Big on blockchain: Italian government and Kraft Heinz ramp up traceability efforts with new protocol

31 May 2019 --- In exploring the use of blockchain for food traceability, Plasmon, the Italian baby food subsidiary of Kraft Heinz has signed a Programmatic Memorandum of Understanding with Italy’s Ministry of Agricultural, Food, Forestry and Tourism Policies (MIPAAFT). The project is in collaboration with the agricultural research institute Council for Agricultural Research and Analysis of the Agricultural Economy (CREA), which is part of MIPAAFT, and is designed to further enhance the safety of food products for children.

Blockchain technology has demonstrated in recent years its potential in elevating regulatory oversight by optimizing supply-chain visibility and quality assurance. In April 2018, Devery.io, a start-up focused on supply chain tracking, together with the Tunisian Ministry of Education, launched a blockchain-based tracking system to improve and track the quality of school meals. Blockchain is backed by the likes of Walmart and Sam’s Club, who last September urged lettuce and spinach suppliers to utilize the technology’s efficacies in rapidly pinpointing potential food contamination. This followed US outbreaks of E. coli in romaine lettuce and salmonella in a number of products, from eggs to breakfast cereal.

Italy’s new blockchain protocol, signed by the Minister Gian Marco Centinaio and Felipe Della Negra De Paula, General manager of Plasmon at Kraft Heinz Italy, hopes to strengthen the local food supply chains with the use of a stamp of recognition that ensures the quality and safety of food products for children. Promoting the adoption of the healthy Mediterranean diet in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life and the dissemination of good supply chain practices can enhance the distinctiveness of the “Made in Italy” country of origin labeling in the national market and abroad, says MIPAAFT.

"With this agreement, we are going to support supply chain policies to guarantee the quality, safety and nutritional requirements of agri-food products for children,” says Minister Centinaio. “We will provide innovative systems and solutions in the research field, from precision agriculture to traceability even with blockchain technology. We want to protect producers and consumers more and more. And when consumers are children, ensuring quality and safety, is no longer a virtuous choice but an obligation [translated from Italian].”

Plasmon has expressed a commitment to raise, over the next five years, purchases of “100 percent Italian” raw materials in the meat, fruit, vegetables, cereals, milk, fish and oil sectors – from the current 16,000 to 25,000 tons per year.

"The Italian food supply chain represents one of the most recognized excellence in the world and in baby food, a sector in which our country boasts unparalleled quality. Like Plasmon we are proud to have contributed over the years to supporting the ‘Made in Italy’ in the feeding for children and we want to continue in this direction, confirming our concrete commitment alongside the institutions", says Felipe Della Negra, General Manager of Plasmon-Kraft Heinz Italia.

MIPAAF and Plasmon will continue to collaborate with the CREA research organization to develop blockchain technologies to ensure the development of research and cooperation in the field of precision agriculture, traceability and food safety. The Memorandum of Understanding lasts five years, but could be extended.

By Benjamin Ferrer

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