IBM, Walmart are Considering Rolling out the First Blockchain-Based Food Security Solution

US-based Walmart Inc., one of the world's biggest retail corporations, has purportedly been creating a Blockchain-based food security program in collaboration with IBM. Walmart will need all of its outlets which supply leafy green vegetables to note down their sales info on its proprietary Blockchain-activated solution by September next year (one year from now).

Advocates of Blockchain believe that lettuce and other products carried on a supply chain can be easily traceable and the transactions engaged can be more smooth if registered on Blockchain technology.   

The Combined Efforts   

Walmart and IBM have been concentrating on creating Blockchain-based supply chain management software for over a year. Several Blockchain technology experts believe that digitizing legacy supply chains is one of the positive use cases for distributed ledger technology (DLT).   

Remarking on the food safety program, Bridget Van Kralingen, Senior Vice President for IBM's Global Industries and Blockchain, revealed:   

“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.”   

Tracking Infected Food Sources in a Blink of an Eye   

Shifting the food tracking process to a DLT-based supply chain can minimize the time needed to recognize the food source from a week to 2.2 seconds, according to Walmart. Obviously, this would enable firms to track damaged and infected food before being sold to customers.   

One challenge with a DLT solution could be that users might not be informed on how to handle data using the modern technology. Nevertheless, Molly Blakeman, a Walmart representative revealed that the only thing people will be needed of them to do is to upload data to their Blockchain technology network.   

Molly explained:   

“IBM will offer an onboarding system that orients users with the service easily. Think about when you get a new iPhone ... the instructions are easy to understand and you’re quickly up and running. That’s the aim here. Essentially, suppliers will need a smart device and internet to participate.”