en.cryptonomist.ch
AB InBev will soon launch a project to track beer using a blockchain, or rather a DLT. This will allow the consumer to view the entire supply chain of the main ingredients that make up this alcoholic beverage.
In this case, barley will be traced. Indispensable for beer processing, the project will involve farms in particular, which will use innovative tools to track their crop. Afterwards, their destination will be traced to the plant where the barley will be processed.
The pilot project will involve several countries such as France, Germany and the UK, and in its final form will allow the beer to have a unique QR code that will be attached directly to the bottle, so the user can control the entire supply chain.
The first beer to have this QR code will be Leffe. The project will be launched in France next year, involving Antwerp in Belgium and the Stella Artois and Corona brewery in Leuven.
Beer transparency on the blockchain
The AB InBev project will make the entire beer supply chain transparent to the end consumer for the first time in Europe, as explained by the CIO of AB InBev, Pieter Bruyland:
“For the first time in our European operations, this project will create a fully transparent, indirect supply network all the way to the end consumer. By connecting players across the beer supply chain – from farmers, malting cooperatives, breweries, warehouses and carriers – to one secure, decentralised platform we can increase traceability and gather data that will help us to continue to grow the finest ingredients for our beers sustainably”.
DLT and not actual Blockchain
Unfortunately, however, once again this is not a real permissionless blockchain, but a DLT, and to be precise that of SettleMint.
It is therefore a centralized ledger and therefore subject to censorship.