How Blockchain Technology Can Save Our Food From Fraud Companies can no longer rely on generalized terms such as “organic” or “healthy” in order to signal value. Consumers seek reassurances of the quality past what is printed on the label. They want visibility into what’s inside the food products that they put into their bodies. Blockchain technology provides a method of substantiating these previously unsubstantiated claims of the food and beverages companies. Consumers want to make trustworthy food choices, and blockchain technology helps establish that trust. Improving traceability When outbreak of foodborne illness occurs, restaurants can immediately track the affected items to their origin with blockchain’s track-and-trace, and quickly remove the contaminated products from menus, shelves and supply chain to regain the customers’ confidence. Winning back trust in our food Blockchain based standards for suppliers ensure the integrity of the labeling of products by the companies as organic, cruelty-free or sustainable. The supplier’s certifications and facility audit reports will be registered on blockchain to prove these claims. When consumers know that the labeling of a company is backed by traceable, immutable blockchain system, their trust will increase. The food’s journey across the supply chain is captured in a blockchain object known as Food Bundle that sums all the information contributed by various stakeholders over the lifetime of a food item. This information can be used to establish the provenance, sustainability, quality, flavor, taste profiles and other attributes of the food product.
Tracing food with blockchain Current practices in the food industry are susceptible to human errors and simply not designed to prevent fraud occurring in our food. Much of the compliance data is audited by the trusted third parties and stored in a centralized database which is vulnerable to hacking, informational inaccuracies and intentional errors motivated by fraudulent behavior. With blockchain, it is possible to trace the individual fraudster. Many retailers have sold fraudulent food products unknowingly in the past, and there have been many instances of food scandals and recalls. With food blockchain, those days could come to an end. Blockchain is, by necessity, given a decentralized nature that always assumes the need to protect it from the bad actors. Smart contracts for food authenticity Because of its distributed nature, blockchain provides an excellent platform for marketplaces. Buyers and sellers are matched by a shared but trusted need for that data which can be used by either party. Participants do not need to know or trust one another in order to come together on the blockchain of food. Smart contracts will evaluate the assertions of the parties involved and notify their
account holders when matches in timing, quality and quantity are made. The beauty of blockchain is that it allows the transactions between the participants that do not know or trust each other yet. It is clear that the tide is turning towards traceability. Blockchain solutions are already up and running in the industries like automotive and healthcare, and they are ready to be applied to the food space. Food industry blockchain consulting Group50 – the global business management consulting firm has the experts with right set of skills to work with the companies throughout their distributed ledger technology (DLT) journey. The company is strategically positioned to partner with the clients for food industry blockchain consulting to devise their overall blockchain integration comprising of ideation, adoption, execution and implementation for specific use cases. Contact Group50 to develop a blockchain of food for your business to reap the benefits of this disruptive technology.