Nestle, Carrefour Partnership Lets Consumer Access Data Via IBM Blockchain
The Swiss food giant called Nestle has just partnered with Carrefour, which is a French retailer. The teaming up is going to allow consumers direct access to product data via the Food Trust platform of IBM.
Nestle and Carrefour Teaming Up
The two massive companies have made the partnership official through an announcement made Monday. The announcement also revealed that customers would finally have the ability to track the Mousline line of instant mashed potato. This, in particular, will come from the factory of Nestle all the way to Carrefour’s stores – a process made possible only via a scanned QR code on the packaging using a mobile device.
The service is expected to provide products with quality control parameters and production date and quality control parameters. There will also be information pertaining to the very locations of warehouses and storage times of each product. In addition, consumers will know which farmers were responsible for supplying the potatoes for the product, let alone find out about how the puree was made possible.
The news marks the very first time Nestle has decided to take advantage of a blockchain platform. This is most especially with its decision to use it in an attempt to share data with customers.
Bringing More Product Transparency
Vineet Khana, the SVP and global head of supply chain at Nestle, said that the company wants the technology to be able to bring forth more transparency to their products. They hope that by doing so, they can cultivate not only accurate and trusted information but also impartial. Khana is hopeful that the entire initiative would benefit the whole value chain, which already includes both consumers and retailers.
The new service is slated for a trial run with the Mousline product, with a timeline of doing so over the next coming months. Nestle and Carrefour hope that by doing so, they can better understand both the impact and scalability concerning the technology. Even more so, this would enable them to inform decisions when it comes to further developments.
Nestle is not entirely new to the idea of using blockchain technology.
Back in 2017, it has already voiced out its interest in using the tech, particularly when it decided to join IMB Food Trust and become a founding member. Carrefour, on the other hand, decided to join the platform back in October last year.