French retailer Carrefour will introduce blockchain technology in certain own-brand organic products from April of this year and claimed to be the first retailer to use the technology for own-brand organic products.
The group said the initiative is in response to consumers’ growing desire for transparency when it comes to the provenance of its organic products and the production methods used.
Blockchain Technology
The blockchain technology stores data securely and in a tamperproof manner and will be implemented in the retailer’s Carrefour Bio range.
Consumers will have access to all available information about the journey of the products from where and when they were produced through to their shipment to stores.
The Carrefour Bio Spanish-origin dessert orange, sold in trays of four, will be the first product to leverage the benefits of blockchain technology, before it is gradually extended across the Bio range.
Benoît Soury, Carrefour Group's organic market director said, "Carrefour is a trailblazer when it comes to organic produce in France, and through its Act for Food programme, it has undertaken to implement a comprehensive traceability scheme to ensure extremely high levels of transparency.
"By using this technology with our organic products for the first time, we are delivering on our aim of becoming the leader in the food transition for everyone."
Read More: Carrefour Says Blockchain Tracking Boosting Sales Of Some Products
QR Code
Consumers can access information about a product by scanning the QR code on its label.
The QR code informs consumers about the origin and pathway of the product, including producer name, field location, packaging location, and transport means.
In addition, they can view the harvest date, analysis results, variety, and seasonality.
Also included is the product's organic certification, such as conversion date, official certificate, and additional initiatives implemented by the producer, the retailer added.
Carrefour started using blockchain technology for food traceability back in 2018 for its Carrefour Quality Line products in association with IBM.
Last year, it extended the technology to include TEX brand clothing and is now rolling it out to the Carrefour Bio range.
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest technology news. Article by Conor Farrelly. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
