Italian and French food firms join IBM Food Trust to implement blockchain tracing technology

Gruppo Grigi has reached an agreement with IBM Food Trust for Aliveris brand pasta to use IBM Food Trust to trace the provenance of their pasta, which is made from 100% organic Italian wheat using non-GMO soybeans, and was produced in facilities using the traditional bronze drawn method of forming the pasta shape. Aliveris is distributed by Food Italiae, the food unit of Gruppo Grigi.

The IBM Food Trust platform will enable Gruppo Grigi to connect its entire ecosystem of producers, suppliers, and retailers throughout the food chain. The initiative is part of a collaboration agreement between IBM Food Trust and the agri-food division of Gruppo Grigi to use blockchain technology built on IBM Cloud to trace the provenance of products, starting with Aliveris brand organic pasta. It is anticipated that further of the group’s products will be added later.

IBM Business Partner Sas informatica will manage the data migration of the product information and integrate Food Trust into the production process. The blockchain network is permissioned, allowing precise control over who is authorized to have access to the various information stored on the blockchain. Consumers can access information that will tell the story of the product, but only permissioned parties will be able to add and check information based on their role in the supply chain. This will make it possible to assign the responsibilities of what data will be entered in a clear and immutable way and to manage events in near real time.

IBM’s Food Trust will validate organic pasta’s entire supply chain, including the origin of organic durum wheat seeds, the controlled crops, the selected farmers, and characteristics of conservation areas, and details about its transport on to the final consumer. Upon its expected completion this year, the Gruppo Grigi participation will mean that existing IBM Food Trust partners will also have access to this product provenance data, enabling them to provide their own consumers with information about choosing a certified organic pasta.

In related news, IBM and French food purveyor Labeyrie have announced that Labeyrie will use IBM Food Trust to enhance the traceability information available this month of two of its packages of Norwegian smoked salmon: Norwegian Polar Circle Great Origin Smoked Salmon and Norwegian Smoked Salmon. The IBM Food Trust blockchain solution will enable consumers to access a record of the entire quality assurance process for the salmon they consume. Post launch, blockchain traceability will be extended to all Labeyrie smoked salmon ranges.

Labeyrie has made the provenance of certain salmon stocks public though its partnership with Cermaq, a salmon farmer supplying farmed salmon throughout the world. The information will be stored in a tamper resistant, permissioned blockchain operated by IBM Food Trust.

Consumers can access a given batch’s product history by scanning the QR code printed on the product packaging, which will take them directly to the dedicated application. Consumers then provide the annotated batch number on the product to access data uploaded by the aquaculture farm, as well as data about how the salmon was prepared and smoked in Labeyrie’s factory in Les Landes, France.

Labeyrie thus provides, on two of the brand’s smoked salmon varieties, all the information on the species, origin, and farming conditions in Norway (data which includes density, feeding regimen, and duration) and preparation in its factory in France (information which includes cutting stages and smoking) as well as details about each brand’s respective supply chain commitments.

Gruppo Grigi

Labeyrie press release (French)