July 13th, 2020, the United States Food and Drug Administration- FDA released a blueprint and pilot study to launch a new era of a smarter food safety initiative. The blueprint highlights some basic challenges facing food distribution in the United States and envisioned the use of smart technologies to solve these challenges. In the study, the FDA considers Blockchain technology as a viable option to solve some of the challenges.

Topical matters Discussed

Some of the topical matters stated are:

Traceability of Food and Food materials 

Food needs a system that can adequately trace its journey to the source. The study identifies that the records involved in moving food through the supply chain are mostly paper-based. This is inefficient, subject to errors and changeable, not to mention how reliable these records are. It should be possible to trace food to its origin. In a situation where there is a foodborne disease outbreak a cutting edge option to trace food in conjunction with Artificial intelligence will be very useful to determine where the food came from, where it has been or distributed to and a probable source of the disease. 

Interoperability of Data and Trust

The study also stated that there is a need for a system of data sharing between authorities in the industry. One which can be trusted, adopted, and acceptable by all stakeholders. There is also a need to be able to share data relating to the footprints and details of food between industries and healthcare systems of different states so they work together in times of need. 

FDA considers Blockchain Technology 

One exciting fact for the blockchain ecosystem is that the US FDA considers blockchain technology as a good option to be looked into to help in their pursuit. Blockchain in the blueprint was mentioned thrice which is a great achievement for a government body. It is a testament to the fact that governments are beginning to understand what blockchain technology can do to help in different parastatals such as food distribution and disease control. 

Blockchain Solutions FDA can consider 

There are blockchain technologies that are forward-thinking and have implemented solutions for food security in their framework. Here are two of them:

Xinfin Blockchain- Kramaa

Built as a hybrid blockchain with the public and private blockchain properties, Xinfin is an enterprise-ready network for trade financing. Xinfin is a viable option for the FDA to use to trace food items and know where it has been before its final destination. Kramaa is one of Xinfin blockchain applications that can easily create a digital footprint for any physical object via blockchain, IoT, and data analytics. This application can be used to track and trace food to monitor it through the supply chain. Since it is built on the blockchain technology data recorded are secured, unchanged, and permanent. This offers a trustless solution that can easily connect authorities and health care systems in a transparent and secure way. 

Gochain’s Gotrace

GoTrace is a cutting edge solution that was recently released by Gochain blockchain to enable traceability of items. It was designed specifically to allow authorized people to see and prove the origin of materials, where it has been and its current location. These data are recorded on the blockchain where they are invisible to unauthorized people, timestamped and unchanged. This kind of data remains trustless as the storage is distributed. Owing to the transaction speed and very low transaction costs of the blockchain, confirmations of data can be in real-time.