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Blockchain Food

Can Blockchain Tackle Food Fraud?

China’s food industry has been riddled with toxic and fake food scandals in recent years, as food production is struggling to keep up with a growing population.

The e-commerce giant Alibaba, states that fraud is costing the global food industry $40 billion a year.  Counterfeit soy sauce, rice, and eggs are among the potentially deadly items that have been found for sale. In a new trial, Alibaba is using an incorruptible blockchain database to track an authentic item going from a manufacturer to a consumer.

China’s online shopping giant is initially testing this structure on Australian and New Zealand imports. Dairy brand Fonterra, and Blackmores, a health supplements company, are the first companies to use the framework. Once the item arrives with the buyer in China, they can scan a special QR code to see the blockchain-verified database that shows it is a genuine product. Consumers benefit from being able to view the origins of their food, and the journey of their purchase. If a product was marketed as organic, the buyer could potentially view the item’s source via a blockchain to see if it really came from an organic farm.

The goal of the programme – first announced in theory in March 2017 – is to use the blockchain database to “achieve end-to-end supply chain traceability and transparency to enhance consumer confidence and build a trusted environment for cross-border trade,” said Alibaba in a statement.

Do you think that the initiative of blockchain-based tracking can clean up the supply chains?