Smithfield Foods joins Subway, Tyson Foods and others in Food Industry Blockchain Consortium

Global food company Smithfield Foods has joined a new blockchain consortium focused on the food industry.

FoodLogiQ, a SaaS provider of traceability, food safety and supply chain transparency solutions, in collaboration with a number of food industry leaders including Tyson Foods, AgBiome Innovations, Subway/Independent Purchasing Cooperative, Testo, and others, has launched the Food Industry Blockchain Consortium.

Testo and Tyson Foods participated in FoodLogiQ’s $19.5 million financing round earlier this year, which also drew support from Pontifax AgTech, Nicola Wealth Management, and Greenhouse Capital, among others.

In June 2018, FoodLogiQ launched a blockchain pilot with the consortium members to test the application of blockchain to raise transparency within their supply chains. Smithfield Foods is the latest to join this initiative.

"The perspective they [Smithfield] bring to the table is invaluable, and as we continue moving forward with this pilot, we'll draw on Smithfield's production knowledge and their supply chain expertise to help guide our collective blockchain efforts,” Jamie Duke, FoodLogiQ CEO, said.

According to the official release, blockchain technology will enable companies to tell the story of a product's journey with a high degree of certainty and validity. It will also facilitate automation of recordkeeping and traceability systems and eliminate the manual, paper-based processes that often slow down the resolution of a food safety outbreak or issue.

"Our partnership with the FoodLogiQ consortium allows us to be part of an ecosystem driving the deployment of blockchain within the food industry, further underscoring our commitment to producing good food the right way,” said Julia Anderson, global chief information officer for Smithfield Foods.

The inaugural meeting of FoodLogiQ's Food Industry Blockchain Consortium will take place on December 13 - 14 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke said that the meeting will focus on the consortium’s strategy, developing roadmap of short- and long-term goals, and determining how to use the data collected during the R&D process to help ensure success for the group as a whole.

Earlier this year, global food giants Walmart, Nestlé, Tyson Foods, Unilever and others, along with IBM, teamed up for “Food Trust” initiative that aims to develop a blockchain to improve the supply chain management of food products. In late 2017, IBM, in collaboration with Walmart, JD.com, and Tsinghua University National Engineering Laboratory for E-Commerce Technologies, announced a Blockchain Food Safety Alliance in China.