation with a chap who is in the process of taking the Historic Futures myString API and putting a mobile phone SMS Text message interface on it. This will then make it possible to get product history direct to a mobile phone via SMS. As a consumer you could do this in store….

Combine with mytago or similar and information will flow. Watch this space.

The age of consumer information at the touch of a button is dawning I feel.

I’ve had a response from the Body Shop concerning the product I am thinking about buying.

This can be found under the cosmetics section as before.

Recently I noticed in the press that the Body Shop was taken over by L’Oreal.

I used to believe that when I bought products from the Body Shop that I was buying a product with confidence. I feel that belief may be a little wobbly now due to the association of the Body Shop with another giant cosmetics company…

If I buy cosmetics, which I don’t very often, I usually buy from the Body Shop, and I’ve just realised I do this in an unquestioning manner. So, when considering some products for Mothering Sunday next weekend I thought I’d ask for a bit more detail about one of the products I am considering.

Follow the trail here:

http://www.trulyresponsible.org/cosmetics-etc/body-shop-brazil-nut-bath-and-shower-cream/

A week or so ago, I realised that the same ingredients that have recently been shown to give rise to Benzene in soft drinks, are also present in the shampoo my kids use. I decided to write to the makers. That in itself was hard, as there was no email address or website listed on the product, and search as much as I could for a site in the UK I was stumped. I eventually wrote a message via the US website and the experience I had as a customer was appalling.

To send a message via the US site, you must provide details of your state, and age (why on earth do they need that?) and the initial response I had was so impersonal it must have surely been generated by a machine. Anyway - you can follow the saga here:

http://www.trulyresponsible.org/cosmetics-etc/shampoo/johnsons-junior-easy-combing-shampoo/

Last week Benzene popped up again in Soft Drinks.

It seems this time it’s not a contamination issue, but a reaction between two ingredients (Ascorbic or Citric Acid and Sodium Benzoate).

In the bath a couple of days ago I was washing my 4 year old daughter’s hair with Johnson’s Junior Easy Combing Shampoo. Looking at the ingredients list (something I’m a bit of an anorak over) I noticed it contains Citric Acid and Sodium Benzoate. I wonder if the same reaction occurs in shampoo as fizzy soft drinks…? What is the safe level of benzene in shampoo..? All these things popped to mind.

I tried to track down an email address for Johnson & Johnson in the UK - but could only find a completely mesmerising corporate website in the US, with no UK contact information. The bottle itself has contact details by email in Greek, and a UK phone number. If anyone has any details please let me know.

I did however send a message via the corporate website - which oddly asked me for my birthdate before I could submit the query and which US state I was in…. Not very friendly. Details of the message can be found here:

http://www.trulyresponsible.org/cosmetics-etc/shampoo/johnsons-junior-easy-combing-shampoo/

First thing on Friday I had a reply from Boden re the suit I’ve been considering.

Have a read and see whether you think this is a good answer.

The reply can be found at

http://www.trulyresponsible.org/clothing/boden-wool-travel-suit/

In the response I’ve learned that the wool in the suit comes from Australian Merino sheep.

In recent months there have been many reports on the cruel practice of Mulesing in these sheep. I’d like to know that these suits don’t contain wool produced from sheep that have been so treated. More information can be found on this at http://www.animal-lib.org.au/lists/mulesing/mules.shtml.

I’d be interested to know if this sort of thing bothers you? Is it something you would have even thought of when buying a suit?