The French company “Connecting Food” developed a transparency platform based on blockchain technology. “By scanning the QR code on the packaging of the final product, consumers are able to know when the product in their hands was produced and if all the specifications have been met,” explains Coline Laurent. 

Blockchain technology is a multi-branch solution which is gaining importance in the fruit and vegetable sector. Recently, the producer “Les Fermes Larrère” joined Connecting Food for their flat cabbage, choudou, and their asparagus. “They want to have a blockchain solution in order to no longer waste energy entering all the data from the products in different formats for each client.”

Coline adds that at first, blockchain technology offers traceability. “The consumer is able to know where the product comes from, and when the product was sown and harvested. Additionally, we check that all the specifications followed by our clients are met. These specifications vary depending on the products and include criteria like size and freshness, for example. We retrieve the data and enter them safely on the blockchain.” 

Most of the clients of Connecting Food are about to launch their products in the stores. In France, besides fruits and vegetables, we can also use the technology for milk and duck breast. Products with a QR code will be available in supermarkets in February or March. In Germany, Connecting Food even tracks the fruits used by a brand of lemonade. The lemonade will be presented at the Paris Agricultural Show in a month.

The milk brand “Juste et Vendéen”, which is tracked by Connecting Food, is already available in Super U supermarkets in France. In Italy, some organic eggs of the brand Vivi Verde are available in Coop supermarkets.

 The Connecting Food team

We do not know yet if blockchain technology could become an important technology for French consumers. “The coming months will define how this technology should be presented to the consumers. It is evident that they look for transparency, but we do not know yet if blockchain technology will reassure them best in this regard. But once the consumer is more enlightened, blockchain may make it possible to differentiate the products whose traceability is really solid from the simple storytelling of the brands.”

For more information:
Coline Laurent
Connecting Food
Coline.Laurent@connecting-food.com 
www.connecting-food.com