How blockchain is able to strongly affect food safety (and not only)
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According to Gartner forecasts (2021), the business value generated by #blockchain will grow to $176 billion by 2025 and to $3.1 trillion by 2030. According to Fortune Business Insights 2021, the global blockchain market is expected to grow from $7.18 billion in 2022 to $ 163.83 billion by 2029, with a 56.3% CAGR over the forecast period 2022-2029.
The #supplychain is one of the most relevant fields of interest for blockchain applications, in particular in the #FoodIndustry.
With this regard, the #COVID-19 pandemic had a strong impact in terms of increasing demand for safe and healthy products. The culture of healthy food and its sustainability is increasingly changing the purchasing and consumers’ habits.
Within the agricultural chain there are many players: #farmers, #producers, certification agencies, government agencies, #logistics, #distributors, #retailers. Inefficiencies along this supply chain are a big issue and it negatively affects #consumer prices, #footprintemissions, #foodwaste and #freshness. According to the #UN (2021), about 1.4 billion tons of food are wasted every year due to those inefficiencies. Most companies are incredibly slowed down by manual paper-based processes that make identifying any problems hard and time-consuming.
Another issue triggered by those inefficiencies are product recalls. Tracking foods along the supply chain takes days, if not weeks, as companies struggle to keep track of a mix of digital and paper data.
Finally, #fraud and #counterfeiting that exceed $ 50 billion per year (Food Safety Net Service, 2020). Everything, from honey and milk to fish and olive oil, can be adulterated with highly negative consequences on the #health if we think of some essential products in our diet such as olive oil or pasta.
The digitalization of data along the supply chain through the blockchain in a #decentralized and #immutable way allows not only #trust and #transparency but above all to immediately identify any issue. A system able to track product loss, waste and expiration dates could save $150 billion annually (UN, 2021) in food waste. Plus, it can allow savings of roughly $31 billion in global food fraud by 2024 and a 30% cost reduction (Juniper Research, 2019).
Finally, #reputation, #corporateimage, #differentiation and #sustainability are the real drivers of #brandloyalty and #customerloyalty: recently, 78% of people interviewed were willing to change their food habits to reduce the environmental impact (C.O.nxt insights, 2021). Consumers are asking to know where food comes from, the kind of agricultural practices, how workers and animals are treated in the processes.
Brand loyalty does not exist without quality, safety and sustainability. A blockchain-powered digital agri-food supply chain can assure full transparency and total control so that consumers can trust in the food they buy.