Swiss multinational food and drink company Nestlé announced on Tuesday the launch of its new blockchain pilot platform, which allows consumers to track their food right back to the farm. Nestlé claims to be the first major food and beverage company to announce it will pilot open blockchain technology to track food.
“OpenSC has developed a platform that will give anyone, anywhere access to independently verifiable sustainability and supply chain data. The initial pilot program will trace milk from farms and producers in New Zealand to Nestlé factories and warehouses in the Middle East. Later, the technology will be tested using palm oil sourced in the Americas. These pilots will allow Nestlé to understand how scalable the system is.”
While sharing more details about the platform, Magdi Batato, Executive Vice President and Head of Operations at Nestlé S.A., stated:
“We want our consumers to make an informed decision on their choice of products – to choose products produced responsibly. Open blockchain technology might allow us to share reliable information with consumers in an accessible way.”
Nestlé also noted that piloted blockchain technology since 2017, most prominently with IBM Food Trust. Benjamin Ware, Global Head of Responsible Sourcing at Nestlé S.A., went on to add:
“This open blockchain technology will allow anyone, anywhere in the world to assess our responsible sourcing facts and figures. We believe it is another important step towards the full disclosure of our supply chains announced by Nestlé in February this year, raising the bar for transparency and responsible production globally.”