Farm To Table? Check The Blockchain

Food giants are betting on digital ledgers to speed recalls and improve accountability

- Luzi-Ann Javier

Did the chicken you buy at the supermarket have a nice life, roam free, and eat healthy grains? If you’re the kind of person who cares, Carrefour SA, the big French grocery chain, has the bird for you. Every chicken it sells under its house brand can serve up its own life story, thanks to the wonders of blockchain software. All you need to do for the deets is scan the label with your smartphone.

This is the same technology that serves as the backbone of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The grocery giant isn’t just trying to appeal to discriminating foodies. It wants to do whatever it can to ensure its products aren’t tainted, part of a broader industry trend espousing the as-yet-unproven promise that blockchain can improve food safety.

Nestlé, Dole Food, Unilever, and Tyson Foods are working with their biggest customer, Walmart, to implement a blockchain platform built by International Business Machines Corp. Kroger and JD.com, China’s second- largest e-commerce operator, are also using the IBM platform. Carrefour developed its own system in-house. “Blockchain will do for food traceability what the internet did for communication,” says Frank Yiannas, vice president for food safety and health at Walmart Inc.