Carrefour Polska is introducing Polish own-brand potatoes tracked via blockchain technology, allowing customers to trace the journey of the product from cultivation to packaging.
The chain is the first in the food sector in Poland to introduce the solution, meeting the expectations of customers and the government's project of 'passporting' Polish food, Carrefour added.
Carrefour Poland Blockchain Products
Potatoes under the 'Quality from Nature' brand is the first food product in Poland that uses distributed databases from blockchain technology.
The project, implemented by Carrefour Polska in cooperation with its suppliers, aims to ensure full transparency in the traceability of products that will hit the shelves of stores throughout the country.
The first phase of the initiative was attended by 10 Polish farms that are suppliers of Bugaj and Białuty.
The pioneering process of 'food passporting' began in April of this year with the help of IBM Food Trust solutions.
Marek Lipka, member of the management board at Carrefour Polska, said, "Thanks to the blockchain technology, we can provide our clients with immediate access to the most important information about the product, such as the variety, place of cultivation, date of harvest from the field and when the audit was carried out at the supplier."
Traceability At Carrefour
The retailer has introduced a QR code on the packaging of 'Quality from Nature' potatoes covered by the traceability project.
After scanning it using a smartphone with an active Internet connection, the customer will be redirected to a dedicated website that presents a complete set of up-to-date information about a given production batch.
By saving the data in a distributed register, it is possible to resign from the form of a traditional server, which in turn provides each network user with equal access to the data.
On the other hand, the data encryption mechanism makes it impossible to change or corrupt the registry - any possible modification would be saved as new information, and the previous version would remain visible in the system, so customers can always trace the full history.
The Carrefour Group began implementing blockchain technology to trace food products in France in 2017.
The first product with a blockchain passport appeared on the shelves of French stores in March 2018 - it was chicken offered as part of the French Carrefour Quality line.
In the same year, the group extended the project with four more products of this line - tomatoes, eggs, milk and Rocamadour AOC cheese.
Currently, French Carrefour already has 45 products offering full transparency regarding traceability.
Carrefour Polska provides for the possibility of developing a control system with the help of blockchain technology for other products available in its stores.
The network will inform about the next stages of the project well in advance, the retailer added.
