What Blockchain Technology Has for The Food & Beverages Industry?

Blockchain technology has penetrated many industries and now has a significant impact on the food and beverage industries. Blockchain's importance is being realized by stalwarts across sectors, from the likes of Walmart to IBM. From tracking food more precisely in the supply chain with all valuable data to ensuring food quality and health quotient, blockchain is benefiting the food and beverage industry in more ways than one. No wonder global leaders in the food and beverage industry such as Nestlé, Starbucks, Carrefour, and many others have embraced blockchain.

Helping Customers with Precise Information

The public demand for a transparent food supply chain with clear access to data is stable within the food market. Since customers worldwide are becoming more health and fitness conscious, they continuously try to grab detailed information about the food they consume.

Studies have observed that as many as 75% of customers can switch to a food brand that gives them more detailed product information beyond the physical label. Blockchain as an accessible and thoroughly secure distributed ledger system can ensure detailed data about the products right from the farming land to the processing plant to the customer's doorstep. Traceability of detailed information, apart from being a vital factor establishing a trust for a brand, is also essential for the efficient supply of the food items faster to ensure they remain fresh.

Fighting the Illnesses Born in Food and Beverages

Faster food supply is a crucial aspect of public health as well. Thanks to blockchain's prevalence in the supply chain, better traceability of the food across the supply chain can be ensured, and this can easily track sources of contamination and mishandling. On the other hand, tracing the stages and sources of food contamination through the traditional paper trail is next to impossible.

According to a study published by the World Health Organization (WHO), around 600 million become victims of food contamination every year. Foodborne illnesses are one of the commonest and recurring public health challenges in many parts of the world. With the help of blockchain technology, the available data about the sourcing and the entire supply chain journey of the food items can be tracked, and contamination can be traced back to the sources. This is why the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) is increasingly relying on blockchain to ensure food safety.

IBM Food Trust initiative using blockchain cane with a great system that much primary food and beverage brands are taking advantage of. From Nestle, Tyson Foods, Kroger to Dole, many globally acclaimed foods brands are using the platform to track the trail of food ingredients and the various stages of the supply chain to ensure no contamination is done.

Walmart sells mangoes produced in small South American firms, and tracking their production and origin through traditional methods will be time consuming and treacherous an exercise with no guarantee of the result. With blockchain technology, such tracking processes can be easier, and the time can be reduced to barely a few minutes.

Ensuring Optimum Efficiency for the Food Supply Chain

IBM Food Trust is probably the only program that displayed blockchain's potential for ensuring food safety in such an exemplary manner. Apart from adding value to the food safety measures globally, this program is also working great to boost efficiency for the food supply industry as a whole. The program is also ensuring that the right protocols for handling food are maintained throughout.

Of course, a few other equally or enough credible Blockchain-based initiatives equally deserve our attention. Greenfence came into the picture as the first remote tracking and auditing platform for the food industry. The platform also worked for food certification. It used blockchain technology to determine the locations, distributors, equipment, and people taking part in the entire supply chain from the farming land to our homes' doors.

• Blockchain can easily keep track of all the attempts for tampering food within the food supply chain.
• Departmental stores, supermarkets, and local shops based on Blockchain-based precise data and data-driven insights can remove products from their shelves.
• Since blockchain maintains the quality as per the label, consumers end up buying more.
• Blockchain can also remove counterfeit items and fraudulent activities with food supply.
• Blockchain can ensure comprehensive control over the entire food and beverage chain.

Food frauds are increasingly becoming a concerning area for food and beverage producers and distributors. The so-called health supplements and other nutrients are also getting victims of fraud. This is where a distributed ledger database can do wonder.

Conclusion

Through blockchain technology, products tagged with QR codes can easily store information and ensure optimum supply chain traceability and transparency about production and supply of food and beverages. In the time to come, Blockchain-based food tracking and quality control will become the mainstay of the entire industry. This will also need a committed effort from all stakeholders, including the producers, retailers, and consumers of food and beverages.

About the Author

Jamie Waltz is a senior mobile app developer At Square Root Solutions — Ireland-based mobile app development company. He has been in the IT industry for the past 6+ years and has helped various kinds of businesses in developing cost-effective, Robust mobile apps which can increase their customer’s experience, loyalty, and retention toward the brand. Apart from his professional life, he loves to spend his spare time by creating a valuable asset for the developer’s community through writing quality blogs.

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