Last October, RJO Produce Marketing in Fresno, CA, and FoodLink in Los Gatos, CA, announced the formation of a strategic partnership under which RJO inspectors would use a proprietary, patent-pending system on mobile devices to provide customers with “detailed analysis and high-resolution pictures at the time of shipment,” with the information “automatically updated to the FoodLink network and available for review by the retail buyers.”

That system is in place and will be used by RJO bird dogs while inspecting stone fruit during the 2013 season, according to Clint Lucas, an inspector at RJO. “We are working with FoodLink,” an online buying platform for fresh food retailers and wholesalers, “to have real-time inspections put up for any FoodLink customers, as well as our own mobile ap that we are using in the field” to score inspections for RJO customers, he said.

“We call it our BDQ [bird dog quality] scoring system,” he said.

Rob O’Rourke, Fred Valentino, Jeff Colvard, Clinton Lucas and John O’Rourke of RJO Produce Marketing.At RJO, “our core competency [is] on-ground representation in the field,” Mr. Lucas said. “We are real excited to be transitioning into this ap and using it for our day-to-day inspections.” During the coming tree fruit season, “we will be able to use this ap, and for any of our customers that we do inspections for, we will be able to send them real-time data straight from our hand-helds” on such things as varieties, pack dates, lots and inspection scores.

It is an exciting technology “that we are starting to work with doing inspections in the field,” he said.

RJO continues “catering to our customers,” providing “whatever the customer needs” in the way of inspections, procurement and category management, he said.

“Our partnership with RJO Produce is great for our customers, and it demonstrates how FoodLink is becoming a true platform for the fresh food supply chain,” said Eric Peters, chief executive officer of FoodLink. “The combination of highly reputable on-site inspection services and FoodLink’s real-time commerce network means that retailers can now see what they are getting on every load before it arrives, enabling better management of the overall supply chain and the safest, freshest food for consumers.”

“Our relationship with FoodLink and our ability to use the open network to provide a direct channel to important fresh food buyers is truly a best practice,” said Rob O’Rourke, co-owner of RJO Produce and senior vice president of business development. “We no longer hassle with emails or faxes, and we know the buyers are able to easily use the information we provide, which enables our customers to deliver the best, most consistent quality fruit to their consumes. This is just the beginning of how we will use platforms like FoodLink to continue to evolve and enhance the fresh produce supply chain.”