October 2, 2009

Royal Flavor Launches Sweet Mini Peppers with HarvestMark® Traceability

Traceable bags of sweet mini peppers to hit retail stores for the 2009-2010 season

Redwood City, Calif. - October 2, 2009 - YottaMark, Inc., the leader in traceability and authentication solutions, today announced that Royal Flavor, a packer and shipper located in San Diego, Calif., and Nogales, Ariz., servicing growing areas in the states of Sinaloa and Baja California Sur, Mexico, has selected the HarvestMark traceability solution for deployment on its two-pound bags of sweet mini peppers. Royal Flavor will distribute traceable peppers to retail stores beginning in November with plans to expand the deployment of HarvestMark traceability to other commodities such as tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. 

"Traceability is an important initiative for us. We chose HarvestMark as our traceability platform because of its flexibility and ease-of-use," said Steve Yasuda, sales manager, Royal Flavor. "We take great pride in what we do, and adding HarvestMark extends our ongoing value and commitment to producing the best quality products and complying with our retailers' requests for enhanced traceability." 

Each Royal Flavor bag of peppers will carry the HarvestMark traceability code, which links to specific harvest and packing information. The codes can be entered at HarvestMark.com for instant access to product and traceability information, bringing new food safety and quality tools to buyers, and connecting the consumer with the brand and the harvest. Through the HarvestMark Portal, consumers can learn more about the specific products, as well as obtain information about that specific item, including variety, where it was harvested, food safety notices, and other valuable product information. 

"Royal Flavor is a popular and trusted brand in produce, and we are excited to be chosen as their traceability partner to help launch this important program," said J. Scott Carr, president and CEO, YottaMark. "HarvestMark will provide Royal Flavor with a new way to connect and communicate with their supply chain and the end consumer about a wide range of information from produce origin and farming practices to distribution and quality data to help boost overall operations, drive profits and build ongoing trust." 

The HarvestMark solution gives individual items or cases a unique identity that links to harvest, packing, and supply chain information. The HarvestMark Portal provides instant trace-back, and easy access to distribution, quality, and food safety information. HarvestMark PTI works with a wide range of packing workflows providing shippers the flexibility to print PTI-compliant case labels either on-demand or in volume; at the packing line, in the field or at the cooler. The HarvestMark PTI product includes tools developed by the HarvestMark team to simplify and speed the assignment of Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) to each of the shipper's product configurations, and easily share this information with buyers. 

About YottaMark, Inc.

YottaMark, Inc. specializes in product traceability and authentication solutions that deliver valuable business intelligence when and where it's needed. Leading companies in the fresh foods, electronics and consumer goods industries rely on YottaMark's robust traceability platform to conduct precise trace back, enhance communication, and increase security in their supply chain. 

HarvestMark®, the fresh food traceability solution from YottaMark, is the industry's fastest growing traceability application. To date, over 750 million produce packages have been enabled with HarvestMark Codes to speed response to suspected recall events and deliver on-demand product information throughout the supply chain.

Designed for field- and line-packed produce, HarvestMark offers a complete suite of traceability solutions, including case and item-level. It accommodates a wide range of workflows with an open platform for seamless integration with existing systems. HarvestMark supports a variety of packaging formats making it quick to deploy with no interruption to business operations.

YottaMark is a privately held company headquartered in Redwood City, Calif. More information can be found at www.YottaMark.com and www.HarvestMark.comor call 1-866-76-TRUST (or +1.650.264.6200). 

Press contact:

Miz Nakajima
mnakajima@YottaMark.com
503-997-6045