Blockchain to Increase Food Traceability Quality in Italy

The Politecnico di Milano has published a Smart Agrifood Observatory booklet detailing the significant impact of digital innovation on the food traceability process, efficiency and benefits of using blockchain and other innovative technologies for traceability, enhancing food quality and multiplying revenues, opportunities and problems provided by blockchain for product traceability in Italy.

Blockchain technology has the potential to keep track of every feed or substance that is used for consumption, and all the processes they have undergone, through all stages of the supply chain. Customers normally demand to know the origin of the product, the production processes involved, how these goods are transported, and blockchain-based firms need to triple their efforts to meet the high demands of their market.

Maximizing Consumer Satisfaction

The agriculture and food industry in Italy needs to trace products not only to respond to voluntary or mandatory legislation (Regulation 178/2002): the availability information can produce greater efficiency in supply developments, with effects - for instance - on enhancing inventory management, on tumbling food waste and fusing the chain relationships - in addition to creating new market opportunities. When blockchain is used to trace products, consumers will be able to get sensitive information concerning a certain good.

Futuristic technologies including blockchain enables the easy collection of a greater amount of data, while plummeting time, costs incurred, increase efficiency of supply chain processes, tumbling the leeway of error and tampering with the information, that could occur in a non-digitized system, improve data and information access to the final consumers, brings greater speed to identify the products and further reduce management costs of any blocks.

According to the Observatory, around 108 food companies have proposed more than 130 solutions for digital traceability. The solutions considered advanced combine identification and automatic data acquisition with a redesign of the processes among the key nodes of the supply chain.

Safety First

Last year, the use cases for blockchain in the food industry of Italy have grown significantly, majorly with the aim of propping the traceability developments. Blockchain promises security of data, increase transparency within the supply chain, improve the efficiency of data retrieving actions especially in serious circumstances for food safety, and this will ultimately play a big role in reducing the contamination of food and health risks that could occur to consumers. Safety of the ingredients applied in the nutrition goods produced for young babies will be guaranteed by over 90%.

However, in an effort to reinforce the supply chain processes, the legislators and other political groups including Five Star Movement, are pushing for critical distributed ledger technology legislations such that firms and businesses producing blockchain traceable products, to start using the national emblem “Stellone” and Made in Italy mark.

Source text:  https://it.coinidol.com/blockchain-alimenti-italia/