A group of leading companies across the global food supply chain has announced a major blockchain collaboration with IBM, intended to further strengthen consumer confidence in the global food system.
The consortium, which includes Dole, Driscoll’s, Golden State Foods, Kroger, McCormick and Company, McLane Company, Nestlé, Tyson Foods, Unilever and Walmart, will work with the multinational technology giant to identify new areas where the global supply chain can benefit from blockchain.
Many of the critical issues impacting food safety, such as cross-contamination, the spread of food-borne illnesses, unnecessary waste and the economic burden of recalls, are magnified by lack of access to information and traceability.
It can take weeks to identify the precise point of contamination, causing further illness, lost revenue and wasted products.
Blockchain is ideally suited to help address these challenges because it establishes a trusted environment for all transactions.
In the case of the global food supply chain, all participants – growers, suppliers, processors, distributors, retailers, regulators and consumers – can gain permissioned access to known and trusted information regarding the origin and state of food for their transactions.
This can enable food providers and other members of the ecosystem to use a blockchain network to trace the contaminated product to its source in a short amount of time to ensure its safe removal from store shelves and stem the spread of illnesses.