The seriousness regarding food safety and quality is increasing globally. For handling of food safety issues technically, people require a trustworthy and secure system for food traceability which helps in tracking as well as monitoring the entire lifespan of food production from farm to fork. In order to feed the world’s growing population, the global food supply chain today has evolved into a tangled web.
Traceability may be defined as-
• Ability to follow the movement of a food through specified stage(s) of production, processing and distribution - Codex Alimentarius Commission
• Ability to trace the history, application or location of an entity by means of recorded identifications - International Standards Organization (ISO)
• Ability to discern, identify and follow the movement of a food or substance intended to be or expected to be incorporated into a food, through all stages of production, processing and distribution-FAO
A wider definition of food chain traceability may be-
• Ability to trace and follow a food, feed, food-producing animals or substance intended to be, or expected to be, incorporated into a food or feed, through all stages of production, processing and distribution – European Union Regulation.
Traceability is a very important aspect of food safety. It empowers corrective activities to be implemented rapidly and effectively when a potential food safety issue is recognised, either by a food business or a government organisation. A successful traceability framework can help isolate and prevent contaminated products from arriving at consumers, thereby, limiting disruption to trade and any potential health danger to public.
Only a handful of companies realise what traceability adds to the business in terms of cost savings, efficiency and achieving product premiums in the market. However, the mistrust associated with validating claims of product identity and traceability must be dealt with initially. More can be done to equip companies with real-time traceability of products within global food supply chains.
Blockchain – Ground-breaking innovation
Blockchain, a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT), is a ground-breaking innovation in decentralised data technology. It is receiving increasing attention in supply chains—for example, tracing products through the supply chain. While this alone does not solve traceability, it can be a gamechanger. On correct implementation, it improves efficiency, transparency and accountability among participants. Quality data helps optimise business decisions and reach higher overall standards.
Blockchain food traceability is gaining momentum in the global agri food sector. The ability to track the entire lifecycle of food products from their origin to any point of contact during its journey to the customer enhances efficiency, credibility and safety. Consumers will be able to trace their food by scanning a QR code. It can also record transactions to strengthen food management, safety and quality in the food industry.
Food supply chain plays a unique role
In an ever-growing economy, food supply chain plays a unique role as it is central to human life and health.The example of the food supply chain digitisation, using blockchain technology is shown in Fig 1. The upper layer of the figure shows the physical flow i.e. simplified farm to fork process. The middle layer shows several digital technologies i.e., NFC, RFID and QR codes.
The Internet is very helpful for connecting infrastructure. The bottom layer shows that each process performed along the food chain is registered to the block chain, which stores information that is conceded by all segments. The information traced throughout every deal is formalised by the business segments, creating a consensus between all segments. After formalisation of each block, it is added to the chain of deals (as Fig 1 shows), becoming a permanent record of the whole procedure.
Potential for optimising workflows
The food industry uses blockchain to explore the collaborative potential for optimising workflows. Apparently, different companies worldwide are experimenting with blockchain to enhance food supply chains. Walmart, JD.com, Carrefour, Albert Heijn, Plantaza, Nestle and Bumble Bee Foods are trying to protect the food with blockchain. With an annual growth rate of 87%, block chain is expected to rise from $45 million in 2018 to $3314.6 million by 2023 in terms of food supply chain management.
It improves transparency and identifies potential contamination sources quickly to effectively prevent, contain or rectify outbreaks. Transparency helps validate and authenticate the origin of food and improve brand credibility. Added advantages include prevention of fraud, and the ability to better address outbreaks by prevention which helps to minimise expenses for food testing and improve margins.
Organisations worldwide are seeing massive benefits of tracing food using a distributed ledger across the supply chain. These include preventing counterfeits and fake labels, tracing the origin of product, ensuring quality of food, offering an experience to consumers on flow of material to final product and finally, simplifying adhering to compliance and regulations while reducing paper admin.
Some constraints on implementation of blockchain are discussed in this section. In order for blockchain to be successful, all the parties and contact points involved must participate. In addition, data integrity lies in the collector's hands, and a validation system is needed to avoid tampering. The major obstacle to acceptance is providing a single system with clear criteria and regulations.
Regulators are making headway in strengthening food safety. In the US and the European Union (EU), specialised agencies collaborated efforts to the roles of food traceability and risk management that can trace traded products throughout the production chain. Integrating blockchain technology to enhance these systems has potential and probability.
To sum up
Summing up, in the financial and manufacturing industries, blockchain is making progress in transforming processes and enhancing efficiencies. As the agri food sector accepts the advantages of blockchain technology, what essentially drives the move to blockchain is the need to stay competitive. Still various roadblocks and challenges exist which hinder its popularity among farmers and food supply systems.
The future holds answers to how these challenges could be handled, in order to build blockchain technology as an invulnerable, fiducial and transparent means to ensure food safety and integrity. It will be fascinating to see how blockchain can be aggregated with other evolving technologies , i.e., big data, IoT, robotics, NFC and RFID towards greater food supply process automation, enhanced with complete transparency and traceability.
(Dr Singh is assistant professor, Thakur and Yadav are M Tech students at department of food science and technology, National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship & Management [NIFTEM], Sonipat, Haryana. They can be contacted at anurag.niftem@gmail.com)