Blockchain-based Food Supply Chains: the role of Smart Contracts

Abstract

Given blockchain’s ability to record and maintain information in an accessible, verifiable, non-repudiable and tamper-proof manner, this technology appears to provide a secure environment to improve product traceability and provenance throughout the extended supply-chain, which would particularly benefit the agri-food industry. Indeed, the extension and the multi-participant/multi-phase nature of the production cycle that characterize modern agri-food supply chains has made them increasingly difficult to manage, while ensuring that stakeholders are properly informed, that counterfeiting is identified and prevented, that safety standards are met, and that the origin and quality of agri-food products are properly certified. It is a growing opinion, among scholars, that blockchain – as a resilient record-keeping and tracing system - could overcome some of these critical issues; accordingly, smart contracts would be a potentially innovative tool to automatically execute agreements between the various parties involved and, perhaps, help monitor, regulate, and verify each (processing, storage, transfer, etc.) stage that forms the workflow. This paper – building upon the extant academic literature and taking into account Italian policies and legislation on the point – aims to explore the role of smart contracts in food-(block)chain traceability systems, evaluating suitability and critical issues. Finally, the possible contribution of smart contracts - when combined with IoT devices - for more effective (fully or partially automated) controls on food products will be analyzed.