IBM‘s blockchain-based food supply chain revolution is here. From farm to table, IBM is launching their food traceability platform to provide retailers and wholesale food suppliers with IBM Food Trust.
The now commercially available blockchain product traces food through the supply change so vendors can recall any spoiled or contaminated products with ease and pinpoint flawed product origins. The solution-as-a-service cloud platform works to authenticate and certify the food industry’s offerings from top to bottom.
The platform is subscription-based and has plans with fees ranging from $100 per month all the way up to $10,000 for larger companies. France’s Carrefour supermarket giant has already signed up to use the blockchain technology to help track the food filling the shelves at more than 12 thousand locations across 33 countries.
This launch comes at a critical time in a devastatingly bear cryptocurrency market. IBM’s blockchain integration in a significant vertical like the food & beverage industry will help to reinforce distributed ledger technology (DLT) as a real-world, billion dollar solution. Other major companies testing out the platform are household names like Nestle, Driscoll, Unilever, Tyson Foods, Golden State Foods, Kroger, and Tyson Foods (just to name a few).
IBM leads the way in blockchain innovation, now tied for first place with Chinese e-commerce megalith Alibaba for most blockchain patents globally. IBM’s senior VP for Global Industries, Bridget van Kralingen talks about how the ecosystem was built and operates:
“We built the IBM Food Trust solution using IBM Blockchain Platform, which is a tool or capability that IBM has built to help companies build, govern and run blockchain networks. It’s built using Hyperledger Fabric (the open source digital ledger technology) and it runs on IBM Cloud.”
The Food Trust ecosystem is unique in its development and application standing out as the largest example blockchain adoption to date. The platform was in development for 18-months and has high scalability ready to accommodate food suppliers as large as Walmart.
Using blockchain to connect growers, processors, and distributors seamlessly creating unprecedented trustless industry-wide transparency. The software will help reduce waste and lower costs for all supply chain players.
This is not the only blockchain solution that IBM has up their sleeves. There is more to come from the tech institution. IBM boasts a $160M budget for blockchain and 1,600 employees working just on blockchain-related projects. With a robust development pipeline and major partners integrating products, IBM will continue to be a blockchain trailblazer.
