Want to know where your Thanksgiving turkey came from? 

Consumers will be able to trace their Honeysuckle White brand turkey from table to farm this Thanksgiving through a pilot program available in select markets, primarily in Texas. 

“The Honeysuckle White brand is committed to food transparency and we’re the only major turkey brand to exclusively provide family farm-raised turkey,” said Deborah Socha, Honeysuckle White brand manager. "We know consumers are looking beyond farm-to-table marketing promises to better understand where their food comes from and how it is produced.”

Through this year’s pilot program, consumers text or enter an on-package code at HoneysuckleWhite.com to access the farm’s location by state and county, view the family farm story, see photos from the farm and read a message from the farmer.

“I’m honored that the Honeysuckle White brand asked me to be one of the first farmers to make it possible for families to trace their turkey back to my family’s farm,” said family farmer Darrell Glaser of Milam County, Texas. “Everyone deserves to know more about the food they’re eating, and I like feeling more connected to the people I’m raising these turkeys for. It’s important for me that consumers understand the care my family puts in every day to provide quality turkeys for families across the country.”

Honeysuckle White research shows that demand for transparency is growing:

The pilot for traceable Honeysuckle White brand turkeys uses a first-to-market blockchain-based solution enabled by Cargill. Blockchain models build a trusted, transparent food chain that integrate key stakeholders into the supply chain and create a distributed ledger with immutable records. Because all participants inside the blockchain network must agree before a new record is added to a ledger, the technology also reduces the risk of fraud or human error, and cryptography within the network ensures security, authentication and integrity of transactions.

“At Cargill, we are becoming a better partner through digitalization and analytics, identifying opportunities to use technology to deliver real value for customers, partners and consumers,” said Deb Bauler, Cargill chief information officer for North American Protein. “The transparency pilot with Honeysuckle White brand turkeys is one example of how we are using technology to shape the food system of the future and deliver on consumers’ desire for transparency in food.” 

Source: Cargill