May/June 2020 - 21

TRACEABIL ITY
FOOD SAFETY
How blockchain is coming along
SINCE IBM FOOD TRUST WAS INTRODUCED,
ANOTHER BLOCKCHAIN FORMAT HAS DEBUTED
But what
By Zeke Jennings
Managing Editor
BLOCKCHAIN WAS QUITE A buzz
word in recent years as cryptocurrencies,
like Bitcoin, began to draw attention
from the masses.
The hype around cryptocurrency
and whether it was about to take off
as the new way of bartering has faded,
misconceptions of what blockchain is
and what it can be used for are still
out there.
In short, blockchain and cryptocurrency
are not the same thing. The latter is
built on blockchain technology, but the
technology itself can be used to track
anything of value, including food.
In 2017, Walmart, then led by current
Food & Drug Administration Deputy
Director Frank Yiannas, headed up a
collaboration with IBM that included
produce giants Dole and Driscoll,
among others, to create a blockchain
traceability platform: the IBM Food
Trust.
The IBM Food Trust acts as sort of
a centralized database, or " a digital
ledger system, " as culinary scientist
Ali Bouzari said on IBM's website.
The more farms, shippers, packers,
processors and stores that are part of
the blockchain, the faster food can be
traced, at least that's the idea. Yiannas
has said tests have traced food from
the store back to the farm in as little
as 2.2 seconds.
Each handler along the supply line
scans the produce, or whatever form
of food it may be, as it moves through
the supply chain. Each company's
data becomes part of the blockchain
in chronological order. As Natalie
Dyenson, vice president of food safety
and quality at Dole, said during United
Fresh 2019, the blockchain is safe
because outside companies can only
see data you allow them to see.
if a company along
the supply chain isn't part of the
blockchain? Well, tracing food doesn't
happen as fast or as smoothly.
IBM Food Trust isn't the only
blockchain food traceability platform
currently available in the U.S.
iTradeNetwork, a logistics and supply
chain technology firm,
Trade Item Number (GTIN) is created,
it allows companies along the supply
chain to see one step away (i.e., a
distribution center knows the shipper
it got the product from and also the
store it was sent to).
" PTI framework covers the
introduced
iTrade Blockchain last year. Rene
Cardenas, iTradeNetwork's VP, Head
of Marketing & Strategic Planning, said
the platform can interact with other
platforms, but isn't at the current time.
" iTrade Blockchain operates as a
distinct solution in that we oversee it and
populate it with data we capture across
our native traceability, procurement,
quality management and logistics
applications, " said Cardenas, " However,
it was built using the hyperledger
open source framework, so that our
blockchain could be interoperable and
able to share information with other
blockchains, whether that's IBM Food
Trust or others.
" We always keep open lines of
communication with fellow providers
and welcome conversations about
collaborating. "
PTI provides the framework
Gary Fleming, CEO of data and
analytics provider Dapicon, recently
hosted a webinar, titled " An Alternative
to Blockchain, " which is available on
the company's website.
Fleming said food producers and
shippers using a Produce Traceability
Initiative (PTI)-compliant tracking
and labeling system already have
everything in place to satisfy FDA
traceability requirements.
PTI was created by the Produce
Marketing Association (PMA), United
Fresh Produce Association and supply
chain technology firm GS1 a little
more than decade ago. When a Global
responsibility and reach of each supply
chain member, " Fleming said. " But any
solution is troubled by less than 100%
implementation. "
Not every food producer is utilizing
is an industry-created
PTI, as it
guideline, not a federal regulation. A
year ago, PMA Vice president of Supply
Chain and Sustainability Ed Treacy said
60-65% of all cases in the U.S. supply
chain had PTI-compliant labeling.
While Treacy didn't give a numerical
figure to the percentage now, he did
say it has likely gone up substantially
because of Kroger telling its suppliers
they must be PTI-compliant. Walmart
did so in 2013.
" Other major retailers will have
and will be requesting PTI labeling
compliance in the next few months
in support of the new Canadian
regulat ions and the scheduled
September 2020 release FDA's
proposed Record Keeping for Foods
rule, " Treacy added.
Fleming noted that
absolute
transparency, like being able to track a
piece of fruit to tree, isn't realistic, even
with blockchain, because of the cost of
serializing every piece of produce. At
the other end, unless a market and its
customers utilize a frequent shopper
platform that tracks purchases, it's
impossible to know which refrigerator
a product winds up in.
Whether blockchain or any supply
chain tracking system, Fleming said
accuracy is the most important part
of traceability.
" A solution is only as good as those
who participate, " he said.
PRODUCE PROCESS ING
21
May/June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May/June 2020
