{"id":28362,"date":"2018-11-12T11:51:38","date_gmt":"2018-11-12T16:51:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/is-the-future-of-food-blockchain\/"},"modified":"2018-11-12T19:14:22","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T00:14:22","slug":"is-the-future-of-food-blockchain","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/is-the-future-of-food-blockchain\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the Future of Food Blockchain?"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_28434\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28434\" style=\"width: 3907px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/Lettuce-Picture.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-28434 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/Lettuce-Picture.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"3907\" height=\"2198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/Lettuce-Picture.jpg 3907w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/Lettuce-Picture-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/Lettuce-Picture-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/Lettuce-Picture-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/Lettuce-Picture-600x338.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 3907px) 100vw, 3907px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-28434\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by PH\u00daC LONG on Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It seems like every week there is a new food scare. Each time, grocers like Walmart pull all related products out of the shelves: \u201cGuilty until proven innocent\u201d according to Frank Yiannas, President of Food Safety at Walmart [1]. Only after the implicated product is found will the safe products be put back. This requires tracing back the exact origin of the food and each touch point in the supply chain. For a cup of cut mangos, that took 6.5 days. By which time a lot of the pulled food will have spoiled, and consumers have lost trust in the grocer and the product.<\/p>\n<p><em><u>A solution in sight<\/u><\/em><\/p>\n<p>As a solution to this Walmart and IBM are working together using Blockchain software called IBM Food Trust. According to IBM: \u201cThe solution provides authorized users with immediate access to actionable food supply chain data, from farm to store and ultimately the consumer. The complete history and current location of any food item along with its accompanying information (i.e. certifications, test data, temperature data) can be readily available in seconds.\u201d [2]. The way it works is that each member organization of the supply chain has a ledger with their transaction information on the blockchain network. When a piece of permissioned information is entered into the chain, other computers in the network are notified, thereby keeping a single \u201ctrue\u201d record and making falsifying information extremely hard to do.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Food Safety and Blockchain: Trust Through Transparency\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CYJILzRKJmQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This will allow Walmart to track food in seconds rather than in days. This plays into two key strategies Walmart is pursuing: bolstering its digital savvy and emphasizing the quality of its fresh food to customers. [3] Critics have wondered whether this is anything more than a PR move to play into the hype surrounding blockchain, but Yiannas points out, the food system is absolutely too large for a single entity to track, but blockchain changes everything.<\/p>\n<p><figure style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.corporate.walmart.com\/5b\/d5\/367957534ffaac2a70569905e996\/blockchain-infographic-v2-tracing.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"272\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">[8]<\/figcaption><\/figure>In the short term, Walmart will be working hard to try and convince different suppliers to join the Blockchain network. By Sep 2019, Walmart will require more than 100 farms that supply leafy green vegetables to input detailed information about their food. [4] Once the organizations are on the network, which Walmart expects will take a couple of years, further steps can be taken to fully leverage all the combined data. Including reducing food waste by tracking food freshness and start extrapolating which produce traits do well or poorly in the supply chain, which in turn can inform the grower of which breed of produce they should plant. It will also allow them to track if food items underwent the required safety processing (like washing) and whether a food item is truly organic. Further applications could be for inventory management, international shipping, customs processes, etc. It would open a lot of possibilities.<\/p>\n<p><em><u>Trust is the key<\/u><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Walmart and IBM claim that this will bring back customers\u2019 trust in the food system, but Walmart will also have to convince suppliers to trust it. While Blockchain can lead to increased food safety, it also leads to an enormous amount of new information which Walmart previously did not have access too. At least not in a format it could do anything with.<\/p>\n<p>Walmart started the blockchain roll out by <em>requiring <\/em>all leafy green vegetables [see above]. I think the real danger is that suppliers might fear Walmart and IBM over the power this transparency into the supply chain will give them. Having your end customer know where all your supply comes from might make you fear that your customer might cut you out completely. Or that they might use this to squeeze your margins.<\/p>\n<p><figure style=\"width: 3000px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.corporate.walmart.com\/62\/73\/fdcec61f403299b90e02acc13f95\/wm-blockchain-salinas-emm-092218-41r-s.jpg\" width=\"3000\" height=\"2000\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">[8]<\/figcaption><\/figure>I would strongly advise Walmart to first try and convince as many suppliers to join the blockchain network before it starts requiring organizations to do so. I also think it would be smart to put some controls in place with regulators or trade organizations, providing evidence that Walmart is not doing this to squeeze every last penny of margin out of the supply chain. IBM has already been facing issues like this and in response has made the software open source. [6]<\/p>\n<p><em><u>Other considerations:<\/u><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri\">This network while providing larger food security and reduce food wastage, will also give Walmart full transparency into its supply chain. Should we, the customers, be concerned about this? Should suppliers to Walmart be concerned about this? What could Walmart do to soothe those concerns?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri\">To what extend is it viable to bring every single supplier on this network? What are the technical and physical challenges Walmart, IBM and the suppliers will have to overcome?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri\">(Word Count: 762)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri\">[1] YouTube. (2018). Walmart&#8217;s food safety solution using IBM Food Trust built on the IBM Blockchain Platform. [online] Available at: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SV0KXBxSoio [Accessed 12 Nov. 2018].<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri\">[2] Www-01.ibm.com. (2018). IBM Food Trust Solution Brief 2.0. [online] Available at: https:\/\/www-01.ibm.com\/common\/ssi\/cgi-bin\/ssialias?htmlfid=89017389USEN [Accessed 12 Nov. 2018].<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri\">[3] Corkery, M. and Popper, N. (2018). From Farm to Blockchain: Walmart Tracks Its Lettuce. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/09\/24\/business\/walmart-blockchain-lettuce.html [Accessed 12 Nov. 2018].<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">[4] <\/span>Corporate.walmart.com. (2018). [online] Available at: https:\/\/corporate.walmart.com\/media-library\/document\/blockchain-supplier-letter-september-2018\/_proxyDocument?id=00000166-088d-dc77-a7ff-4dff689f0001 [Accessed 12 Nov. 2018].<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri\">[5] Ibm.com. (2018). Freshness for IBM Food Trust&#x2122; &#8211; IBM Blockchain. [online] Available at: https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/blockchain\/solutions\/food-trust\/freshness [Accessed 12 Nov. 2018]. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri\">[6] Popper, N. and Lohr, S. (2018). Blockchain: A Better Way to Track Pork Chops, Bonds, Bad Peanut Butter?. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/03\/04\/business\/dealbook\/blockchain-ibm-bitcoin.html?module=inline [Accessed 12 Nov. 2018].<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[7]\u00a0<span style=\"margin: 0px;line-height: 107%;font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;font-size: 11pt\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">YouTube. (2018). Food Safety and Blockchain: Trust Through Transparency. [online] Available at: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CYJILzRKJmQ [Accessed 12 Nov. 2018].<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>[8]\u00a0<span style=\"margin: 0px;line-height: 107%;font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif;font-size: 11pt\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">News.walmart.com. (2018). In Wake of Romaine E. coli Scare, Walmart Deploys Blockchain to Track Leafy Greens. [online] Available at: https:\/\/news.walmart.com\/2018\/09\/24\/in-wake-of-romaine-e-coli-scare-walmart-deploys-blockchain-to-track-leafy-greens [Accessed 12 Nov. 2018].<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It seems like every week there is a new food scare. Walmart is trying to fix this using Blockchain! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11099,"featured_media":28451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[28,2608,3977,637],"class_list":["post-28362","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-blockchain","category-food-safety","category-walmart","hck-taxonomy-organization-walmart","hck-taxonomy-industry-food-and-beverage","hck-taxonomy-country-united-states"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/rc-tom-challenge-2018\/","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Is the Future of Food Blockchain? - Technology and Operations Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/is-the-future-of-food-blockchain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is the Future of Food Blockchain? - Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It seems like every week there is a new food scare. 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