Food-supply blockchain launched by Swiss supermarket chain

Swiss supermarket chain Migros is integrating a food-supply blockchain solution to make its offering traceable. To achieve this the supermarket is collaborating with blockchain startup TE-Food. The startup's distributed ledger technology can trace fruit and vegetables from farm to supermarket.

Migros will uses the food-supply blockchain for internal solutions only. They want to optimize their supply chain by distributing faster and improving their control over their supply. For example this is useful when a product needs to be called back.

Migros is the biggest retailer in Switzerland. It's also one of the forty largest retailers in the world. They already communicate traceability data. With the help of TE-Food their offering becomes faster and less time consuming. The traceability functionality will also be integrated in a B2B mobile and web app.

Not the only food-supply blockchain

The move from Migros is nothing new. In the past months we've seen many more examples of supermarkets integrating blockchain-solution in their supply chain. VeChain is doing supply chain services for fine Italian wines, while they also made a deal with the Chinese division of Walmart. At the same time both Walmart and Albertsons are pushing blockchain adoption in their supply chain in the United States. Together with Nestle, Carrefour and Unilever they use IBM blockchain solution.

Supply chain transparency is one of the key reasons to embrace blockchain technology. There are companies from different sectors embracing it. For example Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom is going to use blockchain technology to track its gas supplies. While Volvo uses it to battle child labor. In addition Volkswagen wants to track its mineral supply. Even Starbucks is tracking its own coffee.