Collaboration to apply blockchain technology for food traceability to
support offline and online consumers
BEIJING -- (Business Wire)
Walmart (NYSE: WMT), JD.com (NASDAQ: JD), IBM (NYSE: IBM), and Tsinghua
University National Engineering Laboratory for E-Commerce Technologies
announced today they will work together in a Blockchain Food Safety
Alliance that will kick off with a collaboration designed to enhance
food tracking, traceability and safety in China, to achieve greater
transparency across the food supply chain.
The four companies will work together to create a standards-based method
of collecting data about the origin, safety and authenticity of food,
using blockchain technology to provide real-time traceability throughout
the supply chain. This will encourage accountability and give suppliers,
regulators and consumers greater insight and transparency into how food
is handled, from the farm to consumers. This has traditionally been
challenging due to complex and fragmented data sharing systems that are
often paper-based and can be error-prone.
Walmart, JD, IBM and Tsinghua University will work with food supply
chain providers and regulators to develop the standards, solutions and
partnerships to enable a broad-based food safety ecosystem in China. IBM
will provide its IBM Blockchain Platform and expertise, while Tsinghua
University will act as a technical advisor sharing its expertise in the
key technologies and the China food safety ecosystem. IBM and Tsinghua
will collaborate with Walmart and JD to develop, optimize and roll out
the technology to suppliers and retailers that join the alliance.
As a world leader in global food safety, Walmart works closely with
suppliers, regulators, industry partners and the research community
around the world. In China, it invests heavily in food safety research
through the Walmart Food Safety and Collaboration Center and has
promoted food safety, both through its own supplier network, as well as
working with JD, which has rich omni-channel food supply chain
management experience. The two have been able to leverage JD’s expertise
in the application of artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, big data
and other new technologies to protect consumers.
Following IBM and Walmart's announcement
in August of a new consortium to enhance food safety, this collaboration
brings IBM’s blockchain food safety expertise to China. IBM, Walmart and
Tsinghua University have piloted the use of blockchain to trace food
items, including pork in China and mangoes in the U.S., as they move
through the supply chain to store shelves. Recent testing by Walmart
showed that applying blockchain reduced the time it took to trace a
package of mangoes from the farm to the store from days or weeks to two
seconds.
“As a global advocate for enhanced food safety, Walmart looks forward to
deepening our work with IBM, Tsinghua University, JD and others
throughout the food supply chain. Through collaboration,
standardization, and adoption of new and innovative technologies, we can
effectively improve traceability and transparency and help ensure the
global food system remains safe for all,” said Frank Yiannas, vice
president, food safety and health at Walmart.
“Partnering with IBM, Tsinghua University and Walmart, all global
leaders in traceability, gives our customers and partner brands
unparalleled accountability,” said Yongli Yu, President of JD Y,
JD.com’s supply chain research unit. “Throughout the world, and
particularly in China, consumers increasingly want to know how their
food is sourced, and JD is dedicated to using technology to promote
complete transparency.”
“Blockchain holds incredible promise in delivering the transparency that
is needed to help promote food safety across the whole supply chain.
This is a fundamental reason why IBM believes so strongly in the impact
this technology will have on business models,” said Bridget van
Kralingen, senior vice president, IBM Industry Platforms. “By expanding
our food safety work with Walmart and Tsinghua University in China and
adding new collaborators like JD.com, the technology brings traceability
and transparency to a broader network of food supply chain participants.”
“Tsinghua University is committed to in-depth research into food safety
–one of the most important areas for improving quality of life in China
and also around the world. We have already been working with IBM and
Walmart to create a new model for food traceability, using blockchain to
support supply chain transparency and auditability, and we see this new
cooperation as an important next step in this endeavour,” said Professor
Yueting Chai from the National Engineering Laboratory for E-Commerce
Technologies, Tsinghua University.
The collaboration is designed to help ensure brand owners’ data privacy
while helping them integrate their online and offline traceability for
food safety and quality management channels. Companies that join the
alliance will be able to share information using blockchain technology,
and plans include them being able to choose the standards-based
traceability solution that best suits their needs and legacy systems.
This will in turn bring greater transparency to the supply chain and
introduce new technologies to the retail sector designed to create a
safer food environment and enhance the consumer experience.
The insights gained from the work in China will shed light on how
blockchain technology can help improve processes such as recalls and
verifications and enhance consumer confidence due to greater
transparency in China and around the world.
About IBM
IBM is the leader in open-source blockchain solutions built for the
enterprise. As an early member of Hyperledger, an open source
collaborative effort created to advance cross-industry blockchain
technologies, IBM is dedicated to supporting the development of
openly-governed blockchains. IBM has worked with hundreds of clients
across financial services, supply chains, IoT, risk management, digital
rights management and healthcare to implement blockchain applications.
For more information about IBM Blockchain, visit https://www.ibm.com/blockchain/
About JD.com, Inc.
JD.com is both the largest e-commerce company in China and the country’s
largest retailer by revenue. The company strives to offer consumers the
best online shopping experience. Through its user-friendly website,
native mobile apps, and WeChat and Mobile QQ entry points, JD offers
consumers a superior shopping experience. The company has the largest
fulfillment infrastructure of any e-commerce company in China. As of
June 30, 2017, JD.com operated 7 fulfillment centers and 335 warehouses
covering 2,691 counties and districts across China, staffed by its own
employees. JD.com is a member of the NASDAQ100 and a Fortune Global 500
company.
About Walmart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) helps people around the world save
money and live better - anytime and anywhere - in retail stores, online,
and through their mobile devices. Each week, over 260 million customers
and members visit our more than 11,600 stores under 59 banners in 28
countries and e-commerce websites in 11 countries. With fiscal year 2017
revenue of $485.9 billion, Walmart employs approximately 2.3 million
associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in
sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity.
Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting http://corporate.walmart.com
on Facebook at http://facebook.com/walmart
and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/walmart.
About Tsinghua University
As one of China’s most renowned universities, Tsinghua is dedicated to
the well-being of Chinese society and to world development. Located in
Tsinghua University, National Engineering for Laboratory E-commerce
Technologies (NELECT) is China's first national research institute in
e-Commerce field approved by the NDRC (The National Development and
Reform Commission). The laboratory is dedicated to the research and
development of next generation e-Commerce technologies including trusted
transaction technologies, blockchain, electronic invoice technologies,
intelligent supply chain, etc.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171213006244/en/
Contacts:
Walmart
Rebecca Lui, 1-800-331-0085
rlui@walmart.com
news.walmart.com/reporter
or
IBM
Hannah
Slocum
hslocum@us.ibm.com
or
JD.com
Josh
Gartner
Press@jd.com
Source: Walmart
© 2024 Canjex Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.