Blockchain is being thought of as the next big thing in secure data sharing. Seeing this potential, the retail giant Walmart has decided to use the technology to track its leafy supplies in the wake of Romaine E.coli scare.
Walmart in an open letter to its suppliers announced that it is launching its blockchain-enabled “Walmart food Traceability Initiative” to increase the transparency in the food system. According to the company, this will create a shared value for the entire leafy green farm to table process.
Walmart in its letter mentioned that it has been working with the IBM Food Trust network that deploys blockchain to track food items right from the source to the Walmart store in a very small amount of time. It further said that the IBM Food Trust network was able to reduce the time taken to track the food items from “days or sometimes weeks” to just a few seconds.
The company wants every one of its supplier to trace their produce of fresh leafy greens all the way to the farm to ensure that the product is safe and secure. The traceability enabled through blockchain will allow the retail conglomerate to monitor the quality of its products in a well-organized manner. The company expects its suppliers to have the technology in place by this time next year.