MALMO, Sweden — Something high-tech is happening in the produce aisle at some Swedish supermarkets, where laser marks have replaced labels on the organic avocados and sweet potatoes.
Swedish supermarket chain ICA started testing “natural branding” in December. The process uses low-energy carbon dioxide lasers to remove pigment from the outer skins of fruits and vegetables.
The lasers create tattoo-like patterns — in this case, the product’s name, country of origin and code number — similar to the way hot irons brand cattle. If its test succeeds, ICA hopes to cut down on the stickers and packaging it uses to identify organic produce in its 1,350 stores across Sweden.
“It’s a new technique, and we are searching for a smarter way of branding our products due to the fact that we think we have too much unnecessary plastic material or packaging material on our products,” Peter Hagg, the chain’s senior manager for fruits and vegetables, said.
ICA started with sweet potatoes and avocados, whose peels are not typically eaten and have a tendency to shed the stickers normally used to brand produce. But branded broccoli and engraved eggplants may not be far behind.
Later this year, the chain plans to laser-mark melons plus some items with consumable skins to gauge consumer reaction. Hagg says lasering has no negative effect on the produce.
“It’s very delicate. Because the mark is not going through the skin in any way, it doesn’t affect the quality or taste of the product,” he said.
Engineer Jonas Kullendorff, 29, says he approves of the method, if it reduces packaging waste.
“It’s actually the first time I’ve seen this branding, but if it’s (a) more sustainable alternative, I’m all for it,” he said. “No, I wouldn’t say it would put me off. If it’s less packaging materials, that’s a good thing.”
Laser labeling has been used in Australia and New Zealand since 2009 and was approved for use in European Union countries in 2013, according to Eosta, the Netherlands-based produce supplier that is working with ICA to test the technology in Sweden.
Eosta says it sold ICA over 725,000 packs of organically grown avocados in 2015. Packing them took about 220 kilometers (135 miles) of plastic wrap. The etched avocados now sit in open bins without packaging.
Laser marking can’t be used on all produce. Citrus fruit, for example, heals itself, so etchings disappear after just a few hours. Packaging is desirable in other cases to extend a product’s shelf life, Hagg said.
“The plastic branding — there is of course positive things with it,” he said. “But in some items, it’s just unnecessary, because it doesn’t bring you better shelf life. It just brings you extra costs.”
Produce stickers, which are made of paper or plastic along with ink and adhesives, may seem like more of an inconvenience than a source of pollution, but environmentalists say even small bits of waste have an impact on the environment.
“We know there’s a huge amount of waste across the supply chain before we get to the packaging we see on our shelves,” Friends of the Earth campaigner Kierra Box said.
