China’s Bright Food Group is using blockchain for importing food products into the country. The company launched ‘The Smart Chain’ platform with a focus on broad integration. Here the “Chain” in Smart Chain refers to the supply chain as opposed to blockchain.
The platform incorporates different industries and food products, as well as a variety of functions such as finance and information management solutions to allow buyers and sellers a one-stop service for trade activities.
Bright Food Group, owned by the Shanghai municipal government, is the second-largest China-based food company and had revenues of $19 billion in 2014. It is leveraging blockchain to simplify its overseas procurement channels, integrate supply chains for better visibility of the business and record distribution data in China.
“Through the establishment of The Smart Chain, we aim to facilitate simplified procedures for global buyers and sellers and accelerate the introduction of top-notch imported foods,” Bright Food CEO Liu Ping told China Daily.
The company has developed the solution in collaboration with IT services company eCOM Asia, and it’s powered by the latter’s Trade Platform and Registry Blockchain.
Hong Kong-based eCOM’s Trade Platform is a software layer and integration solution for cross border trade. It is not a blockchain platform.
On the other hand, the eCOM Registry is powered by blockchain. It aims to provide visibility of information across supply chains. But at the same time has typical permissioned access controls.
On the food traceability front, Walmart China and VeChain are working together to track and trace food products, especially meat. Australian BeefLedger aims to provide provenance for exports of beef to China. And in a novel blockchain application, Chinese chickens tagged with IoT devices can only be sold after a million steps to demonstrate they can move around in healthy living conditions.
