For over 15 years I’ve been experimenting with ways to provide parents like me with information they actually want in the food they buy. And I’ve always advocated layered information, and more information as the technology catches up.

According to a story in Phys.org, some consumers already demand to know where their food comes from and how it’s handled on the path to their plate, but growing pressures on world food production – and therefore food safety – will make those questions of increasing importance to everyone.

But safety requires data, not feel-good sentiment.

Pathways to Market is a multimillion-dollar research collaboration designed to  deliver a smorgasbord of digital information to producers, distributors and consumers here and in Asia.

The project – described by University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) Distinguished Research Professor Jordan Louviere as “an ambitious combination of cutting-edge science and marketing research” – could one day have consumers swiping their smartphones over packaging to discover where a food came from, who processed it and the conditions under which it was transported and stored.

In turn, real-time data collected from consumers will drive innovation by producers and processors and help distributors keep food safe and fresh.

Ros Harvey of Sense-T says: “Accurate data is the currency of the digital economy, and real-time data is the king of data.”