HarvestMark launches food-tracing service

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HarvestMark announced Wednesday that it will partner with a distributor to make its salad lettuce traceable back to the farm where it was grown.

The California-based company, which employs 10 people in Portland, is already working with Fred Meyer to provide the same service for some of its private-label brands.

“We’ve been working quietly for a couple of years to increase the availability of traceable food,” said Elliott Grant, co-founder and chief marketing officer for HarvestMark.

The new partnership with organicgirl, a salad vegetable company based in Salinas, Calif., is the first time the service is being marketed directly to consumers.

Organicgirl greens for sale in Washington and Oregon Haggen and Whole Foods stores will carry a special coded label. The HarvestMark service — available via the company’s website or with an iPhone application — uses the code to deliver specific information about the food, including details about where and when it was picked and what growing methods were used.

HarvestMark, a division of brand security company YottaMark, charges growers to implement the service, which is offered to consumers free of charge.

Grant said HarvestMark is venture backed — YottaMark closed a $10 million Series B round in 2008 — and does not disclose revenues.