Supermarkets will strengthen inspection of products sold

Sao Paulo-the supermarket sector should intensify the control and monitoring of products reach the shelves of stores in the coming years in line with the new standards of the national agency of sanitary surveillance (Anvisa). Currently, about 1 million tons of food are monitored from its production to reach the hands of the customers. The goal of retailers is to raise that number. "The work of traceability of the products reach the shelves should gain more consistency in the coming years.


Not only by the demands of Anvisa, but also by the increased attention of consumers. Non-perishable products, this monitoring is quite consistent. Already the perishables such as fruits, vegetables and meats, the work is at the beginning, "says the Superintendent of the Brazilian Association of Supermarkets (Open) and leader of the Traceability program and Food monitoring (Rama), Márcio Milan.


The intensification of measures to trace through the resolution of the Collegiate Board (DRC) 24/2015, a standard of Anvisa to food gathering and reporting to the Agency, which went into effect in December last year. According to Milan, there was a job to raise the control on food sold since 2006. But only now, 10 years after that, this new project is advancing.


"In 2017, the monitoring will go no further. Retailers and we, as an entity, we are very attentive to it. For 2018, we hope to consolidate the work already for that, in 2019, the program reaches its peak. " This year, the projection of the Open is that the volume of crawled items from production to sale is 1.08 million tons, 8.3% more in relation to 2015, when 1.06 million tons of items have been monitored (see chart). Now, the objective is that as early as 2017 crawled volume increase significantly. The level of compliance of products, which proves that he reached the shelf free of pesticides banned by law, also get special attention, according to Milan.

Technology required

For the project to proceed as a matter of fact, according to Milan, will be needed contributions in technology on the part of retailers. This is because, for the total tracing of products, there is a need for equipment that make reading the food from its origin. In the case of supermarkets, big chains like Grupo Pão de Açúcar (GPA) and Walmart, have this ability. However, for the small supermarket the task will be more difficult.

"We worked for that small retailers have, at least, the training and the support to work these issues. The technological part really will take a little longer to get to them, "he predicts. Consolidated as one of the major networks in the country, Samir, who has 37 units in São Paulo, says already work in monitoring of food it sells in its stores, in addition to being one of the first networks to offer, such as technological solution, self-checkout, where the customer can act, making use of your smartphone, as a point of sale (POS). According to Milan, the Open, the agility of the customer service will also be one of the industry trends for years to come. The self-service on his vision, is one of the solutions that must be used on a large scale by the stores very soon.

"The client is very demanding. He wants speed and quality, and we deliver it with some solutions such as self-checkout, deployed and running in almost all our stores, "says the Director of the network, regional Network competitors Savegnago.As Chalim Confidence orangey and Payless also announced recently the implementation of automatic payment of purchases.


Beyond technology, Samir says that his network has added efforts to expand solutions for reverse logistics. In partnership with industry, the stores have spaces to separate collection of recyclables. The measure meets a standard of 2010, according to Anvisa''s resolution. The recém-unificar their flags, u.s.-based Walmart bet in buying spaces in the form of '' clean '', with larger areas dedicated to the flow of customers, diverse assortment and, following the industry trend, implementation of technological solutions.


"We''re going to bring a lot of innovation and technology solutions to facilitate the everyday life of the consumer", warns the President of Walmart Brazil, Flavio Cotini. Increased productivity in the area of perishables, the monitoring of food, is also one of the focal points of the network. "The idea is to create an atmosphere of experimentation in the perishables the store. These products are the biggest traffic generators in the units, "he said. Belonging to the American company, the BIG flags and hyper good price start to operate with the Walmart brand.


Other issues


Another focus of the retailers in the next few years will be the decrease in the level of disruption. That is, the loss of products, which this year has increased by about 2015, according to a survey by Agentrics. In September of this year, total registered slight increase: increased from 9.72% in August to 9.81%. For the Director of relationship of Agentrics, Robson Munhoz, ideal content is 8% or less.


In setoristas Convention held last week in Atibaia (São Paulo), representatives and business leaders also pledged to strengthen measures such as reverse logistics policy-which is part of the national plan of solid waste (PNRS)-other sectors, such as electronics and pharmacies, should also start their projects in 2017.