Kvarøy Arctic will join IBM Food Trust ecosystem to offer traceability of its Norwegian salmon to buyers across North America
Kvarøy Arctic to use IBM Blockchain to trace salmon in North America. (Credit: Pixabay/Martin Schotte.)
Kvarøy Arctic, a producer of Norwegian farmed salmon, has agreed to use IBM Food Trust to enhance traceability of its Arctic salmon and build consumer trust across its supply chain.
IBM Food Trust is an ecosystem of food producers, distributors, manufacturers and retailers who have come together using authorised, permanent and shared record of food system data stored on the blockchain.
With support from IBM Food Trust, Kvarøy Arctic will enable corporate buyers such as Whole Foods Market stores in the US and Canada, and restaurants, to scan a QR code to offer a provenance history for the Arctic salmon and the feed it was raised on.
Using the blockchain, buyers can check if the salmon were raised as per the standards
The buyers will be able to download images and videos of the farms and check whether or not the fish are raised under animal welfare standards.
In the future, the salmon producer also plans to introduce a consumer app to provide an insight into the quality and sustainability of its seafood.
Kvarøy Arctic is also working with its feed provider BioMar to begin uploading supply chain data to the network to create an immutable record of the feed used and the conditions where the salmon are raised, packed, certified and shipped to distributors around the world.
Kvarøy Arctic CEO Alf-Gøran Knutsen said: “Blockchain is the future when it comes to ending fraud in the seafood industry. It is a level of transparency that shows our dedication to being the best of the best.
“The technology tracks a level of detail that helps us reduce food waste so we can feed more people in the world.”
Blockchain has an immense potential to build trust in the supply chain by creating a permanent, digitised chain of transactions that cannot be altered.
Using blockchain technology, feed manufacturers, fish farmers, distributors and retailers can access comprehensive product data in near real-time. Each member of the chain can down and use an app to scan each salmon lot at each point of receipt.
The company can also permit distributors and retail partners to see data about the grade of the feed used, the population and density of the habitats where the fish have been raised, their age, harvest date and more.
IBM Food Trust general manager Raj Rao said: “Our work with Kvarøy Arctic further builds on our progress in promoting transparency and sustainability in the seafood trade.
“IBM Food Trust is delivering the tools needed to collaborate across industries and take the action to preserve and maintain our global fisheries, while protecting the integrity of the seafood supply chains.”