This document discusses how restoring trust in the food industry requires more transparency through the use of new technologies. Consumers are increasingly demanding more information about their food due to recent scandals. Blockchain and IoT technologies can help verify food data by providing an immutable record of information at each step of production, addressing concerns over falsified data. This level of transparency and accountability can help restore consumer trust in the long run.

1. How can we restore trust in
the food industry?
And how technology can help reaching it

2. For decades, consumers did not have
access to food quality information, or
the state of outbreaks and frauds.
This was the internal matter of food
companies and food safety authorities.

3. As consumers rarely saw any news on food
frauds and outbreaks in the media, they had the
(false) assumption that lack of information
means everything is OK, and the trusted
authorities and food companies are taking care
of their safety.
Many of them still believe that traceability
from farm to retail is widespread.

4. In the recent years, the
development of better quality
inspection methods and
technologies reveal more
contamination cases than earlier.
At the same time, emotional
headlines in the news, and the
ability to share the news quickly
through social media resulted that
more and more people notice food
scandals.
For the people it seems like the state of
food safety would be worse each year.
The common dissatisfaction grows,
which puts a growing pressure on food
companies and authorities.

5. This trend can be seen in survey results as well. This one shows that the consumer
demand for more food information grew significantly between 2016 and 2018. Now three
consumers from four are willing to change to a brand which provides more information.
Label Insight and the Food Marketing Institute (FMI)
Yes
No
Yes
No
Would you switch to a
brand that provides
more in-depth product
information, beyond
what’s provided on the
physical label?

6. These events led to the 2018 IFIC Report,
which listed food traceability as one of the
top five food trends in 2019

7. Is it true?
The most important
thing is that you – as
a consumer –
can’t really know
if it’s true. You have to
trust the food company
that they tell the truth
about their policies.
But due to the continuous
food scandals, people
started to question their
credibility...
Sometimes it is,
sometimes it isn’t.Believe me, this food is
• Safe
• Organic
• Non-GM
• Made in Italy
Usually, food companies
state something on the
labels about the food they
sell.

8. Current food industry relies on trust
And now, this trust is vaning…
According surveys, 66% of consumers don’t believe the information
which is displayed on the food labels.

9. How can we restore trust again?
Food related data can be falsified at these three steps:
Data capture Data storage Data processing

10. Data capture Data storage Data processing
BlockchainInternet of Things (IoT)
We need technologies which verify these steps
Sensors, cameras, smart labels, machine
data are trusted data sources.
Immutable, distributed ledger technologies
can verify that the information is not corrupted.

11. We are on the verge to
generate unimaginable
amount of data by each
supply chain participant.
However, as IoT is an
investment, adoption
will take time. Today

12. But blockchain is here, and it can
improve supply chain transparency
by making each participant accountable
for the information they provide.
Besides the marketing power through
transparency, companies can get deeper
insight by using traceability.

13. Blockchain can also improve traditional
data verification methods, like quality
inspections, and quality certificiation
compliance.
Blockchain based traceability
technologies can improve food safety.

14. Test lab
Food
company
Blockchain
Anonymous sample
Anonymous test result
By channeling quality inspections to blockchain, the
decentralized process itself verifies the results.

15. Non-GMO/GE
Organic
Halal
NSF
HACCP
G.A.P
FSSC 22000
GFSI
BRC
Currently, food quality certification
compliance relies on personal audits.
A big part is missing: the analysis of
constant operational data flows.
Food traceability data can fill this gap, and
will have an important part in quality
certification monitoring.

16. 6000
Supply chain
companies trust us
400 000
Transactions daily
10 000
Users trained
We are happy to help you
exploring how blockchain based
food traceability can help your
business.
Please reach out to us!
Marton Ven - marton.ven@te-food.com