The IBM Food Trust is now officially available worldwide after undergoing 18 months of rigorous testing, the company announced on Oct. 8.
The platform allows retailers, suppliers, food growers, and food industry providers to trace the sources of their food with more accuracy and efficiency. IBM said with the blockchain-powered system, food can be traced back to their sources in as little time as possible. In comparison, the conventional tracking system will take days to weeks to generate information about the food sources.
The platform is integral in promoting food safety and optimizing the supply chain for food products. Essentially, IBM Food Trust will generate accurate information on whether the food is still fresh and safe for consumption. This will guarantee that all food products on the stores' shelves are not going to waste or worse to be subjected to food recalls which could both risk consumers' health and impact retailers' profitability.
In a case of food borne disease outbreak, for example, the IBM Food Trust can pinpoint where the problem arises within the supply chain.
The IBM Food Trust is powered by Hyperledger Fabric, an open source blockchain framework hosted by the Linux Foundation.
IBM also announced the rapid adoption rate of the food tracing platform. The latest to have come on board is Carrefour, a French multinational retailer with more than 12,000 stores in 33 countries. The retailer initially plans to use IBM Food Trust to ensure that its selection process for food suppliers is highly dependable with regard to food safety and quality. Moving forward, Carrefour will integrate the IBM Food Trust system to all of its brands worldwide by 2022.
Carrefour is the latest to join the strings of big companies that have adopted IBM Food Trust network system. In September, Walmart announced that it will begin to use the IBM platform. Specifically, Walmart will require its leafy green providers to provide information that will guarantee a more transparent traceability of where their produce is coming from.
Others that have come on board the system are Topco Associates which has 15,000 stores and 65 million weekly customers; Wakefern, a cooperative which has 50 member retailers and 349 stores; as well as suppliers namely BeefChain, Dennick Fruit Source, Scoular, and Smithfield.
Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president for IBM Global Industries, Clients, Platforms, and Blockchain, said that through the IBM Food Trust initiative, the company hopes to promote the practice of shared responsibility within retailers and suppliers when in guaranteeing food safety. The practice shall ensure profitability among businesses and safety choices among consumers.
