Blockchain-Based Traceability System for Product Recall

14 - Effective Use of Food Traceability in Product Recall

Farmers are inhibited from Agri supply chains due to upfront transaction costs. There is ample evidence that farmers' participation in supply chains produce benefits for farmers. This paper analyses how blockchain might support farmers to reduce transaction costs and improve their involvement in supply chains by reviewing the literature. The study contributes some theoretical insights to our knowledge on how transaction costs can be reduced by implementing supply chain collaboration with blockchain technology. It further presents some design implications for a blockchain-enabled system that would also support collective marketing. Practitioners in the Agri domain can use this analysis as a support for developing a system that improves farmers' participation in Agri supply chains.

The product recall is becoming a challenging issue in supply chain management, and both suppliers and manufacturers are motivated to exert recall efforts to improve supply chain performance. Considering a supply chain composed of one supplier and one manufacturer with product recalls and demand uncertainty, we investigate the contract design by integrating the revenue sharing contract with three cost sharing policies, namely, fixed-rate cost sharing (Contract F), linear cost sharing (Contract L), and threshold-based cost sharing (Contract T), to coordinate the production quantity and recall efforts. Results show that cost sharing could improve the product recall probability and supply chain profits, but only Contract T can coordinate the supply chain in both production quantity and recall efforts. Moreover, the cost sharing rate in Contract T first decreases and then increases as the recall cost increases. When the recall cost is small (large), Contract T (Contract F) is optimal for the manufacturer. In contrast to our intuition, we find Contract L could overmotivate supply chain members to exert a recall effort that is greater than the first-best when the cost coefficient of recall efforts is large enough. However, demand uncertainty will mitigate the impact of product recalls on motivating recall efforts.

The beef supply chain in Indonesia is a long and challenging (complex) chain because it involves many actors to track beef, from breeders in the form of cattle to a slice of meat consumed by consumers. The openness (transparency) of each actor involved in the supply chain can increase the safety of beef consumed, ensuring food safety. To ensure food safety, a system is needed to make it easier for consumers to trace the origin of beef. This study discusses the infrastructure design of an information technology (IT) based beef supply chain traceability system. The design is carried out with a systems approach, where system requirements are identified based on the characteristics of the supply chain. The system modelling concept uses Unified Modelling Language (UML) and Entity Relationship (ER) Diagram combined with the Computer Based Information System (CBIS) concept to design a traceability system in the beef supply chain. The study results are a conceptual design for a traceability system infrastructure that can be developed to build a web-based traceability system.

Purpose - A gap has been observed regarding the use of traceability in the context of risk management in food supply chains. Recent studies on product recalls mostly focus on durable goods, while research aimed at risk management in food recalls is scarce. The aim of this study is to understand how traceability influences food recall management.Theoretical framework - Initially, the fundamental concepts of food traceability, its objective and impacts on supply chains were defined. Then, its relationship with food recalls was described. Design/methodology/approach - A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted. A total of 75 selected articles were submitted to content analysis using QDA Miner software.Findings - Ten main applications of traceability in food chains (emphasizing the role of transparency) and three groups of risks were identified that lead to the occurrence of food recalls (operational, biological, and chemical). Finally, the role of traceability before (preparation stage - proactive nature), during (response stage), and after (recovery stage) the occurrence of a food recall was determined.Research, practical & social implications - The results provide a better understanding of the role of traceability in food recall management.Originality/value - The article summarizes ten different applications of traceability in the food chain, in addition to explaining the role of traceability in the different stages of food recall management.Keywords - Traceability. Recall. Supply Chain. Food.

Currently, being considered is the pandemic of sustainability concerns along with the issues related to transparency and efficiency in the global food supply chain. In addition, blockchain technology is a transformational solution that facilitates stakeholders to build trust, operational efficiency and traceability. From management perspective, this research also examined the part that blockchain plays in the food supply chain including its possible effect or impact on sustainability, ethical sourcing, transparency as well as efficiency in food retail chain. This study’s methodology is quantitative research approach. The method in the study was a purposive sampling while survey questionnaires were used. A total of 280 participants have participated in the study. In this research, it was explored key blockchain applications as such as traceability systems, decentralized ledgers and smart contracts. Besides, blockchain improved the rate at which the supply chain worked through removing the inefficiencies, automating transactions and enhancing the workflow efficiency. It also reinforced trust by proper and clear product traceability and compliance with the regulatory standards and ethical sourcing. The results, however, suggest that blockchain technology holds the ability to undermine the handling of the supply chain where efficiencies in resource management and sustainable practices, fair trade, and convenient coordination are facilitated. Apart from the above, blockchain technology offers a solid suitable platform for boosting sustainability in operational efficiencies and streaming the food supply chain to the farthest point. But the adoption of this unnatural process continued and ultimately shaped the future of resilient and transparent food systems. Keywords: Supply Chain Efficiency, Ethical Sourcing, Smart Contracts, Traceability, Transparency, Food Supply Chain and Blockchain.

Food recalls are important for two reasons. One is that they mitigate harm when product failures occur. Another is that they augment incentives to invest in safety. When recalls are justified for their mitigation value, it makes sense that regulatory bodies be granted more control of the recall process in order to improve the manner in which recalls are conducted. Such is the stated intent of most proposals for changing the food recall system. However, we show that recalls can be justified by their incentive effect alone. In fact, recalls can be beneficial even when the social value of the harm they mitigate is so small as to be less than the costs of carrying them out. In these cases, it is important that proposals designed to improve the recall process avoid unintended side effects. First, proposals should avoid redirecting regulatory resources towards recall oversight and away from other, more pressing, food safety priorities. Second, it is important to avoid creating an environment in which agencies face a greater need to justify their recall requests. When the mitigation value of recalls is small, this may inadvertently prevent the initiation of recalls that could otherwise play a positive role in aligning incentives for safety.

Should a powerful manufacturer collaborate with a risky supplier? Pre-recall vs. post-recall strategies in product harm crisis management

The study revealed a thriving Nigerian food industry and policymakers toward understanding food traceability systems in three ways. Firstly, a realistic strategy toward supply chain visibility. Secondly, verify the concept relating to the implementation of documentation and technological innovations. Thirdly, emphasized the significance of food safety and food recall taking into account current status and future needs and how a traceability system would be realized in the poultry sector by giving a clear roadmap for technology. Also the work explained the current state of the two most practiced method of poultry production; backyard and commercial scale was also investigated.

Halal chicken meat supply chain (HCMSC) is a Syariah-compliant supply chain which embeds multiple critical control points meant for preserving Halal integrity and ensuring food safety and quality of chicken meat. According to MHMS 2020, halal critical point is at which determination of halal control which needs to be identified, implementing control and contamination can be prevented or eliminated to ensure halal compliance along the supply chain. Halal Traceability System (HTS) is essential in HCMSC to ensure track and trace ability of product’s information at certain identified critical control points from its origin until it reaches consumers. These critical control points are the key components in Halal Assurance System (HAS) to apply for Halal certification. The objective of this study is to identify Halal traceability critical control points (HTCCPs) in HCMSC in Malaysian scenario and explores the potential planning of Internet of Things (IoT) in food traceability system. This is accomplished by conducting a structured review of past studies concerning halal traceability and the IoT as the traceability tool. The study identifies seven HTCCPs across pre-slaughtering, slaughtering, post-slaughtering, and end consumer phases and IoT integration as the support platform in HTS-HCMSC framework.

In recent years, sustainable supply and value chains for fishing have attracted the attention of many researchers. However, the existing literature lacks studies that explore different perspectives on sustainability within these fishing supply chains. This study is therefore unique because it not only addresses this gap but also examines the often-overlooked roles of power and trust in achieving sustainability. By using a quantitative approach, this study aims to provide new insights into these complex relationships. Firstly, the research aims to determine whether the perceptions of three distinct groups regarding sustainability indicators differ significantly. Secondly, it investigates the impact of institutional, collective, and bargaining power on the trust dynamics among supply chain participants. To achieve this, a comprehensive approach was employed, using structured questionnaires to collect data from 100 supply chain actors, including fishers, agents, and retailers, in Goa, India. The data were then carefully analysed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA in SPSS, and Partial Least Squares- Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 4. The study identified significant perceptual differences in four of the 19 sustainability indicators at a 10% significance level. The findings from PLS-SEM reveal important links between the power and trust dynamics among supply chain participants. These insights will help policymakers and stakeholders understand how supply chain participants perceive sustainability and clarify the relationship between power and trust. This understanding can support efforts to build trust within supply chains. Additionally, the study offers valuable insights that can directly inform policies to improve sustainability in fishing supply chains.

Blockchain technology has increasing attention in research and across many industries. The Ethereum blockchain offers smart contracts, which are small programs defined, executed, and recorded as transactions in the blockchain transaction history. These smart contracts run on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and can be used to encode agreements, transfer assets, and enforce integrity conditions in relationships between parties. Smart contracts can carry financial value, and are increasingly used for safety-, security-, or mission-critical purposes. Errors in smart contracts have led and will lead to loss or harm. Formal verification can provide the highest level of confidence about the correct behaviour of smart contracts. In this paper we extend an existing EVM formalisation in Isabelle/HOL by a sound program logic at the level of bytecode. We structure bytecode sequences into blocks of straight-line code and create a program logic to reason about these. This abstraction is a step towards control of the cost and complexity of formal verification of EVM smart contracts.

Blockchain can support the food supply chain in several aspects. Particularly, food traceability and trading across pre-existing contracts can make the supply chain fast, error-free, and support in detecting potential fraud. A proper algorithm, keeping in mind specific geographic, demographic, and additional essential parameters, would let the automated market maker (AMM) supply ample liquidity to pre-determined orders. AMMs are usually run by a set of sequential algorithms called a ‘smart contract’ (SM). Appropriate use of SM reduces food waste, contamination, extra or no delivery in due course, and, possibly most significantly, increases traceability. However, SM has definite vulnerabilities, making it less adaptable at times. We are investigating whether they are genuinely vulnerable during stressful periods or not. We considered seven SM platforms, namely, Fabric, Ethereum (ETH), Waves, NEM (XEM), Tezos (XTZ), Algorand (ALGO), and Stellar (XLM), as the proxies for food supply-chain-based smart contracts from 29 August 2021 to 5 October 2022. This period coincides with three stressed events: Delta (Covid II), Omicron (Covid III), and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We found strong traces of risk transmission, comovement, and interdependence of SM return among the diversified SMs; however, the SMs focused on the food supply chain ended up as net receivers of shocks at both of the extreme tails. All these SMs share a stronger connection in both positive shocks (bullish) and negative shocks (bearish).

The global environment, with its dynamic and varied changes, creates unstable and demanding conditions for the customs system of the European Union to cope with. The article aims to identify and describe the most pressing challenges to the EU customs system in the context of the customs handling of supply chain actors. The hypothesis for verification is that the EU system is not static in the face of the volatility, uncertainty and ambiguity of the environment; instead, it responds to all challenges arising, so as to ensure guarantee professional customs handling to participants in supply chains. The article is composed of two parts followed by a summary. The first part addresses the role of customs in supply chains; the second part presents the most important challenges to the EU’s customs system directly related to the customs handling of participants in international supply chains. The summary concludes the issues raised in the investigation. The study relies on traditional research methods: deductive reasoning and comparative analysis.

The study explores the transformative role of blockchain technology in enhancing transparency and traceability within the agricultural food supply chain. By leveraging blockchain's inherent characteristics of decentralization, immutability, and security, stakeholders can significantly improve information sharing and visibility from farm to consumer. The study delves into how blockchain addresses longstanding transparency and traceability issues that have plagued the agricultural sector. Real-world examples illustrate blockchain's successful application in agriculture, showcasing its capacity to boost transparency, operational efficiency, and trust among supply chain participants. These case studies demonstrate how blockchain creates tamper-proof records, enhances end-to-end visibility, and provides reliable, real time data. The technology's potential to combat fraud, promote sustainability, and ensure product authenticity is also explored. Furthermore, the research investigates blockchain's impact on food safety, particularly when integrated with Internet of Things (IoT) devices and smart contracts. These synergies enable automated, secure data collection and the execution of predefined agreements, further streamlining supply chain processes. Successful implementations across various areas of supply chain management, including logistics, inventory tracking, and quality control, are highlighted to demonstrate the practical benefits of blockchain adoption. By providing an in-depth analysis of blockchain's potential, this study underscores its pivotal role in building consumer trust regarding food safety, quality, and origin. The research concludes by discussing the challenges and opportunities for widespread blockchain adoption in agriculture, offering insights into its future trajectory and potential to revolutionize the global food supply chain.