Blockchain and the Revolution in Livestock Traceability: Ensuring Food Safety and Combating Fraud. This is what we’re discussing today. It’s not just us, we’ll be using quotes and data from some of the world’s leading experts in the industry to prove our statements, opinions or anything else that we say.
If you’re someone who’s interested in Blockchain, or you’re in the animal industry by even the tiniest thread, this article is for you.
Let’s get started then!
Table of Contents
What is Blockchain?
Imagine this as a digital ledger, a notebook, that records all the transactions on the Blockchain. This ledger is public and transparent. Meaning, anyone can verify the contents of the ledger/Blockchain without any special tools or authorization being required.
The act of recording data on the Blockchain too is pretty strict and no one can just record untrue or false data.
Similarly, once data is recorded, it’s almost impossible to change the data.
These facts provide immense integrity to anything recorded on the Blockchain. Carlos Augusto Delmindo Filho, a Bovine reproduction veteran says “Traceability needs to be reliable. Blockchain gives us the security that information will not be altered, guaranteeing the quality of the final product.”
Application in Animal Traceability
Blockchain can revolutionize animal traceability in some very simple yet effective ways. For starters, a Blockchain tag/identifier can be attached to the animal. The identifier can then be used to record the birth date/time, locations/ breed and everything else about the animal.
The tag can then be accessed by anyone who you wish to allow access. The information recorded in the animal tag tells the user about its condition/location and other aspects. With blockchain, we can have a complete history of each animal, from birth to slaughter, including information on health, welfare, and handling. This is essential to guarantee the quality and safety of the meat that reaches the consumer’s table” is what Carlos says.
Benefits of Traceability with Blockchain
Of course there are tons of benefits that Blockchain offers in terms of animal traceability, some of those are:
- Transparency: Of course this is the primary benefit as Blockchain adds immense transparency to the overall operation. The fact that it can be verified by anyone and that records are immutable are two of the biggest benefits you can enjoy.
- Increased business: Because of the transparency, shareholders, customers and all other participants have an increased sense of trust. This in turn increases business for you.
- Optimized production chain: As every step of the production chain can now be monitored, you can spot issues or areas that need improvement better. You may even identify areas that are over performing and may divert resources to help other areas that need assistance.
- Less loss of revenue: In any business, loss of revenue can arise from multiple issues. One of the most common issues is fraud. Blockchain ensures the records can’t be altered or faked. This reduces your chances of being defrauded and reduces your revenue loss.
Challenges and Perspectives
Blockchain is still not a fully adopted technology or standard across the globe. Hence, it poses a number of challenges, a few of those are:
- Costs: Going fully Blockchain will require you to implement some hardware/software and probably even personnel changes. This costs money.
- Standardization and operation: As it’s a new technology, specially in terms of livestock traceability, implementing universal standards that everyone accepts and learning how to use those standards is a task.
- Legalities: You can’t just go around pushing some tags in animals. There may be legal frameworks to work around before this can actually be implemented.
Even Carlos believes in the future of Blockchain for the animal industry and was recorded saying- “I believe that blockchain is the future of traceability in animal production. It is a technology that is here to stay and has the potential to revolutionize the way we produce and consume food“.
Conclusion
That’s it folks. As is probably clear by now, Blockchain has immense benefits as far as livestock traceability goes. It can bring transparency, security and accountability like none other once properly implemented.
Of course, the other side of the coin brings in the challenges and problems that it faces due to its novelty, technological differences and other reasons.
All in all, if similar to Carlos’ belief, we too believe it’s the way forward and can change the industry forever given enough time and attention.
