Nestlé shares product data with iOS app

Nestlé Australia will make detailed food labelling data from 1200 products available to users of a barcode-scanning app to be launched later this year.

Data to be surfaced in the iOS app includes nutritional and ingredient information, allergen declarations, dietary information and other consumer advice.

Consumers will be able to scan or type in the barcode on the product to retrieve the information.

The GoScan app - developed by industry standards body GS1 - is intended to be used by multiple food makers, although Nestlé Australia is one of the first.

Nestlé Australia’s product data is held in SAP and Nutribank databases.

The product data is already loaded automatically from Nestlé's systems into 1SYNC, a US-based data pool owned by GS1.

GS1's 1SYNC is used by the Global Data Synchronisation Network (GDSN), a B2B system that lets manufacturers share product data with their trading partners.

The data is also replicated from 1SYNC into GS1net - Australia's data synchronisation data pool - for the same GDSN purpose.

While Global Data Synchronisation has previously been exclusively for B2B usage, the GS1 app means it is also being applied in a business-to-consumer (B2C) context for the first time.

The GS1 app will essentially interrogate a copy of the product data held in GS1net.

In other words, once Nestlé's - and other food makers' - product data finds its way into GS1net, it will be "processed through to GS1 GoScan’s database where it becomes available to consumers via the iPhone application".

Nestlé Australia's B2B and supply chain technology manager Mandeep Sodhi told iTnews that the app would include extended labelling information for all 1200 Nestle stock-keeping units.

GS1 Australia's chief operating officer Mark Fuller told iTnews the GoScan app would make "a wealth of compositional, instructional and promotional information available at consumer’s fingertips".

According to Fuller, GS1net has over 500,000 vendor-maintained product records available.

The extended labelling information made available by GoScan could also be used by retailers to support merchandising, stock replenishment, in-store services, online initiatives, and other key processes.

"The adoption of GS1 GoScan by the Australian food and grocery sector will provide a real alternative to the physical label as a carrier of trusted information for consumers," Fuller told iTnews.

In addition to Nestlé Australia, other partners are expected to jump on board prior to the app's release.

Fuller said that "several brand owners" were working with GS1 Australia in the lead up to GS1 GoScan’s October 2012 launch, but declined to name specific brands.