Carrefour launches blockchain food traceability system in Spain

Leading global retailer Carrefour has launched a blockchain-based food traceability system in Spain for one of its food products – ‘Quality and Origin’ chicken.

For this initiative, Carrefour collaborated with tech giant IBM and the Galician company Coren. The blockchain solution has used the IBM Food Trust platform, which Carrefour recently joined as a founding member.

The system allows tracking Carrefour’s campero chicken reared without antibiotic treatments in all stages of production, transformation and distribution. A QR code is included in the product’s label, which is scanned through the smartphone.

By scanning the QR code, consumers would be able to know product details such as the date of birth of the chicken, the mode of breeding, the location of the farm, the food that has been received, the packaging process or the date on which it reached the Carrefour stores.

"Becoming the leader in the food transition for all is the ambition of Carrefour and the use of blockchain technology allows us to advance in the realization of this objective, since it responds to a priority of the group: guarantee consumers the traceability of our products with total transparency,” Jorge Ybarra, Food Commercial Director, said (via online translation).

Carrefour said that its commitment to the food blockchain will be extended in the coming months, it plans to apply this technology progressively to other "Quality and Origin" products.