In late 2018, the French retail giant, Carrefour, became the first company to use blockchain technology for European food tracing. The company has now extended its services, that initially only covered chicken and tomatoes, to include its newest product to be added to blockchain: Carrefour Quality Line (CQL) fresh micro-filtered full-fat milk.
Starting in March 2019, customers will be able to use their mobile phones to trace CQL milk across its entire supply chain.
They will be able to check whether the milk lives up to its marketing or not. They will be able to check if the cows are fed GMO-free food and reared on modestly sized farms utilizing the best practices.
Also, the customers will be able to see at which farm the milk was produced, at what time the milk was packaged and when it was placed on the shelves to export. They can even check the GPS coordinates of the farm location.
Food traceability is what seems to be becoming an important aspect of Carrefour Quality Line. In 2018, the firm joined IBM’s Food Trust network. Not only that, they even joined several high profile companies including Driscoll’s, Dole, Kroger, Golden State Foods, McLane Company, McCormick and Company, Tyson Foods, Nestlé, Walmart and Unilever.
Carrefour is not the only retailer that has put food traceability as a high priority. Last year, Walmart also had asked all its leafy green vegetable customer to adopt Food Trust of IBM following multiple E. Coli outbreaks in the US.
Another French retailer, Auchan, is also working with startup TE-FOOD for tracking organic carrots, chicken and potatoes supply chains. Even Albert Heijin is using blockchain to trace orange juice in the Netherlands.
On March 26 or 27, Hanson Wade will run a conference, Blockchain for the Food & Beverage Supply Chain in San Francisco, with a media partner Ledger Insights.
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