Swiss-based food retail giant Nestle declared a new initiative to track its supply chain using the Blockchain Technology, as per the press release shared on July 2.
The company has initiated this project with OpenSC, a blockchain platform, to build a distributed ledger system that will be separate and different from the firm's ongoing project with IBM Food Trust Blockchain. OpenSC started by teaming up with the WWF-Australia and global corporate venture BCG Digital Ventures in January.
The project will operate for the next six months, and its success will be measured based on the “feasibility, viability and scalability of the system,” and also how well the system verifies data, said one Nestle representative. As soon as it is out, the service might involve a QR code, mobile app, and web portal.
Nestle also says that with the launch of this project, it becomes the first “major food and beverage company to announce that it will pilot open blockchain technology in this way.” Because of the OpenSC platform, Customers will finally have access to independently verifiable sustainability and supply chain data.
The firm's pilot program will monitor milk from farms and producers in New Zealand to the company's factories and warehouses in the Middle East. The company also has a purpose of testing palm oil sourced in the American continent. The firm's primary goal is to determine whether the system is scalable or not.
Magdi Batato, Nestlé Executive Vice President, said in a statement, “We want our consumers to make an informed decision on their choice of products – to choose products produced responsibly. Open blockchain technology might allow us to share reliable information with consumers in an accessible way.”
The data will be gathered in each step of the value chain and recorded for an open platform. The firm has the goal to collect data from different monitoring systems like satellite imaging of farms, as per the Nestlé’s Representative.
“With the open platform, any update or change made in the system can be seen by all users as it retains the original data, which cannot be deleted,” the firm said.
Nestle began its Blockchain Technology journey in 2017. It was one of the few leading food and retailers which have collaborated with the IBM Food Trust in 2017 to explore how Blockchain technology can enhance the food ecosystem.
In April 2019, the firm gave access to the blockchain data for the first time via Mousline puree in France. After teaming up with Carrefour, consumers were able to track any product in Nestlé’s factory in northern France to Carrefour stores.
The latest merger with OpenSC marks that its first-time users will be able to monitor their food from the farm using Blockchain Technology.
Benjamin Ware, who is the global head of responsible sourcing, Nestle S.A., said, "This open blockchain technology will allow anyone, anywhere in the world to assess our responsible sourcing facts and figures."
