The food processing giant, Nestle has announced that it is expanding the use of the IBM Food Trust blockchain-powered platform to its Zoegas coffee brand.

According to the announcement, the company is going to add QR codes to Zoegas ‘Summer 2020’ coffee product packaging, sold in Sweden. When scanned, these codes will provide information about the beans’ journey from harvest to shelf. The documentation will be stored on IBM’s food tracking blockchain. Through this, consumers will now be able to trace their coffee back to the different origins.

The Summer 2020 range is a 100% Rain Forest Alliance certified blend of Arabica coffee beans which originates from Columbia, Brazil and Rwanda. Nestle partnered with the Rain Forest Alliance to independently provide reliable data beyond what is usually disclosed by the company.

The Rain Forest Alliance is a trusted third party that provides its own certification information, guarantying the traceability of the coffee. This information provided by them is directly accessible to anyone with the IBM Food Trust blockchain platform. The company is a client of ChainPiont, a supply chain software firm, and has experience in tracing coffee products with blockchain systems.

Nestle started utilizing the blockchain technology way back 2017, after it joined the IBM Food Trust as a founding member. Since then, Nestle has scaled up and diversified the used of blockchain platforms to ensure transparency and sustainability in the provision of foods and services.

The company has also partnered with OpenSC to pilot an open blockchain to monitor and openly communicate data related to the sustainability of milk and palm oil. The company continues to leverage technologies to create better visibility of the whole value chain of its products. It is also envisioned to make supply chain more transparent to its consumers.

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