Today, TE-FOOD said that Vietnam’s largest dairy company Vinamilk is using TE-FOOD’s blockchain traceability solution to track and trace its Organic Milk product.
This is the second product the company has brought onto blockchain, after a successful implementation of TE-FOOD’s solution for its infant formula product Vinamilk Organic Gold.
Consumers shopping for these Vinamilk products can use a mobile app to verify their provenance. Every carton of Organic Milk will have a unique QR code which can be scanned by consumers to see the details regarding the product. User can view details such as where the milk came from, nutrition facts, information regarding ingredients, certifications, as well as events such as how much time the herd spent on the field or showering.
TE-FOOD said the most significant challenge it faced was printing unique QR codes on each milk carton given the scale.
Milk is notoriously difficult to trace because it’s invariably sourced from numerous farms but stored together and ultimately can be mixed. In response to our query TE-FOOD said that organic milk was chosen because it was all sourced from Vinamilk’s own farms. Traceability for hundreds of external farms for normal milk might be trickier.
Details regarding the product are stored on TE-FOOD’s Foodchain, which is built on Hyperledger. The company is not a blockchain firm but has developed the system to add to its portfolio of food traceability solutions. Although the firm is not Asian it has a strong presence in Vietnam in particular, where it launched its first blockchain solution for pig traceability.
TE-FOOD’s has entered several deals for blockchain food traceability in the past few months. Swiss supermarket Migros is using TE-FOOD’s blockchain solution for fruits and vegetables.
The firm is also working with French retailer Auchan for its pig farming supply chain, and with multiple Canadian brewers for beer traceability. Earlier this year, TE-FOOD offered governments a free blockchain traceability solution to contain the African Swine Fever (ASF).
Nestle and IBM Food Trust are probably the most prominent players in blockchain food traceability. Professional services provider EY is also looking at blockchain to track and trace frozen foods.
