Context and problem statement in the current food supply chain
Today’s global food supply chain made it possible to bring foods from across the globe. However, the biggest challenge for the food industry is to ensure food safety, lower food fraud & at the same time keeping low operating cost.
In reality, the food we consume and buy from the market is highly insecure than we would like to imagine. Food fraud is estimated to be a $40 billion a year problem and there are several high profile instances of fraud happened in food supply, for example whether wood shavings discovered in parmesan to the 2013 or Horsemeat scandal in the UK, and Chipotle’s E.coli outbreaks in 2015, there are many examples that proved that food supply chain is not that secure and it directly affects consumer health and food companies a big law suite
The data provided by the World Health Organization estimates that almost 1 in 10 people become ill every year from eating contaminated food. The Center for Disease Control estimates that 48 million Americans get sick from contaminated food every year.
A typical food supply chain has the following 5 steps:
- Supply of Raw Materials
- Production
- Food Processing and Packaging
- Storage
- Distribution (Wholesale and Retail)
In case any above step is not handled properly or compromised then the whole supply chain will fail, and which can damage the faith of consumers on food and company and consequences can be fatal.
Together Blockchain and IoT is the perfect solution to overcome the above challenges
Blockchain, coupled with IoT sensors, can improve freshness, quality, and safety in the fresh food supply chain and can significantly improve industries fresh product margins by reducing waste almost by 50%, and because of blockchain system companies would be able to guarantee transparency which will significantly increase consumer trust and brand value.
The objective of the perfect food supply Chain system
- Traceable
- Maintain safety and quality of food products
- Adequate communication between all involved parties
- Minimizing supply chain cost to make food affordable
- Track and control inventory in warehouses and stores
How does it work?
Above objectives can be achieved with the help of Blockchain & IOT together, Blockchain framework supports an IOT based data feed and will guarantee the reliability and security of information received and captured
As we know Blockchain technology is a shared, digital platform where users can store and share information across a network. This system enables users to look at all transactions simultaneously and in real-time.
One of the main advantages of blockchain is that once information is added to the blockchain via IoT sensors, it is distributed within the network and it becomes immutable. It cannot be hacked, manipulated, or corrupted in any way.
The technology behind IoT sensors and electronics chips such as RFID seals is evolving rapidly, through this evolution companies has the opportunity to attach sensors to goods to track and thereby detect potential failures and fraud and combining data received from these sensors with a Blockchain can provide standardization, transparency & traceability to supply chain and help food industries in minimizing risks by ensuring temper-proof & reliable flows which was missing from the food industry for a long time.
DreamzTech Solution for Food Supply chain using Blockchain and IoT
DreamzTech has developed food supply chain system using Blockchain framework and IoT sensors.
Objective of our system is to provide end-to-end visibility across food supply chain, in our system IoT sensors that can track the status of goods as they move through the supply chain and share this information to a blockchain-based framework which ensures that all of the participants in the chain can access the data in real time and can validate which increases trust between parties, our blockchain & IoT based food supply chain system basically focuses or track 3 scenarios:
- Condition at the food production unit or facility
- Tracking of food volumes in the supply chain
- Tracking the condition of food items in the supply chain (such as Temperature, humidity etc)
Below diagram explains the high level flow our Blockchain and IoT based food supply chain solution:
Above solution ensures food safety and increases real-time traceability, below the table, explains about each blocks which are getting added in a system as an immutable ledger.
Other Use Cases across the world
There are several use cases across the world which successfully implemented Blockchain and IoT in the food supply chain
Sawtooth: A modern approach to Seafood Traceability: To merge the digital and physical world, Sawtooth records the journey of seafood from the ocean to table. Like the fish in this case study, IoT sensors can be attached to any object entrusted to someone else for transport, with trackable ownership, possession, and telemetry parameters such as location, temperature, humidity, motion, shock, and tilt. The final buyer can access a complete record of information and trust that the information is accurate and complete.
Walmart implements IBM’s blockchain for food traceability: Walmart is working with IBM to implement blockchain as part of new food safety requirements for its suppliers. to implement food traceability via IBM’s blockchain technology focused on the global food supply chain. The aim is to track food from farm to store in near real-time using blockchain’s distributed ledger system
A recent Wall Street Journal article reported that “after initial tests, 12 of the world’s biggest companies, including Walmart and Nestle, are building a blockchain and IoT based system to remake how the industry tracks food worldwide
The growth of the global food supply chain may bring more complexity and challenges, but also great opportunities. If companies can proactively implement stringent safety measures, adopt technology such as Blockchain and IoT that enables full visibility, track and trace, and collaborate more closely with their partners, the benefits will be huge.