How Blockchain Can Enhance Food Authenticity, Safety, Traceability And Supply Chain Operations Today’s consumers have become a lot more health conscious, so while buying food products, they seek information about the environmental, ethical and health attributes of the items they intend to purchase. Many people want to ensure that the meat products they are buying have been sourced in a cruelty free manner. People are seeking reliable and responsible suppliers that provide verified, unadulterated products. Blockchain can provide answers to all these informational needs of the consumers. Blockchain technology creates a shared, distributed ledger of transactions which is especially useful for food supply chain as it allows for tracking of various food items, right from their farming to stocking in supermarket shelves. At the most basic level, blockchain allows for the addition of information in an immutable way by the stake holders and vendors at various steps of food supply chain, ranging from manufacturing and packaging to distribution and retail.
Mitigating the risks in food supply chain
Blockchain can help in mitigating risks of food fraud and safety. In the existing supply chains, it can take weeks to identify a contaminated food, its origin and the vendor. The problem is not with the lack of information, but its lack of access at the right time by the right people. In a food blockchain, product information is digitally connected to food items and recorded at every step of operations, creating a tamper-proof and trusted system of records. It can quickly provide information about the suppliers and food inspectors, and also critical data points to identify food safety issues. Tampered products can be easily identified and isolated. Only contaminated batches would be sent to landfill, while safe products will be kept in shelves, thus preventing expensive food recalls and minimizing wastes. Self-executing smart contracts would ensure that a consignment is not finalized for shipment until specific conditions set by the supplier are met. Handling the traceability issue within seconds Apart from transparency and traceability, blockchain also brings economic benefits to the businesses in food industry. Walmart is already working with Unilever, Nestle and Dole Food on its blockchain pilot projects. It believes that blockchain would do for transparency what internet did to the world of communications. In one of its projects, it took them just 2 seconds to trace a consignment of mangoes to the farm with their food blockchain, which would otherwise had took a week for them to identify the original farm without blockchain integration. Blockchain technology speeds up supply chain operations, and allows for quicker payments. It seamlessly incorporates elements such as batch information, certification, auditing, allergen identification and preventive control plans for the benefit of network users. Eliminating overhead costs A fully implemented farm to table blockchain system can inform the consumers if a product is truly organic or not, and eliminate much of the oversight costs that could be as high as 20% in many cases. Blockchain consulting Group50 business consultancy has expert blockchain technology consultants that can be approached to discuss blockchain implementation in your food industry business. It has come up with its proprietary Scioebc food blockchain solution that allows for full traceability across the entire supply chain, from farm to table. The company has helped many businesses achieve resilience of their supply chain with the integration of custom and permission based blockchain solutions. Contact Group50 for food industry blockchain consulting for the possibility of blockchain integration in your food industry business environment.