What’s the blockchain hype about?

Because of the ever-increasing incidence of fraudulent food practices, industry standards bodies have clamped down on food fraud with the implementation of standards – such as BRC V8, in February this year, as well as a brand-new FSSC 22000 V5, to be published in May.

As a result, food companies are reassessing their systems; and in the technological era, the use of blockchain technology as a potential solution to system improvements should be an obvious option.

Blockchain is a type of ledger that facilitates the process of recording transactions and tracing assets in a business. The information that is shared between parties cannot be altered, thus creating space for an inventory of data that is totally secure, yet also transparent. Read more …

Blockchain could be useful in the following applications:

• Decreasing response time in detecting the cause of food-safety incidents
• Preventing fraudulent activities via streamlined traceability
• Efficient payment to suppliers and increased transparency

That said, why hasn’t blockchain created more of a stir? And why aren’t more companies engaging in the use of this technology? Perhaps it’s because of possible limitations to the use of blockchain in the food industry – including the risk of IP being compromised, and the fact that only a limited amount of data can be processed on the system.

To determine if blockchain is suited to a specific facility, one would have to carefully consider what benefits (and what potential problems) it brings to trying to prevent the occurrence of food safety and fraud incidents.