Costco Wholesale has partnered with supply chain insights company Zest Labs for better visibility into its fresh produce supply chain, to allow for better shelf life and less waste.
Zest Labs gathers data like temperature, time from cut to cool, time in the packinghouse, time in transit and humidity to understand how much shelf life a product has and how it can be improved.
Costco is working with Zest Labs on maximizing the freshness of produce moving from California to East Coast and West Coast warehouses, according to a news release.
Capabilities for analytics from the supply chain are being worked on now.
“Costco Wholesale is a pioneer in the retail industry, and we’re thrilled to be working with them to help improve the delivered freshness of produce for their members,” Zest Labs CEO Peter Mehring said in the release. “Zest Fresh helps to proactively manage the fresh food supply chain to maximize delivered shelf life, reduce store waste by 50% or more and deliver value that drives customer satisfaction.”
Midwest retailer Hy-Vee has also worked with Zest Labs. The company began testing the Zest Fresh technology in December.