Blockchain for Lettuce
Lettuce.
Who’d’ve thought we’d all be afraid of some leaves. But it’s killed 5 people this year between the spring and winter outbreaks and hospitalized a whole bunch more, so it’s pretty serious business.
Which is why Walmart is taking it very seriously. And they’re turning to blockchain help manage future outbreaks. Food Logistics reports that Walmart required leafy green suppliers to “sign on to the technology” by next year. They’re looking to be able to reliable track and trace products so they can reliably pull compromised product.
However, there’s this snag in the plan: “However, the retailer doesn’t expect all suppliers to up to date before the deadline as some are still using paper records.” But if they get the blockchain up and rolling, products will be scanned during every step of the supply chain, so it can not only help Walmart pull product, but it can help health officials track the origins of outbreaks quicker, and therefore warn the public faster.
The FDA has even hired Walmart’s VP of food safety to help the US food industry adopt blockchain to enable farm to fork tracking.
Blockchain is coming. Major companies are seeing the writing on the wall about transparency and traceability and are already starting to implement it. So how do you? Well, you can check out our 2018 Annual Industry Report for tips, but we’ve also got a blockchain keynote lined up at ProMat for Monday, April 8. Registration is free, so why not join us?
