The South Korean government will use blockchain technology for tracing beef and providing consumers with information from the food supply chain, Yonhap News Agency, the largest news agency in South Korea, reported yesterday, Nov. 20.
Blockchain technology has been implemented into the pilot program that is to be launched jointly by the Ministry of Science and ICT and Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs. The testing phase of the program is scheduled for December and the official launch of the system is to be in January 2019.
According to Yonhap, the ministries are planning to use the distributed ledger technology (DLT) “to track beef through the supply chain to provide consumers with information about the source of their food.” The article also states:
“The new platform uses blockchain technology to store related information and certificates in the distributed ledger to enhance efficiency and credibility.”
The use of blockchain tech for tracing agricultural products is one of the common implementations of the technology worldwide. In August, Australia’s largest grain exporter, CBH Group, partnered with a local startup to use blockchain tech for tracking oat shipments.
Last month, the four largest agriculture companies in the world — Archer Daniels Midland Co., Bunge Ltd., Cargill Inc., and Louis Dreyfus Co., commonly known as ABCD — agreed to use blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to reduce costs and to make trading more efficient and transparent, Cointelegraph reported Oct. 25.
