Sicily To Use Blockchain For Food Supply Chain Management

Implementing blockchain in the management of food supply chain is probably the most widespread application of the technology so far. Therefore, the Sicilian Regional Assembly has applying blockchain to track the food supply in the region more efficiently. 

Blockchain technology has evolved immensely over the last few years, and is known for a lot more than being just a technology which backs cryptocurrency. Over the last few years, the technology has realized its use cases in industries like food and agriculture developing an ecosystem for traceability and safety of food chain. 

In August, Migros, the Swiss retail company, had announced that it was using blockchain to enhance food traceability. 

On September 25^th, an autonomous legislative body of Sicily, the Sicilian Regional Assembly, approved to use blockchain for the same. The complete version of the bill has not released yet, however, it marks a notable step for combatting diseases due to food contamination, and ultimately, saving lives.

The proposal was issued by the 5 Star Movement (M5S) political party for implementing blockchain technology to guarantee the agro-food traceability in the ICG, DOC, DOP, and IGP supply chain. The proposed bill, which is now legitimized, will create trust between the end-users by providing a transparent farm-to-fork supply chain platform. 

Additionally, the Sicilian food companies would also gain from this initiative as it would eventually eliminate product recalls, reducing the operational costs significantly. Naturally, consumers would rather prefer to pay for a product supplied via an authentic source that for those whose point of provenance is unknown to the buyer. 

A step towards a contamination-free society

Basically, blockchain is a distributed ledger technology (DLT) which records and stores data in the form of blocks, and spread across millions of computer networks. This is why, modifying or tampering with data stored on a blockchain is nearly impossible. 

With just a couple clicks, customers can access information to its storage facilities, cultivation methods, transportation, and much more.

The deputy of M5S, Jose Marano, stated that Sicily will hereon be completely free from food adulteration problems, thanks to blockchain technology, which will ensure that no counterfeit product enterns the distribution chain. Additionally, the transparency in the entire procedure will guarantee safeguard integrity. It will also become revolutionary as customers will now be able to verify whether they are actually purchasing genuine products, Marano said with confidence.