Walmart To Use Blockchain For Its Live Food Business

Walmart Vice President of Food Safety and Health, Frank Yiannas,made the announcement Monday at the MIT Technology Review’s Business of Blockchain conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Yiannas said that Blockchain was able to shorten the time to track produce from six days to two seconds. Walmart is getting suppliers to put food on a Blockchain, which will reduce waste, as well as improve contamination management and transparency.

Walmart, in collaboration with IBM, began to test the technology to identify and remove recalled foods from its products list in 2016. With a Blockchain-based system, the company reportedly is able to verify any information about products and, thanks to the technology’s decentralized nature, is protected from hacking attacks and data alterations.

In March, Walmart submitted an application for a patent on its “Smart Package” system. The system is designed to track package contents, environmental conditions, location, and other details. According to the patent, the device is intended to be used in new technologies like unmanned drones and autonomous vehicles.