A new approach to traceability uses blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT) to help provide transparency, efficiency and safety across the entire food supply chain.
“The system can be used in feed mills, farms, hatcheries, broiler farms, slaughterhouses and for the processing,” Sharmeen Khan, chief marketing officer, OpsSmart Global, said during the Virtual Poultry Tech Summit 2020.
Blockchain, AI and IoT are three forms of digital technology poised to help the poultry industry solve a variety of current and future challenges, ranging from food safety, workforce challenges, interruptions to the supply chain and more.
In this case, the three technologies work together to create a traceable and transparent ledger that permanently records each transaction along the supply chain.
The approach could offer many benefits, including increased market share, improvement to brand loyalty and operational efficiency, an enhanced product quality, reduced IT expenditure and more efficient and seamless audits.
How consumers would use it
Consumers are increasingly interested in how their food is made and the culture behind a product or company.
“Consumers have become very aware of the food supply, in large part because of COVID-19. They want to know where things are coming from,” Khan explained.
Scanning a barcode can tell consumers if there has been a reported foodborne illness, where the food was grown and verify that it is free of any possible allergens.
“In a grocery store, the client walks in, sees the package of chicken and they would scan a code. When they scan the code, they would see the name of the product, the name of the company, how much it weighed, was it a male chicken, was it organic, the name of the farm, the farmer that grew the chicken,” said Khan.
The information is customizable, so companies could include recipes, coupons or any other data they would like to share with consumers
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