Blockchain in Food Supply Chain

Expansion of technology in the current world, has led to an engagement in all the validated reforms, such that it provides an ease to the task. These integrations could also be brought into the use and trends that are to be compensated in the system such that it will provide an open study to the task such that it will continue to falter in the process. One such implementation could be integrated in the system by the use a technology popular as blockchain. Thus it will make an expansion to the freedom of operations to be involved in the considerate expansion of the study. This is the reason for the exploration of integration of technology of blockchain in food supply chain management.

Background

The concept of bringing in new technologies, to evolve the market and the management into the system could be beneficial in the deliverance of a good and stable mode of operation. One such operation is the supply chain management that is done in the food and supply part of the research, such that it will continue to form the chain proper. The delivery to be made accurate and the operation to be controlled from the table would make it easy and change the perception of it. This change makes the operation smooth and creates no problem to the system. Thus, the supply chain is restructured and then the operations are shifted over a technology.

The elaborate study of the task is to be gained in the validated structure such that it may expand a branch of study and research, such that it provides a more open assessment to the task and operation. The validation is to be optimised and comprehended by the use of all the manipulative study of the task. This is the moderate expansion of the conventional method into a new and changed system of supply chain, which includes technology and is easy to manage.

The blockchain technology could be an optimum choice as it itself lingers in the supply and the chain of itself. This makes the integration easy and the operations more elaborate, such that it will manage to form the enhanced understanding of the work, such that it will continue to form the stable understanding. This makes an expansion to the comprehended task to be attained and the traceability for it, along with the tracking of all the operations.

Problem Statement

The issue that is faced in the current and conventional supply chain management is traceable yet the problem lies in the expansion of it to a large scale. Specially, in the food business, the complete comprehension is to be managed is the convolution of the transmissible data and form the restriction over the expansion. The categorical coordination of the supply and the continuation of the work, and the correlation to be maintained in the expanded form, the blockchain technology could be beneficial in the attachment. This contribution is obtained by the use of all the possible entities.

The bifurcation of the structure in the operation could be expanded in the collaboration of the work, and then create a linkage within the system. The convolution of the blockchain alignment in the system, by the use of supply chain management and the contribution to the operation involved. Thus, it is beneficial in the completion of the task and the comprehensive extraction of the supply chain completely on the blockchain and a platform based in it, for the operations of handling and tracking.

Aim and Objectives

Aim: This research aims to understand and investigate the role of blockchain technology in achieving sustainability in the supply chain in the food industry.

Objectives:

To understand the importance of supply chain management in the food industry.
To analyse the issues that occur in the food industry related to supply chain.
To explore the integration of technology in the formation of a new supply chain.
To comprehend the use of Blockchain in the supply chain management.
To study the use of blockchain in sustainable supply chain management in the food industry.

Approach and Structure

The approach of the research is set to be comprehensive and explanatory in the way that it explores the completion of the research and clarify the idea of blockchain in supply chain management. The comprehension to be gained over the idea of the ideological implementation of the ideas that may provide convolution of possibilities. The structure would gain a base to the blockchain that will provide an evaluate study of the literature focused and the process of research. It will also include the methods that are resorted to for the research that will continue to comprehend the procedure followed. The results that are extracted from the study that has been done in the research are relevant in the comprehension of blockchain implementation in supply chain. It will continue to manage the discussion to be presented in the study, and then conclude comprehensive study of the task.

Rationale

The rationale for the research can be established in the study of the problem statement itself, which will continue to make the reasoning of it. The validation to the research could be given by presenting all the comprehensive understanding of the study done. It will continue to from the elaboration in the field, such that it may create an open evaluation to the comprehensive data of the convoluted studies. This makes an explanation on how the technology is to be implemented and what are the possible problems to it. This is the reasoning set in the comprehension of the work to be gained.

The validation to the research would be given in the study of the relational study to be provided by the help of a certain comprehension of the task. Thus, the importance of the same is also settled by the completion and the results obtained through the process.

Research Question

Q. What are the possible changes to be brought into the food supply chain management and how would they benefit the process?

Q. How blockchain technology helps in solving the issues that occur in the supply chain of the food industry and helps them resolve the issues to achieve sustainability?

Q. What are the significant changes that will be gained I supply chain by the integration and implementation of Blockchain?

Q. What are the major factors that can lead to a lack of inventory management which affects the supply chain in the food industry?

Q. Where is the possible implementation of the blockchain technology in the process of supply chain?

Literature Review

Overview

In the periodic expansion of technology in the current world, has led to an engagement in all the validated reforms, such that it provides an ease to the task. These integrations could also be brought into the use and trends that are to be compensated in the system such that it will provide an open study to the task such that it will continue to falter in the process. One such implementation could be integrated in the system by the use a technology popular as blockchain. Thus, it will make an expansion to the freedom of operations to be involved in the considerate expansion of the study. This is the reason for the exploration of integration of technology of blockchain in food supply chain management.

The literature to be referred as the secondary form of research is the completion of the task and the expanding operation of it. Thus, the complete merging of the blockchain technology to be integrated in supply chain management is to be gained. This is the reason for the comprehensive expansion of the study to be gained by implementation of various frameworks. This makes the operation more elaborate and controlled and the validation to its transparency is also provided. This will make an expanded study to the task, such that it will include the concern of operation and the timely completion of the task.

Supply Chain Management

A supply chain management is the process that handles the operation that will deliver the required product and to manage it on the sending and receiving end. The process also includes the operative management in the logistic and the handling part of the product. This makes it more comprehended to work and then completion is attained by the implementation of a system of coordination. This is the management that will deliver an expanded study to the process, such that all the calibrations are open and operation is elaborate (Bodhke et al. 2020). This process keeps the stability in the retail and various other businesses that require the continuous engagement of supply.

The supply chain operations are so interlinked that they all come to falter when any one part faces an issue. This is the reason for the complete abomination to the task, such that it will continue to make an elaborate expansion of the task. This makes the study more enhanced and the operations to make the comprehension of the work, such that the operations could be balanced in the proportionate study of the complete stability to be attained in the system. This will falter the operations and then cause them to create a fault in the system.

Figure 1: Supply Chain Informatics

(Source: Ketchen Jr and Craighead 2020)

The bifurcation of the structure in the operation could be expanded in the collaboration of the work, and then create a linkage within the system. The convolution of the blockchain alignment in the system, by the use of supply chain management and the contribution to the operation involved (Stackpole 2020). Thus, it is beneficial in the completion of the task and the comprehensive extraction of the supply chain completely on the technical platform and a framework based on it, for the operations of handling and tracking.

This distant point to point engagement requires some kind of relation and point of contact I the process. This is the part where the technology is integrated. The comprehensive expansion of the values, such that it will fonder through the operational hierarchy and he operative relational operations to the work, provided within the task expansion. This will require the technology to set-up an arrangement in the process, also making more elaborate expansion of the work, forming a platform for the operations to be performed at once. This will make the continuation more expanded and then create a validated structure of the study such that it creates an ease in all the operations.

Evolution of Technology in Supply Chain Management

The use of technology has been an important and an integral step that is taken in the comprehensive operation of the supply chain. Like the food-based supply chain in the process would be beneficial in the completion of the work to obtain the idea of the surficial comprehension of the task. Such, that it will continue to falter the assessment and then make the comprehensive establishment of the work to be made in the comprehension of the task (Laaper and Fitzgrald 2021). This will continue to form the continuation in the comprehensive estimation of the task. This will lead to the completion of the task and the comprehensive assessment of the work. It will continue to form the operation and validation in the field, such that it may create an open isolation of the steps included.

Later the change of technology was observed in the form of the Management Information System, the task that is open for the enhancement of the value and the considerate correlation of the work to be linked in the system and then operate it. this operation was smooth and swift with the relation to the work of the task to be integrated and then made open for the expansion in the validated system of moderation (Propelplm 2020). This is the reason for the comprehension to be attained by the use of expansion to be attained in the system by the help of validation robe to be introduced.

The later evolution changed in the field and then the operations were more open and elaborative in the field, such that it will continue to use the system. Afterwards the operations were taken into the field of study by the use of all the comprehension in the field. The IoT integration in the field is attached and comprehended by the use of all the validate all the relations and the bodies related. This established the relation to be more open and the operation to be more elaborate, creating a constant linkage in the supply entities. This makes the technique more expanded.

Figure 2: Technology and Supply Chain

(Source: Bodhke et al. 2020)

The implementation of cloud computing came to an action after the wide popularity of the idea and the use of it being popular in the field, thus making more elaborate scenario in the system. This makes the volumetric consideration of the data and the comprehension of the task more comprehensive to the system and the user that is of concern in the system. This will continue to collaborate the validation in the field, comprising of the data related to the supply and the operations related. This cloud computing seemed enough but the market expanded more and the operations validated by the supply chain and technology expanded, hence, giving the space to change into new technology. The modernisation could be attained by the help of ML and blockchain.

Use of blockchain can be implemented in the supply chain management system to get better and more efficient results in managing and tracking the data of the products. The supply chain is the complete process of delivering the products to end-users with the efforts of stakeholders and organizations (Chang et al. 2019). There are many challenges faced in the supply chain but the lack of transparency is still the major challenge faced supply chain. Blockchain technology provides the authority to the organizations to provide a track of all the products and transitions with transparency and security. Companies can track the complete record of the product from its origin. The transaction in the blockchain is added whenever the product changes hands. The transaction history is permanently stored in the blockchain ledger from its manufacturing to the end-user.

Blockchain and its Importance

Blockchain is a decentralised distributed ledger and an advanced version database available to all members of the decentralised system. It stores any kind of data in the blocks which is secure and transparent (Hamilton 2020). The data in the blockchain is immutable and cannot be altered. Rather than having a centralised system/server managed by a single server, it is decentralised and managed by all the nodes in the blockchain. The Blockchain is named as digital data or ledger in the chain of blocks. The blocks are connected with each and have a unique hash number which makes them more secure and safe.

Anything from cash to land titles to votes may be tokenized, stored, and traded on a blockchain network. Bitcoin is an example of an open, or permission-less blockchain. Instead of a physical chain, digital information (the block) is maintained in a publicly accessible database (the chain). A block is added to the blockchain when it contains fresh data. A transaction must take place - After making an online purchase, a block will aggregate thousands of transactions together, allowing an individual's purchase to be bundled alongside the details of other users' transactions (Schmidt and Wagner 2019).

The transaction must be confirmed - After purchase, a network of computers examines each transaction to guarantee it occurred as described by the consumer. In a couple of seconds, the network certifies the purchase, providing the time, quantity, and participants of the transaction.

The transaction must be put in a block - The transaction is approved after verification. The transaction's information is all saved in a block, which will be combined with thousands of others.

That block must be given a hash - After all of the block's transactions have been validated, it must be given a hash, which is a unique identifying code.

There are many advantages of the blockchain which make it a growing technology and implications in many different sectors to get the work more efficiently and effectively. The advantages are:

Data Transaction Accuracy: The blockchain provides the high accuracy of data transactions where the nodes in the blockchain server verify the data in the transaction and after the confirmation of data it is stored in the blocks. The nodes can also catch errors that can be identified if the data is mistakenly is used in the blocks, the other block can identify the error in the previous block. The verification of the data by the nodes reduces the chances of errors in the complete blockchain.

No intermediaries: There is no third party in the system of blockchain which reduces the time consumed and saves the cost of paying too banks for the transactions.

Security: The decentralised network like blockchain makes the data nearly impossible to be altered. To change the data in one block, the hacker needs to change the complete chain because every block has the hash value of the previous block.

Implications of Blockchain

Cybersecurity: The data stored in the blockchain is verified and stored in the blocks using different advanced cryptographic algorithms.

Communication: Blockchain technology is faster and more secure which can also be used in automated communication based on the algorithm inbuilt.

Government: Blockchain technology can reduce the bureaucracy and increase the security of the system. The blockchain also gives transparency which shows the statements and actions of the government to everyone.

The blockchain can be implemented in the supply chain management to track the product quality and availability in the system. The supply chain also manages and provides transparency to the farmer to consumer or retailer. The data in the chain is secure and private.

Transparency and Traceability with Blockchain

The racking and the transparency is a very crucial and an integral part of the completion attained in the system that will transpire into a service. One such operation is the supply chain management that is done in the food and supply part of the research, such that it will continue to form the chain proper. The delivery to be made accurate and the operation to be controlled from the table would make it easy and change the perception of it. This change makes the operation smooth and creates no problem to the system. Thus, the supply chain is restructured and then the operations are shifted over a technology (Juma et al.2019).

The relational exchange of the work such that it will continue to fonder the technical aspects to be integrated to it and then explore it. The initial part was the computerisation of the process, that will continue to make an expansion in the field of technology. The exponential growth that gave an open study to the task and the overall expansion of it. This makes an evaluative study in the validation, such that it will make an evaluation much open to comprehend over the validation through computer.

Figure 3: Traceability in Supply Chain using Blockchain

(Source: Borah et al. 2020)

The tracing of the openly wandering blocks in the blockchain is to be attained in the system by the use of a validated structure that will continue to linger in itself. It will manipulate the data and then expand in the field, such that it will make an exponential expansion of the validation work, that makes the operative study to it. Thus, it makes an evaluative comprehension to the validated structure created to the making of the task and the making of the volumetric expansion. This is to be traced and measured in the process, by the use of various operative hook such as validation and the continuation to be attained.

The complete system is transparent as even patients at the end-user of the product can see the manufacturer, origin, and expiry date. All the transactions are added to the blockchain making a new block with the new information stored in it with complete security of the system. The blockchain can be implemented in the supply chain in many different sectors and many companies are already using the blockchain in their supply chain management system. In the food industry, products in the store can be traced and a record can be kept in the ledger (Borah et al. 2020). Eg: Walmart uses the supply chain management system of the IBM blockchain.

Implementing Blockchain in Supply chain Management

Blockchain can be implemented in the supply chain management system to get better and more efficient results in managing and tracking the data of the products (Chang and Chen 2020). The supply chain is the complete process of delivering the products to end-users with the efforts of stakeholders and organizations. There are many challenges faced in the supply chain but the lack of transparency is still the major challenge faced supply chain. Blockchain technology provides the authority to the organizations to provide a track of all the products and transitions with transparency and security. Companies can track the complete record of the product from its origin. The transaction in the blockchain is added whenever the product changes hands. The transaction history is permanently stored in the blockchain ledger from its manufacturing to the end-user.

Blockchain technology provides efficiency and transparency in the complete supply chain management. The technology also uses smart contracts which helps in better compliance and also reduces the fees required in the legal contracts process. The blockchain is immutable and cannot be erased whole. The blockchain makes the supply chain complete transparently. The tracking system for raw materials and other source components is also provided by the blockchain. Providing the information about the origin, use manufacturer and transfer can help gain the trust and confidence of the user of the supply chain.

Figure 4: Supply chain management system with Blockchain in Health care

(Source: Khezr et al. 2019)

The above image shows the supply chain system in healthcare where the products from the pharmaceutical company and the transaction are added to the blockchain when transferred to the manufacturer. The manufacturer transfers the product to the warehouse and transported it to the different outlet warehouses from the products are transferred to the retailers and healthcare providers. The complete system is transparent as even patients at the end-user of the product can see the manufacturer, origin, and expiry date. All the transactions are added to the blockchain making a new block with the new information stored in it with complete security of the system (Khezr et al. 2019). The blockchain can be implemented in the supply chain in many different sectors and many companies are already using the blockchain in their supply chain management system. In the food industry, products in the store can be traced and a record can be kept in the ledger. For example, Walmart uses the supply chain management system of the IBM blockchain (Hyperledger Foundation 2022).

References

Bodkhe, U., Tanwar, S., Parekh, K., Khanpara, P., Tyagi, S., Kumar, N. and Alazab, M., 2020. Blockchain for industry 4.0: A comprehensive review. IEEE Access, 8, pp.79764-79800. Doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2988579

Borah, M.D., Naik, V.B., Patgiri, R., Bhargav, A., Phukan, B. and Basani, S.G., 2020. Supply chain management in agriculture using blockchain and IoT. In Advanced applications of blockchain technology (pp. 227-242). Springer, Singapore. Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336071540

Chang, S.E. and Chen, Y., 2020. When blockchain meets supply chain: A systematic literature review on current development and potential applications. IEEE Access, 8, pp.62478-62494. Doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2983601. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=9047881

Chang, S.E., Chen, Y.C. and Lu, M.F., 2019. Supply chain re-engineering using blockchain technology: A case of smart contract based tracking process. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 144, pp.1-11. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2019.03.015

Hamilton, M., 2020. Blockchain distributed ledger technology: An introduction and focus on smart contracts. Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance, 31(2), pp.7-12. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/jcaf.22421. https://sci-hub.ru/https://doi.org/10.1002/jcaf.22421

Hyperledger Foundation. 2022. Walmart Case Study – Hyperledger Foundation. [online] Available at: <https://www.hyperledger.org/learn/publications/walmart-case-study> [Accessed 2 April 2022].

Juma, H., Shaalan, K. and Kamel, I., 2019. A survey on using blockchain in trade supply chain solutions. Ieee Access, 7, pp.184115-184132. Doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2960542

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Khezr, S., Moniruzzaman, M., Yassine, A. and Benlamri, R., 2019. Blockchain technology in healthcare: A comprehensive review and directions for future research. Applied sciences, 9(9), pp.1-28. doi:10.3390/app9091736. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332685807_Blockchain_Technology_in_Healthcare_A_Comprehensive_Review_and_Directions_for_Future_Research

Laaper S. and Fitzgrald J., 2021, Using Blockchain to Drive Supply Chain Transparency and Innovation, Deloitte United States. Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/operations/articles/blockchain-supply-chain-innovation.html.

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Blockchain Technology in Food Supply Chain Management

Table of Contents

Introduction