At a time when consumers are expressing greater than ever concern about the origins of their food – just ask UK supermarket chain Tesco in the wake of last week’s horse-meat beef burger controversy – McDonald’s Australia has launched a new high-tech campaign designed to build customer trust in the integrity of its products.

Central to the initiative is a new App which allows customers with Apple mobile devices to track where the ingredients in the food they are about to eat originated.

“Most people like the taste of McDonalds but there is still some confusion about just how real our food is, so we want you take a closer look at where some of our ingredients are grown, fished or farmed and find out what happens to them on their way to you,” the company explains in a video to launch its new “TrackMyMaccas” app.

The app works on five menu items – the McChicken, Big Mac, Filet-O-Fish, French Fries and Chicken McNuggets.

Consumers with the App can use their iPhone, iPod or iPad to scan a speckled image printed on the packaging of any of the products listed above.

The software then uses the phone’s GPS to locate which restaurant the customer is in, and image recognition software to identify the product the consumer has scanned. Combining this information with the date and time, it then searches McDonald’s supply chain database to identify where the ingredients were sourced.

A 3D animation then tells the customer where the ingredients in the product they are about to came from.

For example: “What’s your beef? It’s 100pc Aussie that’s what. It was made into a patty in Sydney, then snap-frozen like a pea to keep its flavour all the way to you in cloudy Broadway.”

Or: “This pickle was grown in the summer in Griffith, New South Wales. It was placed in brine within 12 hours of harvest.”

In some cases ingredients can be identified to specific farm of origin.

The TrackMyMacca’s app will track selected menu items in all Australian McDonald’s restaurants from January 16, 2013 to June 30, 2013.

More than 150 million pieces of new packaging have been printed to support the initiative.

“As a business we’re incredibly proud that over 90 percent of our food and packaging needs are met right here in Australia,” McDonald’s Australia chief marketing officer Mark Lollback said.

“This innovative app from the DDB Group is another way for us to share this with our customers, putting them in the driving seat and allowing them to see for themselves where our food comes from and what happens on its way to their plate.”