Carrefour places big bet on blockchain

Carrefour wants to track 20% of all in-house products on the blockchain by the end of 2019.

It currently uses the technology to track 20 out of its 300 Carrefour-branded products across the supply chain, and plans to add about 40 more over the coming months, Carrefour Blockchain Programme Director Emmanuel Delerm told Hard Fork.

Carrefour has implemented blockchain pilots in six countries, including France, Italy, Spain, and China. Customers can access information about the origin of the product they’re buying by scanning a QR code on the packaging.

“When we tested this feature in China – we tested it with a Chinese pomelo – we got incredible figures,” Delerm says. “Customers scanned one out of two (or three) pomelos to check where the fruit was coming from.”

“In countries like Belgium or Spain, we noticed that customers scanned only about one out of 20 pomelos,” he adds.

IBM Food Trust

Nestlé and Carrefour recently announced a pilot that applies blockchain technology to the Mousline instant mashed potato product, available in Carrefour stores around France. This is the result of the companies joining the IBM Food Trust platform.

“This pilot is the result of a successful partnership with Carrefour and a great step forward on our blockchain journey. We are using this technology to bring more transparency to our products by providing accurate, trusted and impartial information. That will benefit the whole value chain, including retailers and consumers,” says Vineet Khanna, SVP - Global Head Supply Chain at Nestlé.

Further info here.