A private Indian firm Srijan Technologies is funding a blockchain study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Delhi. The project aims to trace honey in a bid to eliminate the problem of impurities and illegal additives.
Indian honey has a reputation for being contaminated and previously has been prohibited from being imported by the U.S. and E.U. In 2010, the E.U. banned Indian honey altogether, citing the use of antibiotics in production and lead contamination.
Srijan is building a blockchain-enabled honey traceability platform to study the honey supply chain from bee farm to the retailer. The IIT study identified problem areas like the addition of different honey, feeding the bees sugar, mislabeling and masking the geographical origin of honey.
“India’s honey entering into U.K. and E.U .has been under the scanner for adulteration and presence of antibiotics such as ‘streptomycin’… If importers and consumers around the world are able to trust the quality of the honey they are consuming, grassroot bee-keepers and bee-collectors get better rates,” Rahul Dewan, COO of Srijan Technologies told local daily Indian Express.
Elaborating on the rationale of the study, Kavya Dashora, the principal investigator of the project, said, “This is a business that runs on trust. Honey either comes from the wild or from apiaries. The produce can then travel through a number of hands and this is where the chance of adulteration is highest. A blockchain ledger records transactions at every stage of the value chain.”
Two months ago, Oracle announced a partnership with the World Bee Project (WBP) to introduce blockchain to the honey supply chain.
IBM Food Trust also has a presence in India and earlier this year said it was working on using blockchain to reduce food wastage in the country.
