Learning about the reduction of food waste using Blockchain technology

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how blockchain technology can improve food traceability, reduce fraud, and minimize food waste in dairy supply chains by providing transparent, tamper-proof records accessible to all stakeholders.

Contribution

It introduces a blockchain-based system using Hyperledger Fabric for real-time food traceability and fraud prevention in dairy farms, enhancing transparency and efficiency.

Findings

Enhanced traceability of dairy products within seconds.

Reduced food waste by quick identification of contaminated batches.

Improved transparency and fraud detection in the food supply chain.

Abstract

Farmers need to be efficient and dedicate a lot of time in order to sustain the quality of their animals which are in their care. The most convenient and good quality - price ratio should be chosen for the feed of animals. Blockchain is used in a virtual space to store and share information over a network of users. This is done using the open source Hyperledger Fabric platform. The transactions can be viewed by all the other users in real time. These transactions are stored as JSONs inside CouchDB NoSQL database which supports queries on a large volume of data. When using this technology, the farmer can know with whom the supplier for animal feed collaborated with. The history of the transactions are not saved in just one place. In this way, it is more difficult to hack and provide implausible information. An e-learning platform was created where the farm's user can post information, respectively new blocks about the animal's birth, vaccinations, medicines, including the location of the livestock. The same e-learning platform is accessible from the mobile phone. By using the blockchain technology, anyone, including the client from the shop can know a lot about the origin of the products. Fake origins of food are much more difficult to hide. Fraud is also limited. The system monitored the traceability of dairy products inside a Romanian farm. Data about fodder provider and quality, cow productive performances and health and dairy products process were obtained and analyzed by students who will become specialists at all the levels of the food chain. Blockchain is the technology which in case of a dairy products contamination, the origin of the farm is traced in just a couple of seconds. In this way just a batch of dairy products is removed from distribution, leading to the reduction of food waste.