February 9, 2010

The HarvestMark® System Achieved Major Milestones in 2009

Solution adopted by more than 100 brands to bring traceability to over a billion produce items and cases

Redwood City, Calif. - February 9, 2010 - YottaMark, Inc., the leader in traceability and authentication solutions, today announced that adoption of its HarvestMark® fresh food traceability solution achieved key milestones in 2009. More than 100 produce brands are using the HarvestMark system on over a billion items and cases to deliver on-demand traceability and comply with the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI).

At a time when food safety is on the top of everyone's mind, the HarvestMark solution is delivering an easy-to-use and innovative method to speed response to a food safety event and enhance communication with consumers. "I'm impressed with the progress made by the HarvestMark team in advancing support for traceability in the produce industry," said Bruce Peterson, president of Peterson Insights and YottaMark advisory board member. "The growing deployment of the HarvestMark solution is a testament to their ability to listen to customers and adapt the solution to meet their needs. This innovation was also recognized when YottaMark received the Red Herring Top 100 Global award, a prestigious award honoring the year's most promising private technology ventures worldwide."

Two trends are driving the adoption of traceability in the produce industry. First, an increased national interest in health, food safety, and sustainability has prompted brand owners and retailers to seek new ways to create consumer connections to differentiate their brands. Through this connection, produce shippers seek to gather valuable quality and preference data to enhance product and category management. At the same time, recent public awareness of recalls and food safety issues has prompted the produce industry to embark on the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI), driving changes to improve whole-chain traceability and enhance food safety response programs. The next PTI milestone is slated to be achieved by September 2010. Many grower/shippers are seeking the right solution to comply with new case labeling standards.

"More than five years ago YottaMark began the development of an innovative solution to deliver on-demand traceability and product authentication across supply chains," said J. Scott Carr, president and CEO, YottaMark. "By working closely with growers, shippers, and produce trade groups, we've developed the HarvestMark solution to fit the needs of our customers. We're honored to have built relationships with more than 100 brands as we help bring value to their businesses, ease standards compliance, and create new connections with their buyers, and the end consumer."

The key HarvestMark 2009 milestones included:

• Deployment on over a billion produce packages - including cases or individual sales items of watermelons, berries, peppers, tomatoes, table grapes, squash, eggplants, onions, salads, fresh-cut produce, tree fruit, and more
• Dozens of HarvestMark PTI systems in production in the U.S. and Mexico
• Free tools to help shippers advance their PTI programs
• Selected as the traceability platform for Kroger private label produce
• Expanded the program to support Canadian greenhouse growers
• Expanded the team in Mexico with on-site account, engineering and support team

 

The HarvestMark family of products implements PTI compliant labeling, speeds response to food safety issues, and creates new connections between brands and consumers. HarvestMark PTI provides the best solution to efficiently print the right PTI label, at the right time, integrating smoothly with existing packing and harvesting workflows. The HarvestMark family also includes item-level traceability solutions, carrying trace-back from home to harvest. Each of these products makes traceability and supply chain information available through the HarvestMark.com portal. Producers, produce buyers, and consumers have instant and controlled access to trace-back, distribution details, quality data, and food safety information - together providing essential product and category management tools.

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 a billion 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.com or call 1-866-76-TRUST (or +1.650.264.6200)

Press contact:

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