Tracing the Future: Blockchain and IoT's Role in Revolutionizing Food Supply Chain Transparency

Introduction

In an increasingly interconnected world, food safety is a global concern that transcends borders and cultures. Our global food supply chain is more complex than ever before, with food items sourced from different parts of the world to meet the growing demands of a booming population, projected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050 (United Nations, 2017). This complexity, while necessary, presents an array of food safety issues that require focused management strategies. From microbial pathogens to heavy metals, undeclared allergens, and foreign material contamination, the range of potential food safety hazards is broad (Djekic, Jankovic and Rajkovic, 2017). Consumers today, more than ever, are aware and concerned about what goes into their food. Issues such as non-permitted additives, avian influenza, and the use of biotechnology have raised regulatory and genuine consumer concerns (Pigłowski, 2020). These incidents underline the need for enhanced transparency and traceability in the food supply chain. Although bodies like FDA (Food and Drug Administration) are in place to ensure food safety, we are still far from achieving the desired level of food safety assurance. The food supply chain is a series of processes, operations, and entities that take the food from its raw material state to our plates (Haji et al., 2020; Abideen et al., 2021).

Pursuant to Nosratabadi et al. (2020) this chain includes producers, processors, retailers and distributors, consumers, and the hospitality industry. Each segment of this chain has its challenges and potential for improvement. For instance, producers face increasing uncertainties due to changing climatic weather patterns, scarcity of water, and soil degradation caused by industrialization and urbanization. In contrast, food processors need to reduce waste and extend the shelf life of their products while maintaining consumer expectations. Regardless of whether they are organized or unorganized, retailers and distributors have to manage inventory, waste, and technology. There is a dire need for practical solutions that can help in managing these issues while ensuring ‘auditability’ in the food supply chain. In such a scenario the advent of technology, specifically the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain, can be significant in revolutionizing the food supply chain (Kaur et al., 2022). The Internet of Things refers to a system where common objects have identifying, sensing, networking and processing abilities allowing them to communicate with each other and other devices over the Internet to achieve a goal (Sethi and Sarangi, 2017).

Integrating this technology into the food supply chain gives companies visibility into what is happening upstream in the supply chain and communicates this information both internally and externally (Tan and Sidhu, 2022). Furthermore, IoT can enable traceability in the food supply chain, i.e., using technology to trace each raw material in a product, how the product is used and where it is discarded. Employing IoT to track food products in the supply chain can significantly enhance provenance, supporting sustainability by providing visibility of inputs and source information to trace its origin and enabling comprehensive tracking of environmental, economic and social consequences of agricultural production (Dutta et al., 2020). While traceability allows companies to 'know' what is happening in the supply chain, transparency allows them to 'show' this information to stakeholders, including consumers. To achieve sustainability in the food supply chain, this chapter explores how IoT and blockchain technology are being used for inventory management and food safety tracking.