IBM and Coop to Use Blockchain Technology for Monitoring Food Supply Chain

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Coop and IBM began their partnership one year ago and announced the result of their alliance today with the introduction of “Call of Ideas.” Call of Ideas has been dedicated to the blockchain application technology, food chain, and specifically to the production of Made in Italy brand eggs.

Blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT), will be used for tracking organic eggs and several other Agrifood products in Italy. The leading companies will strive to make use of disruptive technologies to boost the safety of food and enhance people’s standard of living. The system is linked to Hyperledger Fabric and permits complete transparency and visibility of scores of players in the supply chain and now includes a whopping 2 million hens.

The developed solution relies on Hyperledger Fabric, which is a framework of the Linux Foundation. It allows total transparency and visibility of various players having involvement in the production chain of Coop brand eggs with approximately 2 million hens. They get massive 200 million eggs every year.

The consumer will get the option of scanning the QR code displayed on the package and enter the particular code of the lot. They can find out the history of the product and return from point to sale to the breeding. They will be able to find out not only the territory from which eggs come but also the incubator as well from which the hen was born.

Consumers will also be able to confirm that the eggs are produced by conforming to animal welfare standards, without using antibiotics, and without caging. These details will be certified by third-party companies and highlights compliance with the laws and other requirements set by Coop Italia.

Using blockchain in the supply of egg network is the latest step in the process of transparency that will differentiate Italian food products like fruits, carrots, milk, palm oils, and also highlights the correct practices related to eggs.

Coop has emerged as the popular system of Italian consumers’ cooperatives that runs the largest supermarket chain in Italy.