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Health officials in the United States and Canada have warned the population last month to avoid eating Roman lettuce, which was linked to an E. coli epidemic that caused the deaths of dozens of people in both countries.
Food security and trust have been the premises of recent news incidents. The e-coli epidemic in Roman lettuce has caused panic and the crisis of consumer confidence after cases in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick had arisen. Meanwhile, at the start of this month, the Canadian Center for Food Integrity has published a study noting that only a third of Canadians trust the government to guarantee food security and only one third indicated farmers / growers good when it was openness and transparency.
I can not help thinking that we are missing the solution to these problems that are right under our noses. There is technology to address food security, waste and consumer confidence in the food system. We now need business leaders and policy makers to get on board and support its adoption.
Consider the complex journey that food takes before it reaches our dishes. Lettuce, for example, starts with a seed, goes through the process of growth and harvest, then is distributed through several stores before it reaches the grocery store. With so many managers in the process, going through sometimes more countries, it's no wonder farmers have problems ensuring the quality of a product and consumers are reluctant to trust their safety.
Now, a technology that was initially invented to act as a public registry of cryptocurrency transactions Bitcoin has found an application to increase confidence in the food we eat. The buzz around this emerging technology is certainly noisy, thanks to the frenzy surrounding Bitcoin. But in the field of food safety, it has important and real implications for Canadians everyday. With blockchain, all parties involved in the journey of a food product can help to create a database in an encrypted and secure ledger, accessible to everyone. It can be accessed through a barcode connected to the item.
The implications of this for consumers and farmers can not be underestimated. If consumers have a better understanding of where their food was, they will change the feelings about the transparency of farmers and growers. If food suppliers can identify the contaminated machine, plant or warehouse, it will lead to a more targeted use and avoid widespread chaos.
Food waste is also an environmental issue that must be addressed. If farmers can identify exactly which products are contaminated, consumers, growers and retailers will not have to discard huge quantities of food. Food waste already costs the Canadian economy up to $ 100 billion a year. It is not necessary to let this number go up when it can be solved easily.
There are certainly challenges for the adoption of blockchain in the food system. For example, find the right way to get permanent but not harmful barcodes on our products. These are difficult but not unsolvable problems. Canadian engineers, with the support of food safety organizations, must tackle this project to improve the health and safety of all consumers.
This is not theoretical. The GTA technology company Adastra has implemented a blockchain solution for a local edible plant grower in Ontario to track his products and is now integrating it with the grower's production system. Other companies are doing similar work all over North America and around the world. In the United States, Walmart has worked with IMB on a blockchain solution to track food globally through the supply chain. Now is the time for farmers, agricultural organizations and policy makers to take a closer look at the blockchain as a solution.
With more food growers and the explosion of new markets, monitoring food through a complex supply chain is more complicated than ever. But plants are just one of the applications of blockchain technology: they can also be used to track fish, meat and vegetables while traveling on our plates. People should feel safe in the food they eat. And Canadian farmers and growers simply can not afford additional consumer confidence drops or potential contamination. We must try to implement the solutions currently used to preserve the health of the population and the integrity of the food system.
Marcos Da Silva is the big data practice lead at Adastra.
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