Walmart sets deadline for blockchain food traceability

Yesterday Walmart asked all suppliers of fresh leafy greens to implement blockchain traceability within a year. There’s a two-phase implementation with one step traceability required by the end of January. The Walmart Food Traceability Initiative is part of the IBM Food Trust network. The Food Trust network was first launched just over a year ago in association with Unilever and Nestlé.

The problem

So far this year there have been a couple of major food safety issues in the US. One was an E.Coli outbreak, and the other was Salmonella. As a result of E.Coli in romaine lettuce, five people died. Additionally, though the source was identified by region, it wasn’t sufficiently specific which meant the destruction of substantial quantities of lettuce unnecessarily. And consumers lost confidence in romaine lettuce. The confidence aspect might still be hard to address even with blockchain.

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