Walmart is attempting to use blockchain to track food supply chain and improve safety. This comes after some food safety related incidents in the U.S. The new application of the technology follows consultation with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Walmart U.S. move follows are earlier experiment with Tsinghua University, which tracked food products movement using blockchain technology within China. The experiment set out to encourage accountability and to provide suppliers, regulators and consumers greater insight and transparency into how food is handled. Based on this success the U.S. supermarket giant is launching a U.S. version of the digital cryptographic process.
Walmart is not the only major supplier that is implementing blockchain. Nestlé SA, for example, has announced that it is testing blockchain technology to track some ingredients that make up for its baby food products. This is in collaboration with IBM, with an initial focus on sweet potato, apple and pumpkin puree.
Also working with IBM is Tyson Foods. The company is complimenting blockchain in order to reduce food waste and track packages should contamination issues arise. Also entering the food-blockchain arena is Unilever, which has backed a blockchain pilot platform in Singapore. The Unilver platform launch has taken place in response to the increased industry challenges linked to transparency and verification of data, such as location and demographic data.
