WWF unveils blockchain-based food provenance platform ‘OpenSC’

World Wildlife Fund-Australia (WWF-Australia) has announced a new blockchain-enabled food tracking platform.

Called ‘OpenSC,’ the platform has been developed in partnership with BCG Digital Ventures, the corporate investment and incubation arm of Boston Consulting Group. It will allow tracking individual products from origin to the consumer.

What if you knew exactly how sustainable your food is, just by scanning a QR code with your phone? With OpenSC, you can.#OpenSC is a revolutionary digital platform developed by WWF-Australia and @BCGDV that allows you to track a product along its entire supply chain. Here's how pic.twitter.com/uKwpeGqTcB
— WWF_Australia (@WWF_Australia) January 17, 2019

“The aim is to help businesses and consumers avoid illegal, environmentally damaging or unethical products, while improving supply chain accountability and transparency,” WWF Australia said.

OpenSC adds a “unique blockchain code” to a product at the point of origin. First, a digital tag (such as radio frequency identification (RFID)) is attached to the product at the point of origin and is linked to a blockchain platform which automatically records the product’s details along its supply chain journey. The system also allows recording additional information such as the temperature of food throughout storage and transport.

This digital tag is converted into a unique QR code for every item. By scanning this QR code with their smartphone camera, OpenSC will show consumers the origin and the journey of the product along the supply chain.

“Through OpenSC, we will have a whole new level of transparency about whether the food we eat is contributing to environmental degradation of habitats and species, as well as social injustice and human rights issues such as slavery. OpenSC will revolutionise how we all buy food and other products as well, enabling more informed decision making by consumers, businesses, governments, and industry bodies” Dermot O’Gorman, WWF-Australia CEO, said.

According to the official release (via Cointelegraph), Austral Fisheries has committed to complete a full implementation of OpenSC across their entire Toothfish fleet in 2019. WWF-Australia said that the platform’s launch will be kicked off by a meal prepared by Australian chef Matt Moran, who will cook one of the first products tracked using OpenSC, Patagonian toothfish.

To read about other blockchain-based initiatives in the food sector click here.