Raw Seafoods, IBM use blockchain to help improve seafood traceability, sustainability
The technology will address a number of problems, including widespread seafood fraud and mislabeling.
Raw Seafoods Inc., Fall River, Mass., and IBM, Armonk, N.Y., announced a new collaboration connecting global sourcing partners, retailers and restauranteurs who will begin using IBM Food Trust platform to enhance seafood traceability. Built on the IBM Blockchain Platform, the initiative will start by digitizing the supply chain for scallops sourced from the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery in New Bedford, Mass.
Here, a fleet of scallopers will begin uploading data about their catch onto the platform, enabling distributors and retailers to identify exactly when and where a given lot of scallops was harvested. The platform will also track when the boat landed portside, and when each scallop lot was hand graded, selected, packed and shipped to its final destination. This information, as well as images and video, is uploaded via satellite while still offshore. Once uploaded, this information is then available to permissioned parties, including distributors, suppliers, retailers and their customers at point of sale.