Nestlé's previous blockchain initiative with IBM focused on product traceability within the supply chain, verifying trade certifications and secure data entry and access. The new partnership with OpenSC also captures this information, but goes a step further by incorporating sustainability and ethics-related data and making it directly available to everyday consumers via scannable QR codes and an open online platform.
OpenSC was founded as a joint initiative between the World Wildlife Fund and the Boston Consulting Group's Digital Ventures division to support transparent and sustainable supply chains in the food industry. Currently, the platform focuses on tracing meat and fish by using RFID tags and IoT sensorsto track individual products from source to shelf.
Nestlé announced a commitment to pursuing a fully transparent supply chain in February of this year and cites its partnership with OpenSC as a means of publicly verifying its progress.
"Following the public disclosure of our palm oil and pulp and paper supply chains last year, we are now pleased to release supply chain information for soya, meat (beef, pork, veal, lamb/mutton), hazelnuts and vanilla," Magdi Batato, executive vice president and head of operations at Nestlé, said in a press release. "By mid-2019, we will also publish the supply chain information for our other priority commodities, which include seafood, coconut, vegetables, spices, coffee, cocoa, dairy, poultry, eggs, cereals and sugar."