Sam’s Club, a China-based subsidiary of Walmart, has partnered with blockchain-based supply chain management platform VeChain (VET) to trace food products sold by the shopping chain. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) will assist in the Sam’s Club Blockchain Traceability Platform project, which is intended to both ensure food safety and afford greater transparency to consumers in China. Since mid-2019 PwC China and Walmart China have been developing a traceability platform on the VeChain blockchain called the Walmart China Blockchain Traceability Platform. Sam’s Club has 2.5 million customers Sam’s Club is a membership-only high-end shopping chain that operates 26 outlets in China with an …

COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc, with United States meat producers being the latest victims of the pandemic in a “cascading series of events,” including shutting down of the food service sector, universities and school lunch programs, all likely to impact millions of Americans. Meat processing plants around the U.S., which emerged as the world’s epicenter of the pandemic, have seen huge outbreaks of COVID-19, as the virus has spread quickly among workers crammed in close quarters, often without recommended protective gear. “After the outbreak was announced in the U.S., we never stopped working,” a meatpacking employee said. He continued: “I …

Kentucky Fried Chicken has rolled out a blockchain pilot program across the Middle East aimed at improving digital advertising and media buying. KFC Middle East expects the blockchain-powered platform to ensure greater transparency in the advertising supply chain, news publication AMEinfo reported on April 29. By deploying the platform, the company also looks to address issues like security and privacy of advertisers, publishers and consumers. Making ads data transparent on a shared database The pilot aims to show how blockchain can help improve data processing, increase the brand’s visibility and penetration, and optimize advertising revenue. Additionally, KFC hopes to resolve …

Bahrain-based tech startup MVC Global and logistics firm Cox Logistics Group will jointly launch a so-called SmartHub logistics warehouse to improve the distribution of pharmaceuticals across the Gulf Cooperation Council. The blockchain logistics warehouse platform will provide built-in Track & Trace and IoT sensors and a smart contracts-based SmartPass feature geared to ensure compliance with customs clearances, Gulf Today reported on April 27. Additionally, users can deploy the platform for supply chain finance and international payments settlements. The developers claim that the SmartHub is able to speed up and improve both cold and non-cold storage distribution of food products and …

Dole Food Company, the world’s largest producer of fruit and vegetables, has revealed a five-year plan to expand its adoption of distributed ledger technology, or DLT, for supply chain tracking. Dole’s blockchain expansion was announced in its 2020 Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Report. Dole first began to explore DLT after joining IBM’s Food Trust as a founding member in 2017. Dole to launch DLT tracing in all divisions by 2025 The report announces that Dole will comprehensively overhaul its food tracing systems, including the goal of integrating blockchain-based product-tagging and advanced traceability solutions into all of its divisions by 2025. …

Farmer’s Hen House, an egg grading and distribution company that works with local farmers in Iowa, has partnered with blockchain-based food traceability company, Bytable. As of April 15, Farmer’s Hen House eggs are sold in cartons featuring QR-codes that allow consumers to trace the origins and supply chain underpinning the produce. The blockchain-based data repository will include information regarding what day the eggs were picked and from what farm, where they were packed, and information regarding each farmer and their certifications. Ethical egg company embraces blockchain The egg company emphasized that they hope to bridge the gap between farmers and …

Global implementation of blockchain technology in the food industry continues to grow as the world’s biggest food and beverage company, Nestlé, doesn’t put its blockchain efforts on hold. On April 6, Nestlé announced that the company is expanding its long-running IBM Food Trust blockchain technology platform to its coffee brand Zoégas. Getting all necessary coffee info from blockchain database With this new implementation, Zoégas coffee lovers will now be able to trace select coffee editions back to different origins in Brazil, Rwanda and Colombia, the company said. Additionally, consumers will be able to access some relevant coffee information including time …

IBM Food Trust blockchain platform has onboarded one more French manufacturer seeking to enhance transparency of product provenance and supply chain. The Avril Group, a vegetable oil, eggs and protein manufacturer, and the owner of brands Matines and Lesieur, has begun using IBM Food Trust network to ensure traceability of its products, according to a Feb. 4 press release. Improving corporate social responsibility and customer experience By applying blockchain, the Avril Group expects to make improvements in its corporate social responsibility, especially when it comes to sectors such as quality livestock and the consideration of animal welfare. Matines is looking …

Big Four audit firm KPMG has officially launched a blockchain-based track and trace platform in Australia, China and Japan. Dubbed KPMG Origins, the tool is designed to increase transparency and traceability of processes in multiple industries such as agriculture, manufacturing and financial services, the firm announced on Nov. 28. The official launch of KPMG Origins in Australia, China and Japan comes after successful pilot implementations with clients in those countries, the press release notes. Trial participants include Cane Growers and SunRice Incorporating a number of emerging technologies like blockchain and the Internet of Things, KPMG Origin intends to improve supply …

An ice cream shop in Berlin’s trendy Friedrichshain district has revealed that a chat with an unknown “super nice” guy spurred them to spearhead Bitcoin adoption with the local crowd. That unknown guy turned out to have been the legendary Bitcoin (BTC) evangelist and educator Andreas Antonopoulos, as a Nov. 21 Twitter thread from the retailer, “Chipi Chipi Bombón,” revealed. Andreas Antonopoulos spreads knowledge Everything began in a local burger bar. “We started accepting Bitcoin in June of this year. At Room 77 I met a guy who was super nice & explained to me all the basics about Bitcoin …

Salmon farming company Cermaq and smoked salmon producer Labeyrie began using IBM’s cloud blockchain technology to trace their product supply chains. Cermaq announced the development in a Nov. 20 press release, revealing that it cooperated with Labeyrie and IBM’s blockchain platform IBM Food Trust to enable customers to get information about the salmon value chain. All Cermaq salmon products now come with a CV and QR-code, so consumers can check details such as: “... [fish] origin, when it was hatched, which fresh water facility it came from, how big it was when it was transferred to seawater, at which sea …

Retail giants Carrefour and Nestlé are now using IBM’s Food Trust blockchain platform to track the supply chain of milk-based formula for infants, according to a Nov. 14 announcement. By using the platform, the firms aim to advance consumer confidence in the products’ quality by ensuring more transparency of the entire supply chain of formulas produced by Laboratoires Guigoz. The system aims to improve supply chain transparency and conduct checks of infant nutrition products’ origins. Implementation of blockchain-based tracking systems by retail giants Both Carrefour and Nestlé are not new to the application of blockchain in their internal processes. The …