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US FDA Calls Meeting on Blockchain, AI and the New Era of Smarter Food Safety

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold a meeting with stakeholders to discuss its plans to usher in “A New Era of Smarter Food Safety .” The meetingwill take place on October 21st, with the aim of gathering input and feedback to help shape an FDA blueprint for the initiative. The FDA will propose leveraging modern technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and IoT to improve transparency and decrease the risks of contamination in the food supply chain. The initiative is part of an ongoing effort by the FDA to implements the agency’s Food and Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) which was designed to shift the focus from responding to foodborne illness to preventing it. The meeting will include breakout sessions on key topics that include traceability, smarter tools for prevention, evolving business models and retail food safety, and food safety culture.

Food Tech Revolution In a recent interview, Frank Yiannas, Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy, FDA said, “We are in the midst of a new revolution in food technology. There will be more changes in the next 10 years than there have been in the past 20 years. Products will be reformulated; new food sources and production approaches will be realized, and the food system will become increasingly digitalized.”

Before joining the FDA, Yiannis was a champion of blockchain in the private sector and claims he has been “chasing the holy grail of food traceability for years”. He believes that chase is at an end with the emergence of new technologies and specifically blockchain. Yiannis said, “Because of its distributed and decentralized nature that aligns more closely with a decentralized and distributed food system, has enabled food system stakeholders to imagine being able to have full end-to-end traceability. An ability to deliver accurate, real-time information about food, how it’s produced, and how it flows from farm to table is a game-changer for food safety.”

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Coffee Origin Traceability Propelled by Blockchain App

Many millennials are becoming mindful of the source of what they consume or purchase. As a result, millennials who are coffee enthusiasts have become more demanding as they seek to know the origin of their cup of coffee. Some of the top coffee shops have heeded to these concerns as they are seeking technology-based solutions, such as blockchain.

Notably, some coffee companies, such as Jacob Douwe Egberts and J.M. Smucker Co. have collaborated with Farmer Connect, a blockchain initiative startup, in propelling the traceability of coffee beans’ origin. This objective will be realized through Thank A Farmer, a consumer-facing application, that will be blockchain-enabled.

The digital ledger network utilized in the app will be instrumental in tracking transactions, as well as availing customers with data about where the coffee was roasted, imported, exported, milled, and firmed.

Joe Stanziano, General Manager and Smucker Co. has asserted that Farmer Connect is an incredible initiative that will propel transparency in the coffee industry, and this will boost customer loyalty.

Stanziano stated:

“Our participation in the Farmer Connect blockchain initiative demonstrates our commitment to providing consumers with the transparency they crave while also creating new ways to support smallholder coffee farmers.”

Farmer Connect is a startup that seeks to offer blockchain-based solutions to different coffee players. As a result, it aims to raise around $20 million by early 2020.

Coffee traders have been facing the challenge of attaining minimal margins based on the lack of transparency on pricing information. This problem will be averted through blockchain and transparency will be available while transaction costs will be cut.

Notably, Thank A Farmer app will be pivotal in informing coffee consumers, such as millennials, the origin of their cup of coffee, and this will optimize their utility and loyalty.

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Aeternity Partners with Uruguay Can to Track Cannabis Production Using Blockchain

Uruguay Can, one of the major cannabis production companies in South America, and Aeternity, an open-source blockchain firm intended for decentralized applications, have partnered in developing a supply chain management platform based on the blockchain technology.

The collaboration will permit the tracking and registration of cannabis strains from the initial seed stage to the final product. Notably, this process will entail the combination of blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in the generation of decentralized applications.

Pablo Coirolo, Aeternity CEO, stipulated that blockchain technology was instrumental in the provision of confidence and security about the quality of recreational and medical cannabis.

Coirolo noted:

“We want to be the first to offer a business-level solution in partnership with leading technology providers and cannabis producers, processors and distributors,” said Pablo Coirolo, CEO of æternity Americas. “æternity technology is ideal for tracking the entire cannabis production process, from seed to full plant growth, throughout the entire supply chain, which ensures consumer safety while complying with regulations.”

Uruguay’s cannabis legalization

In 2013, Uruguay made a bold move of being the first nation across the globe to entirely legalize the sale and production of cannabis.

The first implementation phase of the project is scheduled for October 2019, whereas the entire implemented is stipulated to happen by mid-2021.

Eduardo Blasina, Uruguay Can CEO, praised the undertaking. He stipulated:

“We are proud to be the first company in Uruguay that can guarantee the quality of our products in a transparent and verifiable way. […] The ability to trace the source and the way cannabis is produced is beneficial for both the cannabis and pharmaceutical industry as well as its consumers and end users, who should feel more secure about the product that they are consuming.”

Blockchain technology has been transforming various sectors. For instance, Waste2Wear recently showed its intention of using blockchain in tracing the conversion of ocean plastics into eco-fabrics.

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Blockchain Enhances Traceability of Organic Cotton from Farm to Consumer

Fashion for Good, PVH Corp, C&A Foundation & Organic Cotton Accelerator, Bext 360, and Zalando have successfully collaborated on a blockchain pilot project that traces organic cotton from farm to consumer.

Notably, in recent years, there has been intense pressure for transparency to be incorporated into the fashion value chain from consumers and governments.

In an attempt to further address transparency concerns, this blockchain pilot project seeks to revolutionize the apparel industry by offering a physical and digital trail of organic cotton, making traceability, transparency, and reliability inevitable.

The managing director of Fashion for Good, Katrin Ley, asserted: “The success of the Organic Cotton Traceability pilot provides a positive impulse towards traceability and transparency in the value chain. We’ve gathered sufficient insights and evidence to support the case, in terms of technical as well as operational viability, for the wider implementation of the process in the organic cotton industry. In addition, the process shows enormous potential for further expansion to include other fibers in the fashion supply chain.”

Organic cotton is favored because it promotes healthy ecosystems, people, and soils. Additionally, it is a key fiber when it comes to sustainability strategies fronted by global fashion brands.

Organic cotton is also environmentally friendly because it presents a lower ecological impact because of minimal chemical usages, such as insecticides and pesticides. The blockchain pilot project will propel the adoption of organic cotton because of the traceability and transparency presented.

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Australian Farmer Teams Up with FreshChain for Watermelon Traceability via Blockchain

Andrew Martens, an Australian owning Marto Farms, has joined hands with Fresh Chain Systems, a local tech firm, in deploying blockchain technology on his watermelon labels to propel traceability. Buyers across Australia will, therefore, be able to trace the originality of the fruit.

As reported by Bundabergnow on Nov 28, this blockchain solution allows consumers absolute transparency into the whole production process, allowing complete traceability of products from paddock to plate.

“The world has changed and people simply want to know more about their food, it’s location and those who produce it,” Martens said, adding,“Consumers can simply scan a QR code on our seedless melons label to see detailed information on the harvest, conditions, certifications and handy hints relating to that specific melon.”

Martens further revealed that through the platfom,“There is also a chance for the consumer to rate the produce and leave any comments and feedback.” He added, “We are inviting consumers to learn more about the product they are buying which will only enhance our offer and create long-lasting connection and loyalty in both local and export markets.”

Martens shared his optimism of rolling out the blockchain-powered solution to other produce as he views the innovative technology as a great opportunity to showcase Australian farmers’ world-class products, passions, and farming practices.

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IBM’s Blockchain Technology Hand Picked By Coop Italia for Food Traceability

Blockchain technology is continuously being embraced in different sectors, and traceability has emerged to be one of its fundamental selling points.

Coop Italia, the biggest retail chain in Italy, has acknowledged this attribute as it has selected IBM’s blockchain technology to enable its private label brand called Coop Vivi Verde to trace the origin of eggs in its supply chain.

The retailer noted that the solution is founded on a Linux Foundation framework hosted on IBM Cloud, known as Hyperledger Fabric technology.

Blockchain Grants Full Transparency and Visibility

By leveraging on IBM’s blockchain technology, Coop Italia will have full visibility and transparency of the different players taking part in the production chain involving nearly 2 million hens producing at least 200 million eggs annually.

It has been stipulated that these hens adhere to animal welfare standards. As a result, eggs are sourced based on the laid out requirements. Additionally, they have to be certified by two independent third-party bodies, as well as more standards spelled out by Coop Italia.

To access information about the eggs’ journey from farm to store, consumers will be required to scan the QR code found on packages and typing the batch code.

The retailer, therefore, seeks to optimize consumers’ satisfaction levels by deploying blockchain technology and QR codes.

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How Can IBM’s Blockchain Network Support $2 Trillion in Product Logistics by 2023?

IBM Blockchain has been around for several years, delivering on blockchain projects for enterprises in areas such as trade finance, securities, payments and supply chain traceability, as well as establishing new platforms for businesses and improving efficiencies in existing industries.

Alan Lim, one of the initial members of the IBM Worldwide Blockchain team, heads IBM Blockchain Labs in the Asia Pacific. Lim kicked off his journey in blockchain as he was curious about how blockchain was being used in solving some real-world challenges. “I realized that blockchain was a new approach to solve the issues around trust, to look at how we can reimagine or change the way transactions are processed, and how we can establish a single point of view across different parties,” said Lim.

Lim believes that blockchain is an interesting new approach for cross-border transactions that involve multiple parties. “When I look at it from an architectural perspective, it became even more interesting as I dug deeper into it. I started to see that it’s not just about the technologies, there’s the economics behind it as well.”

Lim’s work at IBM has been based on working on blockchain from an enterprise perspective. “What we have seen for the last couple of years, is the maturing understanding of blockchain and its uses for enterprises,” stated Lim. He commented that his journey has geared towards trying to understand the requirements and capabilities of the technology in order to be fully realized from an enterprise perspective. “I’m still very excited about the potential, the technologies and what it can do across a range of different industries beyond the financial services sector. Hopefully, we will see more adoption, as some of these use cases and networks are moving towards the production kind of deployment.”

IBM TYS: The ‘Digital Passport’ to Streamline Supply Chain Processes

IBM and blockchain consultancy firm, Chainyard announced a new collaboration on Aug. 5 regarding a new blockchain network called Trust Your Supplier (TYS), which was designed to improve supplier qualification, validation, onboarding, and life cycle information management. Other founding members of the network include Anheuser-Busch InBev, Cisco, GlaxoSmithKline, Lenovo, Nokia, Schneider Electric and Vodafone.

The TYS network aims to solve issues around manual processes that make it difficult to verify identities and track documents such as bank account information, tax certifications and certificates of insurance throughout the lifecycle of a supplier. Technology research firm Garner Inc. mentioned that by 2023, blockchain will support the global movement and tracking of $2 trillion of goods and services annually.

“We identified a problem, that the current procurement process is a very long time to onboard a new supplier to a company. The company needs to go through the due diligence process to make sure that the given suppliers are compliant as necessary credentials to be able to support the buyer’s needs,” said Lim.

Lim explained that this is a reoccurring process, across different organizations, therefore he pointed out that the process should be simplified. “To streamline the whole process, we would enable a ‘digital passport’, then different organizations and suppliers would secure their necessary credentials and would make it easier for the supplier to enter into a new relationship with the purchase and vice versa.” IBM is currently working with different parts of the ecosystem to empower a more efficient onboarding process.

IBM Food Trust: Cutting Through the Complexity of the World’s Food Supply with Blockchain

Alan Lim, one of the initial members of the IBM Worldwide Blockchain team, heads IBM Blockchain Labs in the Asia Pacific. Blockchain.News sat down with Lim to learn more about IBM’s blockchain initiatives, including its Trust Your Supplier and Food Trust platforms.

IBM Food Trust was first launched in August 2017, with 10 Foundation members aiming to use blockchain in food traceability to solve issues in the food supply chain. Prior to the launch, IBM, Walmart, and Tsinghua University announced a collaboration to improve the way food is tracked, transported, and sold to customers in China. Juniper Research recently announced that IBM Food Trust is one of the leading blockchain players in the food provenance space.

Since the launch of the IBM Food Trust, millions of transactions have been entered onto the blockchain, as the technology provides transparency and efficiency in supply chain record-keeping to help ensure food safety for consumers. “I think the problem we’re trying to solve is the issues around the current food supply chain. Whether it’s related to issues around food safety, issues around the freshness of food, there’s an opportunity for being more efficient,” Lim added.

The dire need for trust and transparency

Lim explained that the food supply chain is quite complex, as the ecosystem consists of an extensive range of farmers, growers, packing houses, distribution centers, retailers to the consumer. “There is a dire need for a common view across the value chain to establish trust, but not just the ability to track and trace but true transparency across the different parts of the ecosystem.”

“One thing that we realized very early on is the need for standards. We’ve been partnering with various industries, parties, and associations,” said Lim. He also mentioned that the IBM Food Trust has also investigated standards from GS1, a non-profit organization headquartered in Belgium that develops and maintains global standards for business communication. Lim believes that standards are very important, and the group is looking to onboard different parties from different parts of the ecosystem across the globe. “This becomes even more important, so we’re looking at how we can better partner and adopt some of these standards, whether it’s uniquely identified produce, whether it’s looking at better ways of tracking, including the life cycle of the product,” explained Lim. “With the adoption of standards, we think that would be a key enabler for us to be successful in this area.”

One of the design principles that the IBM Food Trust decided on was that the data provided by the different parts of the ecosystem remains in the different parts of the ecosystem, different players in the ecosystem will need to grant permission to another party in the supply chain to have the visibility of the data. Lim emphasized that IBM is just the solution provider and operator for the network and stressed the importance of the ecosystem.

Interoperability of IBM Food Trust

From a data model perspective, Lim explained, “If we’re able to conform on the same data standards, it makes it easier for information to be shared by different networks and systems, platforms that are on blockchain and those that are not.”

Lim mentioned that the design of the interoperability of the solution is a more advanced kind of adoption; however, integration is more complex. “With the integration, we have to put in place interfaces, which are standard-based through APIs and companies that are looking to integrate with the IBM Food Trust solution can do so using those established APIs to be able to connect in, publish information, and retrieve information about the food supply chain.”

The IBM Food Trust has convened an advisory council made up of different parts of the ecosystem. As described by Lim, some parties are even competitors with each other. “The idea is to ensure that the principles are being followed very closely.”

Blockchain Startup Agriledger Launches Ecosystem of Transparency and Opportunity For Haitian Farmers

UK Tech Startup, Agriledger has launched a blockchain ecosystem for Haitian farmers to add transparency to the supply chain and create fairer product pricing for suppliers and retailers.

As reported by Spring Wise on Feb. 28, Agriledger’s system offers farmers in Haiti access to global markets and banks. The system fosters trust on both sides of the transaction, leading to fairer payments for farmers and piece of mind for consumers.

Benefits of a Blockchain Ecosystem

Leveraging blockchain technology, registered Haitian farmers are provided with a unique digital identification number, which makes the farmers key players in the supply chain, and gives them access to financial services, logistics, insurance and other services.

The farmers are also able to tokenize their products using Agriledger’s service, further enhancing their access to peer-to-peer dealings.

Blockchain features make the data on the platform inherently trustworthy, enhance the overall traceability and transparency of the supply chain and automates data reconciliation.The system, which includes a digital wallet for fast network payments, makes it is easier for farmers to get loans and access financial services.

Agriledger has announced plans to create a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) enabled marketplace. The planned service would include communications and an order management platform to ease transactions between food suppliers and retailers.

Haitians are also Trading Waste for Digital Tokens

While tokenizing can provide Haitian farmers with enhanced access to peer-to-peer finance, it is also being implemented in Haiti to encourage people to incorporate more environmentally friendly measures. The initiative offers tokenized compensation for disposing of waste in the right manner.

As reported by Blockchain.News, a Canadian company called Plastic Bank in operation in Haiti and Peru utilizes a blockchain solution to reduce the ecological damage caused by plastic waste.

The company has strategically located recycling centers where people take their waste, such as empty plastic water bottles, cups, and bags in exchange for digital tokens secured via a blockchain platform and can be redeemed for food or charging phones. All the plastic collected is then sold to a buyer for recycling purposes.

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Alibaba Integrates New Blockchain System With its E-Commerce Platform to Enhance Traceability

Alibaba has recently announced its integration of a full-link traceability blockchain system into its import e-commerce platform, Kaola. The Chinese e-commerce giant has previously acquired NetEase’s Kaola cross-border e-commerce platform in September 2019 for $2 billion.

Alibaba Group’s CEO previously said that the company is confident about the future of China’s import e-commerce market, “which we believe remains in its infancy with great growth potential.”

A report by Sina Finance explained that the integration of blockchain technology provided by Ant Financial will enable online consumers to find out the information of the goods and its logistics information through scanning an Alipay QR code.

Kaola will continue to utilize blockchain for platform merchants and overseas direct mail services, reaching over 60 countries and regions, with over 2,800 product types, including over 7,400 brands.

Alibaba stated that with the addition of blockchain technology, the e-commerce giant hopes to address the industry’s traditional pain points including tracking, lost goods, and logistics information.

Ant Financial has already been supplying its technology to over 200 financial institutions. Cheaper remittances from Hong Kong to the Philippines have also been witnessed as a result of using Ant Financial’s blockchain. A rice traceability project has also been enabled by the institution’s blockchain technology. In an event in Hangzhou held in 2019, Ant Financial VP Geoff Jiang said that distributed ledger technologies have progressed faster than forecasted. In the next two years, the firm expects commercialization to accelerate significantly.

Alipay, one of the most popular digital payment systems under China’s Alibaba group, officially stated that it has planned to ban all payment transactions related to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Last year, Alipay already banned all over-the-counter (OTC) trading accounts related to Bitcoin.

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