7 Benefits of IBM Food Trust

Running a more efficient food network

Inefficiency in the food system is a pervasive problem worldwide, made more apparent by the COVID-19 crisis, which stressed the global supply chain.¹ With so many participants, there are endless opportunities to lose efficiency and profits. Inefficiencies negatively affect consumer pricing, the carbon footprint, food waste and expected freshness. According to the United Nations, 1.4 billion tons of perishable food is wasted due to inefficiencies found with the food supply chain.²

What’s standing in the way of driving new food chain efficiencies?

Legacy supply chains slow companies down
Though some large retailers are deploying new technologies like blockchain³ to create automated and intelligent supply chains, most companies are bogged down in manual paper-based processes that make it difficult and time-consuming to identify issues and manage inventory.

Slow adoption of digital supply chain tools keeps companies in the dark
Even though visibility and transparency will be key to their success over the next 10 years⁴, companies have been slow to adopt digital tools that could enable better supply and demand matching and identify waste hot spots.

Poor coordination across the food chain network creates waste
Irregularities in the global food system make hand-offs far from seamless. Enabling a system that tracks product loss, waste and expiration dates could save USD 150 billion annually⁵ in food waste.

Blockchain for the food system

A shared digital food supply chain powered by blockchain helps supply chain players better collaborate with each other to operate more efficiently and adapt to change.

Working smarter across a shared ecosystem

Easily identify process inefficiencies, eliminate bottlenecks and optimize your supply chain for continuous growth.

Real-time demand forecasting

All food system participants can now know the provenance, real-time location and status of their food products. Armed with better data, companies can develop more accurate supply and demand forecasting models, localize the sourcing of ingredients and restructure contracts.

Scalability

Automated processes and end-to-end synchronization can create efficiencies at every step.

IBM Food Trust creates a secure, shared and permissioned record of transactions. This enables unprecedented visibility during each step of the food supply chain, so you can achieve new levels of trust and transparency, making food safer and smarter from farm to fork.

Boost efficiency with IBM Food Trust

IBM Food Trust consists of different modules designed to help participants in the food system — producers, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers — to make their supply chains more efficient.

Leveraging blockchain and IoT technology, the Insights capabilities module can provide unprecedented supply chain visibility to help identify and address inefficiencies.

With the Trace module, food system members can securely and transparently trace the location and status of food products on the supply chain.

Additionally, with the Documents module, users can prove sustainability and provenance with ease by securely managing certificates throughout the entire supply chain.

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Enhance your reputation for safety and quality

Building customer trust in food

Now more than ever, consumers have numerous options when it comes to where to buy their food. With such a competitive food industry, brand differentiation is important to remain top of mind for buying decisions. Sustainability — often the key differentiator in a crowded marketplace — is a driver of consumer loyalty.¹ Trends show that consumers want to know more than just the nutritional information — they want to know the food’s origin, when it was grown and how.²

How are you innovating your company to stay ahead of the curve?

Consumers are becoming more “sustainable-conscious”
Driven by recent sustainability awareness efforts, consumer attention to the matter is growing. Recently, 78% of people surveyed were willing to change food consumption habits to reduce their environmental impact.³

Companies are moving beyond compliance
The bar is rising for both safety and quality. Food companies are setting their own independent standards and programs for food safety and freshness, beyond those needed to be compliant.

Brand loyalty doesn’t exist without the presence of food quality and safety
In fact, 20% of shoppers actually switched brands after a product recall.⁴ Consumers, along with other key players in the food system, want more details and visibility about the food they consume in order to make informed decisions.

Blockchain for the food system

A digital food supply chain powered by blockchain enables full transparency so that consumers, retailers, manufacturers and suppliers all have confidence and trust in the companies that we purchase and consume our food from.

Full transparency

Top-to-bottom visibility into the food chain enables brands to quickly and proactively manage damaged products without disrupting the entire supply chain.

Competitive advantage

When consumers and supply chain partners know that brands are transparent about the quality and origin of their foods, it builds brand equity and trust, creating differentiation.

Food confidence and trust

By tracking each step of the food supply chain and sharing data on an immutable ledger, participants can ensure the promised quality of goods is indisputable.

How IBM Food Trust addresses brand trust

IBM Food Trust creates a secure, shared and permissioned record of transactions. This enables unprecedented visibility during each step of the food supply chain. It consists of different modules designed to help participants in the food system — producers, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers — provide innovative and trusted solutions to the end consumer well before the consumer realizes there was ever an issue that needed to be solved.

With the Trace module, supply chain members can securely and transparently trace food products upstream and downstream to provide the food details consumers and partners demand.

The Consumer module shares the journey of food by connecting shoppers to specific, permissioned information that helps influence buying decisions, such as origin, quality and sustainability practices.

With the Documents module, users can prove sustainability and provenance with ease by securely managing certificates throughout the entire supply chain.

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Help ensure safety and regulatory compliance

Improving food safety across the supply chain

Food recalls are an immense safety problem and a threat to profitability. Last year, Food Safety magazine counted 337 food safety recalls in the US.¹ Companies surveyed put costs at up to USD 30 million per incident², stemming from direct costs plus such indirect costs as penalties, lawsuits, lost sales and brand damage. In addition to the societal and business impact, huge stocks of food are wasted and consumer trust is crushed.

What’s standing in the way of taking food safety concerns off the table?

Not all companies can quickly identify the cause of a food safety incident
Tracing food across the supply chain takes days, if not weeks, as companies struggle to track a mix of digital and paper-based food data documentation across a complex and growing network of suppliers and distributors.

Gaps in supply chain monitoring create vulnerabilities
Deficiencies in production and monitoring processes expose the food system to vulnerabilities that could be eliminated. In response, some retailers are deploying blockchain for end-to-end traceability and monitoring of food products in the supply chain.³

Outdated food traceability practices aren’t built for the modern era
Regulators are now demanding state-of-the-art practices and modern technologies to ensure food safety, and blockchain can help bring organizations up to standard.

Blockchain for the food system

With a digital food system, network participants have access to tools and data to improve food safety and become a proactive contributor to bettering the food system as a whole. Blockchain technology stores digitized records in a decentralized and immutable manner, promoting trust and transparency which in turn helps to better the food system and ensure safer food.

Transparency

Know the provenance, real-time location and status of any food product. A transparent food system is an accountable food system.

End-to-end traceability

If a food safety issue is reported, it is immediately clear who is impacted and who should take action.

Food confidence

With IBM Food Trust, you have a trusted source for increased supply chain visibility. Additionally, organizations can know which foods have been grown or produced in a certified manner, reducing contamination risks and potentially harmful food fraud along the supply chain.

Improving food safety with IBM Food Trust

IBM Food Trust consists of different modules designed to help everyone in the food system collaborate, such as suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers.

The Trace module has specific benefits to support food safety initiatives. Participants can securely and transparently trace the location and status of food products upwards and downwards in seconds to better manage food safety within their supply network.

The Documents module helps you securely manage certificates and documents for your organization, and access other permissioned documents in your supply network.

Leveraging blockchain and IoT technology, the Insights capabilities module can provide unprecedented visibility into how food is handled as it travels through the supply chain.

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Help ensure the promised quality

Building a sustainable food network

Across the globe, consumers are demanding to know more about their food — where it came from, the effect of its production methods on our planet, and how workers and animals were treated in the process. In fact, 54% of consumers say it’s at least somewhat important that the food they buy is produced in an environmentally sustainable way.¹ Sustainability is no longer a bonus; it’s imperative for both the consumers who demand it and for future business models.

What’s bringing sustainability to the forefront of food conversations?

Consumers are becoming more “sustainable-conscious”
Driven by recent sustainability awareness efforts, consumer attention to the matter is growing. Recently, 78% of people surveyed were willing to change food consumption habits to reduce their environmental impact.²

The cost of unsustainable food practices is adding up
“True Cost Accounting” is shedding light on the price of unsustainable food practices. Unsustainable sourcing and biodiversity loss, due to unsustainable production methods, result in hidden costs. Research shows that consumers unknowingly pay twice as much for their food due to such costs.³

A growing population
With the global population expected to boom from 7 to 10 billion by 2056⁴, companies are looking for ways to decrease their ecological footprints.

Blockchain for the food system

A digital food supply chain powered by blockchain enables new levels of trust and transparency across the food ecosystem, increasing awareness of sustainability opportunities and practices during each step of the food chain.

Full transparency

With end-to-end transparency, users can guarantee provenance and gain a clearer view of where inefficiencies and lack of sustainability exist across the entire supply chain.

Certified responsible practices

Farmers, producers and other food actors can automatically digitize and easily share audits, certificates and other records, proving that they utilize and promote sustainable and ethical practices.

Food confidence and trust

By tracking each step of the food supply chain and sharing data on an immutable ledger, participants can ensure the promised quality of goods is indisputable.

How IBM Food Trust addresses sustainability

IBM Food Trust creates a secure, shared and permissioned record of transactions. This enables unprecedented visibility during each step of the food supply chain. It consists of different modules designed to help participants in the food system — producers, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers — so food can be fresher, safer and more sustainable.

With the Consumer module, producers and retailers can share the journey of food from farm to shelf, along with provenance, sustainability practices and ingredient sourcing information.

With the Trace module, users can securely and transparently trace the status of food products upwards and downwards to trace goods.

Additionally, with the Documents module, users can share inspections, quality certifications and registrations, boosting confidence and transparency throughout the supply chain.

Download PDF (358 KB)

Accurately judge remaining shelf life

In pursuit of fresher food

The demand for fresh food is more than a passing fad — 66% of U.S. consumers have increased their spending on fresh food over two years running.¹ That was before the pandemic struck, when tons of fresh food bound for shuttered schools and restaurants went to waste. As the food supply chain adjusts to the new normal, food freshness is even more important. More than 50% of consumers don’t feel safe in stores and now shop less frequently, so they need food to last even longer.²

What’s spoiling our efforts to optimize food freshness?

Food travels far before reaching your plate
Grocery stores are a hub of globalization. On average, more than five countries are represented on American plates.³ This can contribute to increased spoilage in fresh food, due to extended time in transit and storage.

Food chains are becoming increasingly complex and global
Fresh produce now spends up to 50% of its shelf life in transit from paddock to retailer.⁴ Complex supply chains, along with gaps between producers, distributors and retailers, decrease the velocity of travel and increase challenges to maintaining food freshness.

Poor visibility creates product loss and decreases margin
As food begins its post-harvest transport, it basically becomes invisible, making it difficult to pinpoint what happens to the 33% of our global food supply that is lost or wasted.⁵

Blockchain for the food system

A digital food supply chain powered by blockchain enables full transparency across the food ecosystem so that retailers are able to provide fresher options (with increased shelf life) to their consumers, leading to reduced product loss and increased margins.

End-to-end traceability

Track how fresh food really is and how long it’s been traveling in real-time to confidently understand remaining shelf life.

Full transparency

Top-to-bottom visibility into the food chain enables companies to know exactly where food is coming from and the conditions under which it was shipped.

Supply chain efficiency

Access to secure transactional data, temperature data and inventory levels, for example, allows your team to make proactive decisions based on that data that can optimize and improve efficiencies in the supply chain.

IBM Food Trust works with each member of the food ecosystem to achieve new levels of trust and transparency, making food safer and smarter from farm to fork. It enables companies to collaborate and digitize records, which increases visibility during each step of the food supply chain.

Manage food freshness with IBM Food Trust

IBM Food Trust creates a secure, shared and permissioned record of transactions. It consists of different modules designed to help participants in the food system — producers, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers — provide fresher, sustainable and safe food to the end consumer.

The Trace module allows users to securely and transparently trace the status of fresh products at all locations, and be alerted to those at risk of expiring.

With the Documents module, users can prove food provenance and authenticity by securely managing certificates and documents along the supply chain. Having access to such documents and data helps to eliminate inefficiencies in your network that lead to food waste.

The Consumer module shares the journey of fresh food from farm or sea to shelf, connecting shoppers to information about origin and picking, production or catch dates.

Download PDF (339 KB)

Help eliminate the chance for fraud and errors

Uncovering food fraud along the supply chain

Driven by the complexity of today’s global food system, food fraud continues to thrive: It’s a global business exceeding USD 50 billion dollars annually.¹ As long as there is a profit to be made (and there is), everything from honey and milk to fish and olive oil is at risk for adulteration. Regardless of the level of safety implications or where the vulnerability occurred, suppliers are largely liable for the impact—but everyone in the food industry suffers.

What’s keeping food fraud alive?

The food supply chain runs on outdated practices
Today’s increasingly complex, fragmented and global food supply chains have led to a steep increase in food fraud.² Regulators are demanding state-of-the-art practices and technology³ to help bring organizations up to standard and ultimately create a more transparent food system.

Complex supply chains create blind spots
Many companies simply lack the awareness of where and how they are susceptible to food fraud; however, with up to 10% of the food system affected by food fraud⁴, weak links can occur across raw materials, ingredients, products and packaging.

There is a better way to reduce fraud
Blockchain can enable USD 31 billion in food fraud savings globally by 2024 by immutably tracking food across the supply chain, and compliance costs can be reduced by 30%.⁵

Blockchain for the food system

A shared digital food supply chain powered by blockchain enables full transparency by digitizing transaction records and storing them in a decentralized and immutable manner, eliminating opportunity for fraud across the food chain.

End-to-end traceability

Increased surveillance shines a light on each link in the food chain, enabling real-time traceability of food fraud culprits — and creating accountability.

Collaboration

Secure data-sharing between food chain actors eliminates the possibility for participants to move fraudulent foods unknowingly.

Transparency

Improved transparency allows fewer opportunities for fraudsters to penetrate your supply chain, and permanent records enable better management of material safety and quality standards.

IBM Food Trust creates a secure shared, and permissioned record of transactions. This enables unprecedented visibility during each step of the food supply chain, so you can achieve new levels of trust and transparency, making food safer and smarter from farm to fork.

How IBM Food Trust fights food fraud

IBM Food Trust consists of different modules designed to help participants in the food system — producers, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers — to make their supply chains less susceptible to fraud.

With the Trace module, supply chain members can transparently trace food products in the supply chain upstream and downstream, shining a light on the authenticity of both raw ingredients and packaged goods.

Leveraging blockchain and IoT technology, the Insights capabilities module can provide unprecedented supply chain visibility to help detect and mitigate fraudulent action.

Additionally, with the Documents module, users can share inspections, quality certifications, and registrations, enabling accountability for acquired data at each step.

Download PDF (238 KB)

Help minimize waste hot spots

Driving food waste out of the supply chain

With up to a third of all food produced ending up in the trash¹, the global imperative to reduce food waste is gaining momentum, but lacking traction. Estimates place the volume globally at over one billion tons of food going into landfills each year.²

What’s standing in the way of toppling the food waste mountain?

Reducing food waste is challenging
Even with companies and countries on board (the US aims to halve food waste by 2030)³, reducing food waste remains complex, requiring efforts across the supply chain, from farmers and distributors to retailers and consumers.

Insufficient infrastructures keep companies in the dark
Even though studies suggest widespread adoption of digital supply chain tools could reduce food loss and waste by up to USD 120 billion annually⁴, companies have been slow to adopt digital tools that could enable visibility into the food chain and identify waste hot spots.

Questionable freshness leads to consumer waste
Every year, a third of fresh food is thrown away globally by consumers who are unsure about the quality of their food.⁵

Blockchain for the food system

With a digital food system, network participants can now better track the quantity of food wasted and of food rescued. Blockchain technology stores digitized records in a decentralized and immutable manner, promoting trust and transparency which in turn helps reduce food waste.

End-to-end traceability

A digital food supply network powered by blockchain enables full transparency across the food chain to maximize shelf life, optimize partner networks and increase recall response efficiency, helping reduce waste.

Collaboration

Selective data sharing enables all in the food system to adopt consistent standards, policies and procedures.

Full transparency

With greater visibility into food waste, food producers, distributors and retailers can help identify opportunities to reduce food waste along the supply chain.

IBM Food Trust creates a secure, shared and permissioned record of transactions. This enables unprecedented visibility during each step of the food supply chain, so you can achieve new levels of trust and transparency, making food safer and smarter from farm to fork.

Reducing food waste with IBM Food Trust

IBM Food Trust consists of different modules to help suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers increase visibility within the food chain.

Leveraging blockchain and IoT technology, the Insights capabilities module can provide unprecedented supply chain visibility to help identify when and where food waste happens.

The Trace module provides participants with a way to securely and transparently trace the location and status of food products on the supply chain to better manage — and reduce — food waste.

With the Documents module, users can prove food provenance and authenticity by securely managing certificates and documents along the supply chain. Having access to such documents and data helps to eliminate inefficiencies in your network that lead to food waste.

Download PDF (230 KB)