From Labels to Data: Transforming Supermarkets into Hubs of Health and Sustainability

In a world where a trip to the supermarket often means scanning endless shelves and reacting to promotional cues, researchers from the University of Bologna and the University of Brescia believe food shopping could become something far more meaningful. Their vision, developed under the NEXTCART project, is to transform the act of purchasing food into an educational journey where every item in a basket reveals its nutritional, environmental, and social footprint. Presented at the 6th International Conference on Industry 4.0 and Smart Manufacturing, their work proposes a bold digital framework that gives consumers the power to make decisions that are healthier for themselves and more sustainable for society.

The Problems Hidden in the Food Supply Chain

The food supply chain, stretching from farmers to dinner tables, is described by the researchers as a vast yet fragile network. It is central to global health, but it is increasingly strained by climate change, resource scarcity, and shifting consumption habits. Globalization has enabled food to travel enormous distances, making strawberries available in winter or avocados in remote corners of the world. Yet this convenience carries a cost: more emissions, more packaging, and often more waste. Alarmingly, much of this waste occurs not in factories or fields but in homes, where overbuying, poor storage, and large portions lead to edible food ending up in landfills. Every wasted apple or loaf of bread represents not only lost nutrition but also squandered water, land, and energy.

Nutrition itself is another critical fault line. The health impact of food depends on farming methods, processing techniques, and packaging conditions. Still, the information reaching consumers is often superficial or misleading. Tools like Nutri-Score attempt to condense complex nutritional qualities into a simple grade, but critics warn they can exaggerate the healthiness of some processed products. Eco-labels fare no better, as they are frequently built on generalized databases rather than measuring the specific impact of individual food items. Studies show that while consumers are eager for clear, reliable information, current labels are inconsistent and sometimes confusing.

Building a Four-Layer Framework

The NEXTCART project addresses these shortcomings with a data architecture built on four interconnected layers. The Industrial layer measures the environmental and economic footprint of food, including emissions, transport, and energy costs. The Consumer layer develops personal and household profiles, taking into account dietary needs, allergies, and even lifestyle activities. The Nutritional layer records the detailed composition of products, linking them to user-specific conditions such as age, gender, or medical needs. Finally, the Waste layer calculates uneaten food, translating it into wasted nutrients, costs, and ecological resources.

Together, these layers create what the researchers call a “digital twin” of the food supply chain. Each purchase, whether a carton of milk or a week’s grocery basket, can be simulated for its nutritional adequacy, environmental footprint, and likelihood of being wasted. For example, a sporty consumer could instantly see whether their chosen basket supports their training goals, while a family might be warned that their selection risks generating excessive leftovers.

From Labels to Smart Dashboards

What sets NEXTCART apart is not only the data it gathers but how it is presented. Instead of relying on static and often simplistic front-of-pack labels, the researchers propose embedding the information in a multi-dimensional QR code linked to dashboards in shopping carts or mobile apps. Shoppers could scan a product and instantly see whether it fits their dietary profile, whether it carries a high carbon footprint, and how it might contribute to household waste trends.

The paper contrasts this system with existing approaches such as Nutri-Score, Eco-score, and Novascore. While these tools provide partial insights, none offer a full view that integrates nutritional, environmental, and consumer-specific needs. By unifying these perspectives into a single interface, NEXTCART aims to turn shopping into a conscious, data-driven act. Figure 2 in the study illustrates this vision, showing how the framework layers work together compared to current label systems.

Toward a Bottom-Up Revolution

The potential impact of this framework extends well beyond individual shoppers. Retailers could use it to evaluate fair pricing in relation to shelf life and storage conditions. Logistics managers might employ it to track energy use and transport costs. Families could receive guidance on whether their weekly basket risks nutritional surpluses or unnecessary waste. Policymakers and health professionals could monitor broader patterns in consumer behavior, helping to shape public health campaigns or sustainability initiatives.

The authors describe this as a bottom-up revolution. Instead of relying solely on government regulation or corporate promises, change could come from informed consumers driving demand for healthier and more sustainable products. The challenge, however, lies in communication. Data alone will not change habits; it must be translated into simple, accessible, and engaging formats that fit seamlessly into the act of shopping. The researchers’ next steps include designing advanced data lake infrastructures and developing mobile interfaces that make these insights available at the tap of a screen or the scan of a code.

Funded by Italy’s Ministry of University and Research and supported by the European Union’s NextGenerationEU program, the NEXTCART project is more than an academic experiment. It is envisioned as a practical roadmap for digitizing and optimizing the food supply chain, aligning economic, health, and environmental priorities. If implemented at scale, it could redefine the supermarket as a space not just of consumption but of awareness, where every purchase becomes a conscious contribution to a healthier, fairer, and more sustainable food system.