An Exploration of Blockchain-based Traceability in Food Supply Chains: On the Benefits of Distributed Digital Records from Farm to Fork

Abstract

There are growing internal and external pressures for traceability in food supply chains due to food scandals. Traceability refers to tracking food from the consumer back to the farm and vice versa for quality control and management. However, many traceability solutions have failed to meet the needs of supply chain stakeholders. Blockchain is a novel distributed database technology that could solve some issues of traditional traceability systems, such as cost of adoption and vulnerabilities to hacking and data tampering. This study aims to gain insights on the benefits of applying blockchain technology for traceability in food supply chains through literature review and an investigation of five companies that are experimenting with blockchain-based food traceability. Our findings suggest that, upon implementation and contribution by all supply chain participants, blockchain-based traceability can provide cost-savings, reduced response time to food scandals and food-borne illness outbreaks, improved security and accuracy, better compliance with government regulations, and thus increase consumer trust.