A Comprehensive Review of Blockchain based Solutions in Food Supply Chain Management

Abstract

In recent years, the focus on Food Quality has become paramount as it can act as an indicator of the living standards of the citizens and any lacunae in it can lead to large scale damage to the health and wellbeing of the people. Lack of information on food produce such as origin, quality, shelf time etc. for the consumers has resulted in distrust among them which can also affect the producers in terms of marketing and pricing. All this stems from the current food procurement and distribution systems that are centrally controlled and dependence on regulatory bodies for quality control. This has led to opacity about information about the food produce and also doubts on such available data if any among the stakeholders. The need of the hour is a system that can provide information in a transparent manner to its stakeholders especially its customers. This information made reliably available will build trust among the consumers and thereby improves brand value for sellers.Blockchain is a disruptive technology that has been exploited across several domains, the Food Procurement and Distribution system is no exception to it. Block chain allows for generating trust among the stakeholders because of its properties like immutability and transparency that any one part of the system can verify the authenticity of information stored in it. If all transactions happening in the Food Procurement and Distribution system from point of production to the point of consumption are recorded on the Block chain. Then it becomes easier for customers to verify whether the claims from the seller about the food quality are indeed true. This paper outlines a survey on the current work and research in the field of food supply chain management using Block chain technology and also specify the future research trends in the same area.