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Is Blockchain the Right Solution to Ensure Food Safety

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oodles blockchain

The current pandemic of COVID-19 has shown that food safety is no longer a local or national problem. Unsanitary activities can have global implications. Although the danger has increased due to the increase in trade globally, the question is whether we have developed instruments to ensure food safety?

 

Nearly one in ten people fall ill each year after consuming tainted food, resulting in 4,20,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. We need initiatives at every touchpoint in the food industry, from farm to market, to handle a problem of this size. One way to track and monitor the issue is to look at it as a problem with data. That’s where we get to use blockchain technology. In this article, we will be exploring the potential of Hyperledger blockchain app development for the food industry.

Using Blockchain in the Food Industry

Assume that in seconds, you could trace the origins of your food or that you could check whether the fruits you bought were organic. Shortly, with the blockchain solutions set to revolutionize the food industry, this could potentially happen. In several cases, here’s how the technology can help

Food Safety

Blockchain makes the food supply chain transparent and thereby enables the chain of food safety disaster prevention. It is one of the reasons that corporations like Unilever and Nestle are considering adopting technologies like blockchain and smart contracts.

Preventing Manipulation

If the data obtained is free of any human error, it will also help to deter fraud. Collected information is also subject to hacking, inaccuracies, and mistakes. Blockchain implementation would help to avoid these problems. If someone tries to manipulate data, it will also aid in finding the culprit. It will, for example, prevent the kind of food fraud that occurred in 2016 in Canada.

Fast Transactions

A blockchain-based payment system can simplify the transaction process. It would help farmers sell more and be fairly paid, as the demand data would be at their fingertips. It may also prohibit retroactive compensation and market manipulation from happening. Blockchain could ‘Uberize’ the agri-food industry by lowering transaction fees and eliminating intermediaries, according to Forbes.

In the food supply chain process, the emerging also helps the participants in the following ways:

Producer

Blockchain enables businesses to identify any changes to the goods in production. It is also true for distributors.

Distributors

With the aid of the blockchain, stakeholders can identify and remove it if any defective product ends up on sale.

Consumer

Throughout the whole process, the existence of blockchain enhances the confidence of consumers throughout manufacturers and distributors as the goods get labeled with the correct details.

Advantages of Blockchain for the Food Industry

All supply chain participants will benefit from blockchain technology: suppliers, producers, advertisers, distributors, retailers, and regulators. Every attempt to exploit a food product as it moves through the supply chain is easily noticeable and preventive by the vendor before the product reaches the customer.

For supermarkets, stores may classify and remove only the dangerous goods if a potentially hazardous food product makes it to the shelves. It eliminates the need for expensive recalls of batches.

For customers, from any computer, the history and route of an individual food item are immediately available. It can provide a host of information about how to maximize shelf life, reduce waste, enhance quality and sustainability, and make food safer, from certifications to information.

A customer would want to know that what he’s eating is healthy and new to eat, so he’s going to be able to track when and where the tomatoes were harvested, delivered, and processed at breakfast.

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