"When it comes to shopping for meat and poultry, transparency in the form of labels and certifications is crucial for a lot of us. At a store like Trader Joe's, which sells products primarily under the Trader Joe's private label, that transparency is a tad trickier to navigate. For shoppers who are committed to the organic labels and certifications on chicken, knowing where those private label packages are coming from can be the difference between buying it at Trader Joe's, or going somewhere else."
"While shoppers can speak to a "crew member" at Trader Joe's for more information about specific products in their store, the non-profit newsroom ProPublica came up with an alternative process using the packaging itself, providing more transparency to the inner workings of the supply chain."
Trader Joe's sells many items under its private label, which can obscure the origin of meat and poultry. Suppliers for products like organic chicken vary by store location, affecting transparency for shoppers. Store crew members can sometimes provide product information, but an alternative tracing method exists using package identifiers. ProPublica launched the Chicken Checker app in 2021 to let people enter the P-number on packaging to trace where poultry was processed. Early user submissions revealed poultry sold at Trader Joe's was sourced from multiple plants across the country.
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