North America’s largest branded shelf-stable seafood firm Bumble Bee Foods has launched a blockchain platform for seafood traceability. The project was created in collaboration with German tech company SAP specializing in enterprise software, according to a press release on March 8. Based on SAP Cloud Platform Blockchain service, the new platform can purportedly monitor the supply chain of yellowfin tuna from Indonesia to end customers. The announcement was made at the annual industry conglomerate South by Southwest Conference (SXSW) that is taking place from March 8 to March 17 in Austin, Texas, United States. Customers will purportedly be able to …

French retail giant Carrefour has continued blockchain development by applying the technology for tracking milk, according to a press release published on March 1. Starting from March, the retail giant is gradually rolling out its new blockchain-powered product, Carrefour Quality Line (CQL) micro-filtered full-fat milk. CQL is touted to guarantee consumers complete product traceability across the entire supply chain — from farmers to the store shelves. With CQL, consumers will be able to see the GPS coordinates of farmers whose animals’ milk was collected, get information about when the milk was collected and packaged, as well as find out about …

IBM has released its blockchain main net out of its data center located in Melbourne, Australia. This will purportedly allow their customers to run their applications on the company's cloud, according to an article published on news outlet ZDNet on Feb 11. The IBM platform was built on Hyperledger Fabric. Hyperledger is a project that aims to improve cross-industry blockchain technologies that is hosted by the Linux Foundation. A Sydney-based IBM data center is reportedly set to open at the end of March, joining the other centers in Tokyo, London, Dallas, São Paulo, and Toronto. The head of blockchain for …

The Food and Drug Administration of the Chinese Chongqing Yuzhong District is going to apply blockchain technology to its operations, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, The People’s Daily, reports on Jan. 31. Blockchain will purportedly be applied by the agency to strengthen the supervision of food and drug quality assurance with better traceability of the product life cycle and anti-counterfeiting measures. Deng Ke, the CEO of PrimeNumber Chain Technology Chengdu Co., Ltd — the company that developed the blockchain which will be used by the system — said that the system will not only help improve the …

IBM is continuing its foray into blockchain trade management, completing a new trial which shipped 108,000 mandarin oranges to Singapore, a press release confirmed on Jan. 31. IBM, which is focusing on speeding up efficiency in multiple trade environments, used the technology to reduce paperwork handling and costs for the shipment, which originated in China. Singapore is importing a significant quantity of mandarins ahead of the lunar new year. Transit was handled by Pacific International Lines (PIL) using an electronic version of the Bill of Lading (e-BL), an essential trade document, processed on the blockchain. “A blockchain-based trade network will …

World Wildlife Fund-Australia (WWF-Australia) has announced the launch of a supply chain tool that uses blockchain to allow businesses and consumers to track food items, according to a tweet today, Jan. 17. The platform, dubbed OpenSC, is the product of a partnership between WWF-Australia and BCG Digital Ventures (BCGDV) — the global corporate venture, investment and incubation arm of United States-based Boston Consulting Group. According to a post on the WWF site, the system allows both businesses to track products they produce, and consumers to view the origins of said products via a “unique blockchain code at the product’s point …

2018 has witnessed a steady increase in the number of food manufacturers and retailers using blockchains to enhance their operations. From tracking the quality of food to facilitating international trades in grain, blockchain technology has been turning up repeatedly in recent months; and while many deployments of such tech have been conducted on a trial basis, a growing number have been implemented permanently. However, as much as it now seems that blockchains are becoming a familiar feature of the food industry, they aren’t an infallible solution to every problem it faces. Even though many blockchains will provide an 'immutable' and …

American fast food chain Church’s Chicken has started accepting payments in cryptocurrency Dash (DASH) at its locations in Venezuela, according to an official Facebook announcement on Dec. 12. According to Dash News, the cryptocurrency is accepted in all 10 restaurant locations in Venezuela. Dash has also completed its first transaction at Church’s Chicken and uploaded a video of the event on its official YouTube channel. The restaurant claims to be the first global fast food chain to accept payments in crypto. The announcement from Church’s chicken follows some confusion regarding the acceptance of Dash at major fast food vendors in …

Australia’s National Transport Insurance (NTI) has announced it will trial a blockchain system to improve supply chain integrity for beef exports abroad. The trial was reported by local transport industry magazine Fully Loaded ATN on Dec. 10. NTI will reportedly be partnering with BeefLedger, an Australian “integrated provenance, blockchain security and payments platform,” which combines blockchain with Internet of Things (IoT) technology to bolster product credentials across the supply chain. NTI and Beefledger’s pilot will use the system to track the provenance and production of Australian beef exports to Shanghai, from their rearing on South Australia’s Limestone Coast to a …

Global retail giant Auchan is expanding TE-FOOD’s blockchain solution to improve the transparency of products’ history, U.S.-based news agency Cision PRWeb reports today, Dec. 4. The French retail group, which is reportedly the 13th largest food retailer globally with operations in 17 countries, has extended TE-FOOD’s FoodChain solution to five more countries. FoodChain is the international traceability information ledger by TE-FOOD, first applied by Auchan in its Vietnam branch. After a 18-month test of TE-FOOD’s blockchain tool in Vietnam, Auchan has now decided to deploy the products’ traceability solution in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Senegal. The blockchain-powered retail monitoring …

A Swiss food manufacturer has become the “first” in Europe to use the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain to track fish products, a press release confirmed Nov. 28. Gustav Gerig AG, which has operated since 1923, partnered with global tuna marketing company Pacifical c.v. to allow clients to certify the origin of its tuna range using blockchain technology. Tins in the range will soon sport a QR code that consumers can scan in order to find out information such as the production date, type of tuna, and even the boat used to catch it. The blockchain implementation is being provided by Thailand-based …

Retail giant Carrefour, headquartered in France and operating in more than 30 countries, is deploying a blockchain food tracking platform based on Hyperledger in its Spanish network, a press release states Tuesday, Nov. 20. The food tracking solution, initially developed by U.S. tech corporation IBM, will be used to track free-range chickens branded as “Calidad y Origen” (“Quality and Origin”) that were raised in the northern region of Galicia without antibiotic treatment. Each package in the Spanish network will be marked by a QR code providing detailed info on the chicken’s date of birth, type of nutrition, packing date, and …