Ensuring transparency and traceability of food local products: A blockchain application to a Smart Tourism Region

Liu

J Food Process Engineering

et al. 2021

This study puts forward a novel frozen aquatic product traceability system (BIOT‐TS) that based on blockchain and Internet of things (IoT) technology, which can alleviate the drawbacks of current tracing management during cold chain logistic, such as the weak security performance, inefficient centralized data management as well as the easy‐tampered traceability information. The proposed system possesses the advantages of decentralization, safety, reliability, and tamper‐proofing when it compares with traditional tracking technology. It is particularly suitable for multi‐stages tracking management of cold chain logistics from aquaculture, production, logistics, and circulation to sales. In terms of such blockchain‐IoT‐based technology, the system is deployed and evaluated with the case of frozen turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) that is circulated and sold under the background of e‐commerce cold chain logistics. It can significantly improve the quality and safety of the frozen aquatic product by using smart contracts, consensus strategy, and data on‐chain verification technology. The overall involved participants can share more reliable tracing information after adopting this tracing system. Furthermore, the performance of this hybrid tracing technology has been evaluated by the operations of on‐chain process and tracing queries through the real experiments, and has testified to be effective. Therefore, the application of this system is beneficial for the improvement of the aquatic food logistics industry and ensures credit in its ecosystem. Practical Applications The blockchain‐IoT‐based frozen aquatic product traceability management is one of the most promising technologies that possess the advantages of tamper‐proof, transparent, and irrefutable transactions combined with distributed monitoring and tracking functionalities. Through the decentralized data management, smart contract, and mechanism of consensus, the traceability information is partitioned and encrypted storage, which can be used for government supervision and consumers' retroactive queries. This novel frozen aquatic food product tracing technology can fundamentally improve the reliability of quality tracing applications and make the closely related tracing management more transparent, secure, and efficient.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and assessment of blockchain‐IoT‐based traceability system for frozen aquatic product

Liu

J Food Process Engineering

et al. 2021

“…The feasibility of the proposed model was evaluated with a case study in a retail e-commerce sector [46]. A two-level blockchain solution was additionally proposed by [58], who performed a case study-based pilot project, combining a permissionless (public) ledger, shared externally, with a permissioned ledger, available only to licensed stakeholders [58].…”

Section: Scalability Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another approach was suggested by [58], who proposed the application of zero knowledge proofs (ZKP) encryption and a permissioned blockchain, providing access only to certified stakeholders and storing limited information on the blockchain. ZKP, or other encryption mechanisms, were proven to ensure identity verification and restricted access to the data, based on pre-defined access rights, thereby enhancing user and business data privacy [58]. Data encryption mechanisms, such as proxy encryption server and improved partial blind signature algorithm, were suggested to ensure data privacy [24].…”

Section: Privacy Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Various initiatives have been implemented to enhance the scalability and security of blockchain, DLT and IoT solutions, ensuring the food safety in FSCs [61,72], such as sharding, novel smart contract mechanisms, distributed and off-chain data storage solutions and platforms, such as IPFS and BigchainDB, to store large amounts of data from various origins, including sensor data. Various data access and data manipulation rights have been introduced with various encryption algorithms, such as ZKP [58], homomorphic encryption or attribute-based encryption, to improve the aspects of security, privacy and confidentiality in such applications. However, the privacy concerns, especially with the introduction of the general data protection regulation (GDPR), are still an on-going challenge in industrial and research applications [23,26].…”

Section: Summary and Outlook Of Challenges And Enablers Of Dlt Adoptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Distributed Ledger Technology Applications in Food Supply Chains: A Review of Challenges and Future Research Directions

et al. 2021

The lack of transparency and traceability in food supply chains (FSCs) is raising concerns among consumers and stakeholders about food information credibility, food quality, and safety. Insufficient records, a lack of digitalization and standardization of processes, and information exchange are some of the most critical challenges, which can be tackled with disruptive technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, and distributed ledger technologies (DLTs). Studies provide evidence that novel technological and sustainable practices in FSCs are necessary. This paper aims to describe current practical applications of DLTs and IoT in FSCs, investigating the challenges of implementation, and potentials for future research directions, thus contributing to achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Within a systematic literature review, the content of 69 academic publications was analyzed, describing aspects of implementation and measures to address the challenges of scalability, security, and privacy of DLT, and IoT solutions. The challenges of high costs, standardization, regulation, interoperability, and energy consumption of DLT solutions were also classified as highly relevant, but were not widely addressed in literature. The application of DLTs in FSCs can potentially contribute to 6 strategic SDGs, providing synergies and possibilities for more sustainable, traceable, and transparent FSCs.

“…In addition, they proposed a data management system structure combining on-chain and off-chain data. Baralla et al [10] designed and developed a blockchain oriented platform to guarantee the origin and provenance of food products in a Smart Tourism Region context. The system interfaces with IoT network devices providing detailed infor-mation about data monitoring such as storage temperature, environment humidity, and other data suitable to manage cold chain.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Blockchain-Based Traceability System in Agri-Food SME: Case Study of a Traditional Bakery

et al. 2021

Self Cite

In this paper we present a blockchain based system for the supply chain management of a typical Italian bread. Goal of the system is to guarantee a transparent and auditable traceability of the Carasau bread in such a way that each actor of the supply chain can verify the quality of the products and the conformity to the normative about the hygienic-sanitary conditions along the chain. To realize this system we relied on the Blockchain and the Internet of Thing technologies in order to provide a trustless environment, in which trust is placed in cryptography, in mathematical operations and on the network, and not in public or private companies. Thanks to the use of digital technologies the system aims to reduce the data entry errors and the risk of tampering. Our system is designed in such a way that, along the supply chain, the nodes equipped with several sensors directly communicate their data to Raspberry Pi units that elaborate and transmit them to Interplanetary File System and to the Ethereum Blockchain. Furthermore, we designed ad hoc Radio Frequency Identification and Near Field communication tags to shortly supply the proposed system with information about the products and batches. The system will easily allow end consumers to have a transparent view on the whole journey from raw material to purchased final product and a supervisory authority to perform online inspections on the products' quality and on the good working practices.