Rice is a major food crop around the world, and its various quality and safety problems are closely related to human health. As an important area of food safety research, the rice supply chain has attracted increasing attention. Based on blockchain technology, this study investigated problems of data privacy and circulation efficiency caused by complex rice supply networks, long circulation cycles, and various risk factors in each link. First, we deconstructed the quality and safety of each link of the rice supply chain at the information level and established a key information classification table for each link. On that basis, we built a rice supply chain information supervision model based on blockchain. Various encryption algorithms are used to secure the sensitive data of enterprises in the supply chain to meet regulators' needs for efficient supervision. Moreover, we propose a practical Byzantine fault-tolerant consensus algorithm that scores the credit of enterprise nodes, optimizes the selection strategy of master nodes, and ensures high efficiency and low cost. Then, we built a prototype system based on the open-source framework of hyperledger fabric, analyzed the model's viability, and implemented the system using cases. The results indicated that the proposed system can optimize the information supervision process of rice supply chain regulators and provide a feasible solution for the quality and safety supervision of grain and oil.
A large number of refrigerated container are moved everyday domestically and internationally.The information of refrigerated container is usually stored centrally. It is prone to being tampered by the responsible party, making it difficult to call to account. Due to its characteristics of decentralization, transparency and immutability, blockchain technology can be used to alleviate this problem. In this paper, we propose a blockchain-based refrigerated container traceability system that can trace the information of refrigerated container. We also design a smart contract to realize the information upload and query of refrigerated containers. The experimental results show that the blockchain traceability system and smart contract proposed can effectively monitor and trace refrigerated containers. It guarantees the integrity and reliability of traceability information.
Giuseppe Varavallo, Giuseppe Caragnano, Fabrizio Bertone, Luca Vernetti-Prot · 5 authors
Recent progress in IoT and software development has simplified data acquisition and immutability of information in the agri-food supply chain. In the last few years, several frameworks and applications were proposed to ensure traceability in the agri-food-sector using distributed ledger technologies (DLT) such as Blockchain technologies. Still, no other study has presented a Blockchain-based traceability platform with a lower impact on the environment and lower cost for each transaction sent by the supply chain. This article presents a traceability platform based on Green Blockchain with low energy consumption and costs savings applied to the Fontina PDO cheese supply chain, part of the project “Typicalp”, funded by the European Union (EU). The proposed traceability system is based on Algorand Blockchain, which uses the Pure Proof-of-Stake mechanism of consensus that requires minimal computational power, is highly scalable and environmentally sustainable. In addition to the environmental and financial benefits, the developed traceability platform has made it possible to digitize the entire production chain, making the data immutable and available in real-time for Fontina consortium operators and final consumers.
Tracing food products along the entire supply chain is important for achieving better management of food products. Traditionally, centralized traceability systems have been developed for such purposes. One major drawback of this approach is that different users of the supply chain have their own systems with their own complexities and distinct features; thus, the interaction among them creates challenges when implementing a single centralized system. Therefore, a decentralized traceability system is favorable for tracing food products along the supply chain. In this study, we develop a supply chain traceability system framework based on blockchain and radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. The system consists of a decentralized blockchain-enabled data storage platform for data management and an RFID system at the packaging level for data collection and storage. We applied a consortium blockchain to the application. Fabric 2.0 in Hyperledger was chosen as the development platform. The proposed blockchain-enabled platform can provide decentralized data management and its underlying algorithm can guarantee data security. The system includes a creatively designed blockchain-enabled data structure in the RFID tag. When people scan the tag, the relevant information is written in the tag as a block linked to the previous blocks; simultaneously, the information is transmitted to the blockchain platform and recorded on the platform. No battery is required and the system works when there is an RFID reader nearby. The usage conditions included shipment, stocking, and storage. The RFID tag can be directly attached to paper packaging. This approach embeds the blockchain technique into the RFID tag and develops a corresponding system. The new traceability system has the potential to simplify the tracking of products and can be scaled for industrial use.
Ibtisam Ehsan, Muhammad Irfan Khalid, Laura Ricci, Jawaid Iqbal · 7 authors
In agriculture supply chain management, traceability is a crucial aspect to ensure food safety for increasing customer loyalty and satisfaction. Lack of quality assurance in centralized data storage makes us move towards a new approach based on a decentralized system in which transparency and quality assurance is guaranteed throughout the supply chain from producer to consumer. The current supply chain model has some disadvantages like a communication gap between the entities of the supply chain and no information about the travel history and origin of the product. The use of technology improves the communication and relation between various farmers and stakeholders. Blockchain technology acquires transparency and traceability in the supply chain, provides transaction records traceability, and enhances security for the whole supply chain. In this paper, we present a blockchain-based, fully decentralized traceability model that ensures the integrity and transparency of the system. This new model eliminated most of the disadvantages of the traditional supply chain. For the coordination of all transactions in the supply chain, we proposed a decentralized supply chain model along with a smart contract.
A framework combining the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain can help achieve system automation and credibility, and the corresponding technologies have been applied in many industries, especially in the area of agricultural product traceability. In particular, IoT devices (radio frequency identification (RFID), geographic information system (GIS), global positioning system (GPS), etc.) can automate the collection of information pertaining to the key aspects of traceability. The data are collected and input to the blockchain system for processing, storage, and query. A distributed, decentralized, and nontamperable blockchain can ensure the security of the data entering the system. However, IoT devices may generate abnormal data in the process of data collection. In this context, it is necessary to ensure the accuracy of the source data of the traceability system. Considering the whole-process traceability chain of agricultural products, this paper analyzes the whole-process information of a tea supply chain from planting to sales, constructs the system architecture and each function, and designs and implements a machine learning- (ML-) blockchain-IoT-based tea credible traceability system (MBITTS). Based on IoT technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID) sensors, this article proposes a new method that combines blockchain and ML to enhance the accuracy of blockchain source data. In addition, system data storage and indexing methods and scanning and recovery mechanisms are proposed. Compared with the existing agricultural product (tea) traceability system based on blockchain, the introduction of the ML data verification mechanism can ensure the accuracy (up to 99%) of information on the chain. The proposed solution provides a basis to ensure the safety, reliability, and efficiency of agricultural traceability systems.
Thomas K. Dasaklis, Theodore G. Voutsinas, Giannis Τ. Tsoulfas, Fran Casino
In recent years, traceability systems have been developed as practical tools for improving supply chain (SC) transparency and visibility, especially in health and safety-sensitive sectors like food and pharmaceuticals. Blockchain-related SC traceability research has received significant attention during the last several years, and arguably blockchain is currently the most promising technology for providing traceability-related services in SC networks. This paper provides a systematic literature review of the various technical implementation aspects of blockchain-enabled SC traceability systems. We apply different drivers for classifying the selected literature, such as (a) the various domains of the available blockchain-enabled SC traceability systems and relevant methodologies applied; (b) the implementation maturity of these traceability systems along with technical implementation details; and (c) the sustainability perspective (economic, environmental, social) prevalent to these implementations. We provide key takeaways regarding the open issues and challenges of current blockchain traceability implementations and fruitful future research areas. Despite the significant volume and plethora of blockchain-enabled SC traceability systems, academia has so far focused on unstructured experimentation of blockchain-associated SC traceability solutions, and there is a clear need for developing and testing real-life traceability solutions, especially taking into account feasibility and cost-related SC aspects.
Traditional cold chain logistics has problems such as centralized data storage, low data reliability, easy data tampering, and difficulty in locating responsible persons, which leads to the inability to guarantee consumer rights. To solve these problems, a cold chain logistics traceability system is proposed for fresh agricultural products based on blockchain. Both alliance chain and private chain are used in the paper in order to ensure that the product traceability system not only has certain openness but also must contain enough privacy and security. Alliance chain is mainly used to query and share product traceability information. The private chain will be used to collect and store the product traceability information of each enterprise and then connected to the alliance chain via hash pointers. The proposed system is beneficial for reducing the burden of network transmission of alliance chain and improving the efficiency of consumer product data query. At the same time, the private chain ensures the security and privacy of enterprise product data, which not only has high data storage efficiency but also can meet the requirements of all participants for the traceability system. In the experimental part, the feasibility of this system is verified through simulation experiments, which provides a reference for the combination of blockchain technology and cold chain logistics traceability system.
Bello Musa Yakubu, Rabia Latif, Aisha Yakubu, Majid Iqbal Khan · 5 authors
The increasing number of rice product safety issues and the potential for contamination have established an enormous need for an effective strategy for the traceability of the rice supply chain. Tracing the origins of a rice product from raw materials to end customers is very complex and costly. Existing food supply chain methods (for example, rice) do not provide a scalable and cost-effective means of agricultural food supply. Besides, consumers lack the capability and resources required to check or report on the quality of agricultural goods in terms of defects or contamination. Consequently, customers are forced to decide whether to utilize or discard the goods. However, blockchain is an innovative framework capable of offering a transformative solution for the traceability of agricultural products and food supply chains. The aim of this paper is to propose a framework capable of tracking and monitoring all interactions and transactions between all stakeholders in the rice chain ecosystem through smart contracts. The model incorporates a system for customer satisfaction feedback, which enables all stakeholders to get up-to-date information on product quality, enabling them to make more informed supply chain decisions. Each transaction is documented and stored in the public ledger of the blockchain. The proposed framework provides a safe, efficient, reliable, and effective way to monitor and track rice products safety and quality especially during product purchasing. The security and performance analysis results shows that the proposed framework outperform the benchmark techniques in terms of cost-effectiveness, security and scalability with low computational overhead.
Blockchain technology is increasingly being supported for different agricultural commodity applications, including agricultural commodity tracing and provenance establishment. But many critical issues need to be addressed before the use of blockchain technology for this purpose becomes widespread both technologically and ethically. For that, I carried out a comparison of the different blockchain frameworks -mainly permissioned Hyperledger blockchain technology and Ethereum smart in terms of their agricultural sustainability applications. I also examined the role of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in supporting blockchain-driven sustainability. I identified how a lack of earth observation (EO) data undermines commodity provenance (and related ecological sustainability) establishment. However, the biggest threats to widespread blockchain technology adoption, especially for meeting sustainability standards include scalability issues and the lack of standard data protocols and governance measures.
For traditional agricultural product traceability system, there are some problems, such as information asymmetry and serious centralized storage. To solve the problems, a set of an agricultural product traceability information analysis system based on blockchain is designed. The overall framework of the agricultural product information traceability system is built, and the traceability model and process are designed in detail from the data layer, consensus layer, and contract layer. Collaborative verification function modules are added in the data layer to ensure the authenticity of data on the blockchain. The integral penalty mechanism is introduced to improve the practical Byzantine fault tolerance algorithm (PBFT), which ensures the security of the block network and the validity of data. Smart contracts are adopted to ensure that changes in agricultural information are actually recorded on blockchain. The results show that the designed blockchain‐based agricultural product information traceability system solves the problem of difficult sharing and traceability of agricultural product information, which realizes the traceability of agricultural product production information, processing information, transportation information, and transaction query information, and has certain theoretical and practical value for the information traceability of agricultural products and other products.
Cristina Ramírez Meneses, Alix E. Rojas, Alexander García Dávalos
Today, the role of digital technologies represents a competitive advantage in the logistics of any supply chain and, at the same time, a great challenge for organizations, especially for SMEs and micro-enterprises, which are a fundamental part of the national economy. The development of this study is part of a larger project that has to do with the design of a cold chain inventory management model through IoT, Blockchain, and Cloud Computing for SMEs in Colombia. The work carried out in this first part consisted of a proof of concept (POC) to verify the technical feasibility of Industry 4.0 technologies in the management of goods in the last-mile urban distribution process in the cold chain. We assemble sensors in a portable device to measure control variables in the cold chain, develop the software that supports it, and carry out tests in a controlled setting. The results validate the expected functionality of the prototype but, above all, disclose conditions that must be considered. Finally, we discuss the applicability of the proposed device in the practical world and the future challenges for the subsequent phases.
We explored the use of blockchain technology for traceability to improve the safety and value of food, focusing on the coffee supply chain as a case study. The main goal was to evaluate the feasibility in terms of design, perceived benefits, and challenges of applying blockchain and traceability from the users’ perspective. We implemented a prototype using a user-centered iterative interface design. Then we used the prototype to answer our research questions in mixed-method research, including in-depth interviews (10 participants) and a survey (350 participants) with stakeholders in the coffee supply chain in Thailand. The results showed that timeline-based design was preferred over map-based or text-based design for the visualization of traceability information and that blockchain was a promising technology, as 67% of the survey participants saw a positive influence of blockchain on the adoption of applications. The most notable benefits were origin checking and increasing product trustworthiness. The most notable challenges were inaccurate or incomplete information and the disclosure of trade secrets. More work is required to address the challenges for everyone in the supply chain ecosystem to adopt the proposed traceability system, including (1) providing trustworthiness and completeness of information by cross-checking with third parties or other users, (2) protecting sensitive information by aligning users’ interests or allowing control of information disclosure, and (3) educating and giving producers the motivation for the difficulty and the extra work.
Stefan Seifermann, Indah Hapsara Murti, Janis Oberle
The paper deals with using blockchain technology for tracking and tracing in manufacturing supply chains. After reviewing the current state-of-the-art, basic requirements for tracking and tracing using blockchain technology are developed. In order to raise acceptance in the industry and to keep complexity and transaction costs low, the focus is set on minimum data transferred and stored in the blockchain. The resulting framework is transformed into a model that has been implemented in a Proof-of-Concept using smart contracts in the Ethereum blockchain. Several test cases were identified and have been used to verify the functionality of the framework and the Proof-of-Concept.
In this paper, a food anti-counterfeiting traceability system based on blockchain and the Internet of Things is proposed in response to the problems of data centre-based storage, easy data tampering and data silos in traditional food anti-counterfeiting traceability technology. The system makes use of the decentralized storage and untamperable characteristics of blockchain technology to store traceability data of food in the process of food production, sale and transportation, so as to ensure the uniqueness of food. At the same time, through the Internet of things technology to ensure the authenticity and reliability of the source data of the blockchain. The experimental results show that the system has higher security, lower transaction delay and lower communication cost.
In this paper, we propose a blockchain-based framework involving a traceability system for product recall (TSPR) designed to develop a traceability system integrated into the product recall system deployed to the Ethereum to ensure the transparency and visibility of the recall process for all stakeholders. The proposed system incorporates all four stakeholders, including supply chain (SC) participants, the food safety regulatory system, the admin, and end customers, into one chain. In the proposed TSPR system, individual components are developed to provide primarily product traceability events, product recall data and status, which are stored in the blockchain to authorized stakeholders. Moreover, the entity relationship and activity diagram of the TSPR system are developed. In the experiment, we develop three smart contracts of the TSPR system using Remix IDE running on an Ethereum test network. A scenario of the events of product traceability and recall in the SC is developed. Two criteria are used to test the validation of contracts: the correct operation and measurement of gas costs. The results show the correctness of three smart contracts, thereby ensuring that the stakeholder chain is provided with visibility and transparency primarily for the product recall process. Moreover, the summation of gas costs deployed in the TSPR system in Ethereum Mainnet for the regulator and manufacturer is $30.23 and $111.54, respectively. However, when using the Polygon Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), the gas cost remains $0.022 and $0.083, respectively; thus, we recommend this system for stakeholders to help them achieve lower costs and increased economic worth.
Pratyush Kumar Patro, Raja Jayaraman, Khaled Salah, Ibrar Yaqoob
Efficient traceability management is necessary for managing products in the fishery supply chain. Any negligence in products’ traceability can result in food fraud that may adversely affect the consumer’s health. Monitoring and tracking of the fishery supply chain operations can assist system stakeholders in identifying the origins and causes of product fraud and malpractice. Most of the existing systems and technologies used to manage the fishery supply chain processes fall short of providing traceability, accountability, transparency, reliability, trust, privacy, and security features. In this paper, we propose a private Ethereum blockchain-based solution to efficiently manage the fishery supply chain operations in a manner that is decentralized, transparent, traceable, secure, private, and trustworthy. We present the solution architecture and propose five smart contracts to automate the processes in fishery supply chain. We present ten algorithms along with their full implementation, testing, and validation details. We conduct a security analysis to show that the proposed solution is both secure and trustworthy. We compare our solution with the existing blockchain and non-blockchain-based solutions to show its effectiveness and novelty. We make the smart contract code publicly available on GitHub.
Cristian Valencia-Payan, José Fernando Grass Ramírez, Gustavo Ramírez-González, Juan Carlos Corrales
Recently there has been an increase in the use of Blockchain technology for multiple purposes; one of them has been food traceability. This technology has increased quality control, safety, and reliability. So, the producers are looking for better ways to trace the products at any supply chain stage to ensure their quality. A smart contract is a transaction protocol that execute automatically when a predefined set of conditions are met. In this paper, we propose a smart contract to monitor the status of the coffee beans in the transport and storage stages with data validation. Using the Hyperledger Fabric Blockchain tool, we deploy a test network of two actors, also known as organizations. The organizations come together to form a channel in the network. Each has a valid identity that helps them verify their signatures over any transaction. We selected JavaScript to write our proposed smart contract for experimental and evaluation purposes. To evaluate the smart Contract, we use Hyperledger Caliper, obtaining an average throughput of 10.4tps and average latency of 0.7s, being fast enough to be used in a real environment, considering the current control conditions of the coffee beans.
There is a growing demand for transparency along the agri-food chain, both from customers and governments. The adoption of blockchain technology to enable secure traceability for the management of the agri-food chain, provide information such as the provenance of a food product and prevent food fraud, is emerging rapidly, due to the inherent trust and inalterability provided by this technology. However, developing the right smart contracts for these use cases is even more of a challenge than it is for those used in other fields. Several management systems for the agri-food chain based on blockchain technology and smart contract have been proposed, all however ad-hoc for a specific product or production process and difficult to generalize. In this paper, we propose a new approach to easily customize and compose general Ethereum-based smart contracts designed for the agri-food industrial domain, to be able to reuse the code and modules and automate the process to shorten development times, while keeping it safe and reliable. Starting from the definition of the real production process, we aim to automatically generate both the smart contracts to manage the system and the user interfaces to interact with them, thus producing a system that works semi-automatically. Additionally, we describe a honey production case study to show how our approach works. Future work will first extend the scope of the approach to other supply chains, furthermore, while the current platform used is Ethereum, in the future our approach will be easily extended to other blockchain platforms.