Transparency at the Click of a Button: This Is FoodRoots

The Bigger Picture: Why We're Looking Closer

Be honest: how often do you check the origin label on fresh fruit and vegetables? And how often, in comparison, do you turn over a box of muesli or a jar of nut butter to find out exactly where the ingredients came from? We're guessing the answer looks pretty similar for most people: we look far less often when it comes to processed foods. But if you did, you'd quickly notice just how hard it is to trace the exact origin.

Limited Transparency in the Food Industry

That's mainly because many companies (we at KoRo are by no means an exception) have so far only known parts of their own supply chains, starting at the first processor, but not all the way back to the fields on the ground.

The problem is that it's precisely in this lack of knowledge and transparency that unfair working and growing conditions for some raw materials go undetected far too often. If nobody looks, nothing changes.

For us too, full traceability is a process that takes time. But since transparency is one of our core values, we're tackling this path in a very concrete way.

What's Behind FoodRoots?

FoodRoots takes the first step by making the individual stages of selected KoRo products visible and traceable for you. After all, that's exactly what helps you make informed decisions and know precisely what ends up in your snack drawer.

What to expect:

• Product Journey: Follow each stage of the supply chain step by step, complete with location details, photos, and a short description of that particular processing stage.
• Payments: For select products, such as our Cocoa Fruit Flakes, we can even provide details on payments. When the harvest is handed over, farmers receive their money directly via mobile money. The payment is then recorded via blockchain. That's significantly faster than delayed seasonal bonuses and helps farmers on the ground plan their finances better, for example by investing in future harvests.

How to Use the Tool on Our Website

Want to head straight off on your discovery tour? Nothing could be easier! Here's how to navigate your way through the supply chain:

• Open a product page: Go to one of the selected product pages (e.g. our Cocoa Fruit Flakes).
• Click the map: In the right-hand column below the product info, you'll find the preview window for the origin map. Clicking it opens the interactive pop-up.
• Click through the stages: In the top right of the window, you'll see numbers (1, 2, 3...). Click your way step by step through each stage of the supply chain, from harvest to transport. For every stage, you'll find a photo and a short description.
• Certifications & Standards: Suppliers can provide concrete proof of their standards. As you click through the individual stages, you can select the relevant certificates directly — for example for organic, Fairtrade or B Corp — learn more about the background, and then carry on with your journey at your own pace. All details are fully backed up by valid documents.
• Discover payments: Where available, you can switch in the menu on the left between "Product Journey" and the "Payments" section to view payment data as well as more information about the farmers.

The level of detail will vary from product to product. Where we have precise data, we list the individual farms, otherwise, we transparently show the region.

Rethinking Cocoa: Our Partnership with Koa

Of course, a project like this doesn't happen alone. May we introduce: Koa. This food-impact company is the ideal partner for us when it comes to consistent transparency. Since its founding in 2017, Koa has already enabled additional income for over 5,000 smallholder farmers in Ghana, saved more than 2,000 tonnes of cocoa fruit pulp, and paid out nearly one million euros directly to farmers. We at KoRo now contribute the matching purchase guarantees and distribution channels.

From By-Product to Innovation

Why is Koa so innovative? They use a natural product that's been overlooked until now. After the cocoa harvest, the beans are removed from the fruit. The white, sweet-and-fruity pulp surrounding them used to go largely unused: a small portion was used for fermentation, while the large surplus simply rotted away. Koa makes use of exactly this pulp!

The result:

• Additional income: For farmers, a former waste product becomes a completely new source of income from the very same harvest — with no extra land needed.
• Use instead of loss: A part of the cocoa fruit that used to go largely unused is now being processed further.

Pilot Product: Cocoa Fruit Flakes

Koa's Cocoa Fruit Flakes are the very first product from this partnership to join our range and be backed with FoodRoots. Since Koa already works intensively with the data platform, we had a particularly large amount of data available for this one from the start.

Where the Journey with FoodRoots Is Headed

We told you we'd be zooming in. With FoodRoots, we can turn vague country-level data into traceable stages, helping contribute to greater transparency in the food industry. But it's also clear: building full, gap-free insight for hundreds of products obviously doesn't happen overnight. Given the complexity and the amount of data required, this is a long-term path for KoRo, one we're taking step by step. We're continuously evaluating scope and level of detail, and are currently planning a gradual roll-out to further products.

And now it's your turn: hop over to the Cocoa Fruit Flakes product page, click your way through the map, and explore each stage of the supply chain. Enjoy the (digital) adventure — and of course, the snacking that follows!