In today’s world, knowing where your food comes from is more important than ever. For Walmart, a leader in the retail industry and a provider of vast quantities of Food By Walmart, ensuring food traceability is a top priority. This commitment to transparency and safety led Walmart to pioneer the use of blockchain technology, transforming how food is tracked from farm to shelf.
Walmart’s journey into blockchain-based food traceability began in 2016. As a proactive step towards enhancing food safety, the company’s Vice President of Food Safety challenged his team to trace a package of sliced mangoes back to its origin. The traditional system, while containing all the necessary data, proved to be time-consuming. It took the team over six days to complete the trace – a stark reminder of the inefficiencies in the existing system.
This experience spurred Walmart to seek a more efficient and rapid solution. Partnering with IBM, Walmart adopted Hyperledger Fabric, a blockchain framework, to create a revolutionary food traceability system. The results were astonishing. The same mangoes that took days to trace could now be tracked in a mere 2.2 seconds. This near-instantaneous access to information marked a paradigm shift in food traceability.
The success with mangoes was just the beginning. Walmart recognized the broader potential of blockchain and expanded its application to other areas, including pork traceability in China. By uploading certificates of authenticity to the blockchain, Walmart brought unprecedented transparency to its Chinese supply chain, building greater trust with consumers regarding the food by Walmart they were purchasing.
Walmart’s dedication to food safety extends beyond technology implementation. The company established the Walmart Food Safety and Collaboration Center, demonstrating its leadership in global food safety initiatives. This center fosters research and collaboration within supplier networks and leverages advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, further solidifying Walmart’s commitment to providing safe and reliable food by Walmart.
In China, Walmart collaborated with JD.com, IBM, and Tsinghua University to launch a blockchain-based food safety alliance in 2016. This alliance focused on tracking pork within the Chinese supply chain. IBM provided its Blockchain Platform and expertise, while Tsinghua University offered technical guidance. This collaborative effort aimed to establish industry standards, develop effective solutions, and build partnerships to create a safer food ecosystem throughout China, ensuring the quality and safety of food by Walmart sold in the region.
These pioneering projects served as crucial proof points for the food industry, demonstrating the transformative power of blockchain in enhancing food traceability. Walmart’s early adoption and successful implementation paved the way for wider industry acceptance and further innovation in this field.
Recognizing the broader impact of blockchain, Walmart announced a significant partnership in August 2017 with major players in the supply chain industry, including Dole, Kroger, McCormick, Nestlé, Tyson Foods, and Unilever. This collaboration aimed to explore and develop new applications of blockchain to enhance food traceability across the entire supply chain.
By September 2018, Walmart’s advanced system could trace over 25 diverse products from multiple suppliers, ranging from mangoes and leafy greens to strawberries, dairy, meat, poultry, packaged salads, and baby food. This expanded capability meant consumers could trace ingredients back to their farm of origin simply by scanning a product, offering unprecedented transparency for food by Walmart.
That same year, Walmart launched the “Blockchain-enabled Walmart Food Traceability Initiative,” reinforcing its commitment to transparency in the food system. This initiative required all fresh leafy greens suppliers to achieve farm-to-store traceability within seconds using the IBM Food Trust network and GS1 standard protocols. The data captured and uploaded to the blockchain included crucial information like product IDs, batch codes, purchase orders, and date/time stamps for harvesting, processing, shipping, and receiving. This initiative set a new benchmark for traceability in the leafy greens supply chain and for food by Walmart in general.
By 2019, Walmart had firmly established itself as a pioneer in food safety. Walmart China further advanced this leadership by launching its Blockchain Traceability Platform, featuring an initial batch of 23 product lines tracked using VeChain’s blockchain technology.
Continuing its innovative approach, Walmart piloted blockchain technology for end-to-end traceability of shrimp sourced from India and shipped to Sam’s Club locations in the USA. This groundbreaking project marked the first known use of blockchain to track shrimp exports from farm to overseas retailer, demonstrating Walmart’s commitment to applying blockchain to diverse and complex supply chains ensuring the safety of food by walmart globally.
The future of blockchain technology in the food industry is bright. In an era where food contamination remains a global concern, creating accountability and ensuring supply chain transparency is not just an advantage but a necessity. Blockchain offers an effective solution to rapidly trace contaminated products back to their source, minimizing the spread of foodborne illnesses and protecting consumers of food by Walmart and beyond.
Beyond rapid recall management, blockchain also contributes to reducing food waste. Selective recalls, enabled by precise traceability, minimize unnecessary discarding of unaffected products. Globally, a significant portion of food production is wasted, with retail contributing substantially to this issue.
Moreover, the detailed information provided by blockchain-based supply chain solutions empowers retailers like Walmart to make informed decisions about inventory management. Accurate shelf-life data for perishable goods, for example, helps prevent premature disposal of fresh food by Walmart, further reducing waste and enhancing sustainability.
Walmart prioritizes quality products at every stage. Implementing blockchain solutions provides detailed insights into every step of the food supply chain, enabling data-driven actions. This enhanced visibility strengthens supplier management, improves quality control processes, and significantly reduces both time and costs throughout the supply chain, ultimately benefiting consumers with safer and more reliable food by Walmart.
