With several governments and large institutions tiptoeing around the subject of integrating and adopting blockchain technology into their preexisting platform, Walmart has taken the bull by the horn with its approach to trace the lifecycle of leafy greens on its supply chain.
Walmart Wants to Keep Track of Their Leafy Green Supply
The Retail Giant released a statement instructing its leafy green suppliers to register on a platform it has been working on for the past one and a half year with IBM. The platform is expected to reach completion by September 2019.
Walmart is not working alone on this project, they are also collaborating with Sam’s Club. Suppliers of leafy greens to these two retail chain stores will need to start uploading validated details of their products on the new blockchain based platform. This is expected to go on for the next 12 months until substantial data on these leafy green products and suppliers has been recorded.
The reason behind this is basically to ensure that high grade, fresh and non-toxic leafy greens make it to the aisle in their various stores.
Also, in the case of a disease outbreak, it becomes relatively easy to trace the source of the infection. Once the farm supplying this toxic leafy has been identified, operation there gets shut down. As a result, more damage is not done and the spreading of such disease is capped.
Other Food Related Companies Employing Blockchain For Food Safety
Walmart will be joining other food-focused ventures like Nestle, Unilever Plc, and Tyson Foods Inc, to employ the use of blockchain technology in their food production processes. These companies will be able to share data kept on a blockchain based ledger and use this information to track food safety and further improve their food productions services.
More retail giants and food processing companies are expected to start following this footstep thereby creating a safer food manufacturing industry.