Blockchain industry observers often recommend not merely focusing on cryptocurrencies, and rather stress the significant potential held by the blockchain to dramatically reshape virtually all industries.

Now, it looks as if blockchain could prove a vital part in limiting the spread of a deadly chemical tied to the agricultural bio-tech behemoth Monsanto.

More specifically, the food safety firm ZEGO recently issued a press release that it will begin using an in-house blockchain-based system to test its snacks for glyphosate, a deadly herbicide.

This herbicide was recently embroiled in a lawsuit in which Monsanto ultimately lost, facing fines of $289 million following the court’s ruling that Monsanto’s use of the herbicide had caused the plaintiff cancer.

Moreover, ZEGO will use its patent-pending blockchain ”Z-CODE” system to allow all companies to openly and transparently publish data, and quell potential consumer concerns.

ZEGO will lead the way by openly publishing all of its glyphosate testing data, leading to what ZEGO refers to as ”what will surely be a new trend in the clean food industry.”

According to ZEGO, the company first developed its blockchain solution to give consumers the ability to make better-informed choices in relation to potential glutens or allergens in particular goods. Since then, glyphosate testing has also been added.

Any ZEGO package will now allow consumers to readily take part of glyphosate testing results, simply by using a smartphone or tablet and scanning the products QR code. Moreover, the test results for specific products can also be viewed on the company’s website.

In addition, glyphosate testing will be used to verify ZEGO suppliers’ certifications for organic and non-GMO products, which can sometimes be subject to fraud.

Glyphosate is a controversial compound, and experts disagree over how much exposure is in fact safe. Nonetheless, the synthetic compound has been linked to cancer in numerous studies and lawsuits.

ZEGO’s CEO, Colleen Kavanagh, argues that although this is an important issue, the discussion over glyphosate has hitherto been purely academic – since consumers have had no idea of how much glyphosate they ingest.

The blockchain-based Z-CODE system, however, is that to ”empower [ZEGO’s] customers to make an informed choice over what they put in their bodies.”

ZEGO’s blockchain initiative has been widely applauded by other companies, e.g., by VMG’s co-founder, Scott Elaine Wright-Case, who hailed it as ”a bold move that brings cost-effective, blockchain-based verification to packaged food. This is exactly the kind of innovative transparency consumers […] have been clamoring for in the clean food movement.”

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