Italy: new SMS service for fresh produce consumer

Rome – The Italian Department of Agriculture, in collaboration with consumer associations, has launched a new and free SMS service for the fresh produce consumer yesterday. For the first time in Europe, the consumer can know the average prices of 45 veg and fruit varieties via SMS.

It is sufficient to send a SMS with the name of a product and an answer will come back immediately with the grower, distributor and consumer prices of that respective product for all the three most important Italian regions (north, center and south). It is also possible to receive more than one SMS, for example when there are different varieties of a single product.

The prices are recorded in 1700 commercial centers – from shops to supermarkets – and if the consumer observes a price which is too high in comparison with the official one, he can denounce it by means of the new web site www.smsconsumatori.it.

Scepticism on the SMS service has been expressed only by trader associations, who have defined the initiative as “demagogic”. Nevertheless, consumers appear to be enthusiastic about it. Yesterday 33.717 SMS messages have been sent and 53.364 SMS messages have been received in only two hours!

Publication date: 9 Feb 2006
Author: Rossella Gigli
Copyright: www.freshplaza.com