Memorandum of Understanding on Enhancing Fresh Food Quality and Safety

31 March 2023

P&C International Trading Limited (headquartered in Hong Kong; Cheung, Hoi Kit Leo, Executive Director; hereinafter "P&C") and Wismettac Foods, Inc. (headquartered in Chuo-ku, Tokyo; Hiroshi Tsujikawa, President; hereinafter "Wismettac Foods") have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to apply traceability technology to enhance fresh food quality and safety.

P&C has successfully partnered with Wismettac Foods on fruits trading for many years.  Additionally, sharing the common vision of improving transparency of products information for betterment of the agricultural industry and consumer protection against counterfeit products, both companies have been exploring and experimenting ideas of digitising the trade and enabling timely track-and-trace of food items along the distribution chain.

P&C was founded in 1978 and has since become synonymous with delivering quality fresh fruit to wholesalers in Hong Kong and China.  P&C is well aware of the unavoidable changes evolving in both wholesale and retail markets.  With its breadth of industry knowledge and visionary anticipation, P&C has therefore established a food technology arm, Awwws World Limited (“Awwws”), since 2017 to focus on digitally transforming the industry and capturing business opportunities brought by these market changes.

Awwws aims to help the industry with its Edible NFT Ecosystem solution.  The solution is designed for growers, wholesalers, retailers and consumers.  It combines the power of track-and-trace and source verification to authenticate produce in the entire supply chain.  The base solution makes use of unique and dynamic codes that are printed on fruit packages.  These unique codes, along with Awwws mobile apps, make it easy for consumers to verify the authenticity of fruits.  As part of its solution roadmap, blockchain and NFT can be adopted in the future to embark on brand protection and fruits-future trade features.

The dedication and effort of Awwws paid off handsomely in 2021.  With the intelligent data in traceability and authenticity provided by Awwws as evidence, the Customs and Excise Department of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government conducted an operation against the sale of counterfeit-branded fruits and seized 196 boxes of counterfeit-branded cherries weighing about 400 kg in total.

[https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202102/05/P2021020500256.htm

Hong Kong Customs steps up enforcement action with approach of Lunar New Year and seizes suspected counterfeit-branded cherries (with photo)]

Recently in early 2023, Awwws collaborated with Wismettac Foods again to conduct a Proof of Concept (POC) and demonstrate adherence to food quality standards of Japanese strawberries imported into Hong Kong.  The POC successfully achieved all goals and objectives, including mother and child stock association, pallet sensors retrieval and reading, temperature tracking, label printing and application to clamshell, a tasting and survey pop-up event and Awwws in-app survey and authentication by consumers.

This MOU certainly exemplifies the determination, willingness and commitment of both companies in leading the industry through platforms like International Growers Standards Organization (IGSO) to build a better and more sustainable future for all stakeholders on the globe.

P&C International Trading Limited

Email: contact@pctltd.com