Carrefour enables milk product traceability through blockchain

French retail giant Carrefour is using blockchain technology to let consumers trace information about the source of its milk products.

Starting this month, the company will start selling Carrefour Quality Line micro-filtered full-fat milk featuring QR codes on packaging.

Consumers will be able to scan the code with smartphones and access an interface which will give them a “wealth of information” about the route that the product has taken – from where it was farmed or grown, right up to the date it was placed on the store shelves.

Shoppers will be able to see the GPS coordinates of farmers whose animals’ milk was collected, get information about the cows’ feeds depending on the season, find out exactly when the milk was collected and where it was packaged.

The technology will also enable consumers to identify the various stakeholders involved in the whole product line (names and photographs) and find out about what they do and if they use microfiltration to store milk and conduct quality checks throughout the production process, for example.

Carrefour’s Quality Line of milk is made at the Gillot dairy, using animals within a radius of 30km of the site and cows fed on GMO-free feeds, reared on modestly-sized farms in accordance with practices that ensure animal welfare.

The milk blockchain move follows similar use of the technology for Carrefour’s Auvergne chicken and farmhouse-fattened chicken, tomatoes, eggs and Carrefour Quality Line oranges.

Last year, companies including Nestlé, Unilever and Tyson Foods announced they are collaborating with IBM to apply the benefits of blockchain technology to the food supply chain. 

The technology is being used to simplify supply chains with automatic tracking of information, such as temperature and quality of goods, shipment and delivery dates, and safety certifications of facilities.