Purchasing Truffle Salt with Trust

Truffles have been favored by many chefs, restaurant owners and foodies all around the world. Nowadays the truffles are becoming even more popular, and many of us may try to make something gourmet or a fancy masterpiece using this highly priced and sensitive ingredient. There are lots of products infused with the scent of the truffles for many to enjoy as well, such as truffle zest, truffle salt, truffle oil, even truffle honey. And since the truffles are becoming more and more popular, the prices of the truffles are rising, even some products with low contents of truffles are at prices higher than you may think.

As the demand for truffles rises, the demand for truffle related food products and general demand for fresher and higher quality food products have been rising as well. Using QR codes (attached on the container/boxes of the food products) linked to blockchain, can help us achieve this goal of getting more of the fresh and quality food products and increase trust between the consumers and the manufacturers.

Using our mobile devices, tablets, and small laptops, we can scan a QR code to find out about a specific manufacturer’s information, supply chain information and details about the product quickly on the blockchain database. One example that we can use to explain this is how the truffle salt can be delivered at our doorsteps or to a local grocery store. And this may help us understand how blockchain technology benefits us as consumers when we are purchasing highly sensitive food products. So before thinking about purchasing anything with truffles at all, we can take a closer look at the journey of truffle salt and see how blockchain technology can help us receive the most fresh and trustworthy products from a manufacturer.

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First of all, we have to think about where to purchase the truffle salt. It can be purchased online, at shopping malls or at fine dine restaurants. Although purchasing the salt from any of the three sellers can be fine, but purchasing it through online can be more convenient and reasonable, so let’s take a look at one example of purchasing the truffle salt through an online supplier. In a case of purchasing the truffle salt online, we can purchase it from the internet shopping malls or we can buy it directly from a manufacturer. If we decide to purchase it directly from a manufacturer, we can expect it to be at a lower price, but we may have to consider the quality of the product and/or possible care damage during the delivery process; thinking that it may not be so easy purchasing it directly from a manufacturer or a large distributor online or even a local grocery store, not knowing much about their delivery process.

Now that we know some things to consider when we are purchasing a product directly from a manufacturer or a large distributor, we have to question the quality and freshness of it. However, what if we can check the quality of the truffle salt by checking the circulation process using blockchain technology and its database? By obtaining the QR code at the beginning of the transaction or as it is displayed next to the product on the online page, we can use this QR code to get more detailed information about the product directly from the manufacturer before we purchase it. Also, if the QR code of the product we received from online (prior to receiving the actual code on the container) is different than the QR code on the product we’ve received, we can use the QR codes as evidence to receive reimbursement. In this way, we can keep the QR codes as evidence for the company’s mistakes, and the company can become more aware not to make the same mistakes and ensure that they don’t lose more capital by giving out a lot of refunds.

Moreover, if we utilize the QR code, we can check more diverse and accurate information about the product other than just the circulation process. First of all, we can find out more about the manufacturer of the truffle salt. Since it is a sensitive food product, we can check its manufacturing process, whether or not the manufacturer used the proper sanitary procedure, known for featuring quality products, use pesticides or not, and if it is organic or not. We can also check if the manufacturer has the certification on all of its products, check when it was made and the production date as well. After the production, we can also check the temperature, humidity, and if contaminants were found until it gets transferred out for delivery.

After checking the manufacturer’s information, we can check whether the product was transported correctly as well. We can check whether it was transported through the air, sea, or ground transportation, and how the product was kept during the delivery process. Using the information from IoT sensors, we can check whether there was any damage occurred on the product during the circulation process.

TEMCO’s smart-tagging

We can also get the information about the distributors or the re-distributors during the circulation process using the QR code. Where the product was stationed, the location of the distributor, company information, receiving date and send out date, and the length of time it was preserved. In addition, since the truffle salt is a sensitive product, we can check how it was preserved or stored in the distribution center, using the QR code system again, checking the blockchain database.

Until the truffle salt is delivered to us, all the information is open for viewing in the blockchain database. Through the blockchain technology and its database, consumers can purchase safer products, with more trust, since the blockchain database can easily uphold information from the manufacturing process to final delivery, we can trust the quality of it and find out if anything happened to the product that caused it to reduce its quality during the circulation and the delivery process. On the manufacturers’ point of view, finding out where the mishandling of the product happened and the problems causing lowering the quality of the product, early on by checking the blockchain database, they can save time and money, by preventing any mishandling beforehand; using this preventive technology, the manufacturers can retain their brand image and perhaps increase their sales. Using the blockchain, the manufacturers and the distributors can self-monitor their handling of products, quickly prevent and react to the mishaps, efficiently reducing the cost of operation.

Now that we know some benefits of using the blockchain, what else can we think of? Instead of looking into just the one-way process, going from a manufacturer to a consumer, perhaps we can find out about the effect of blockchain technology in the integrated circulating logistics process, on manufacturers, distributors, and consumers, on the next page.