Atea, IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Sjømatbedriftene, the Norwegian Seafood Association have announced a new cross-industry collaboration to use blockchain technology to share supply chain data throughout Norway’s seafood industry to provide safer, better seafood to consumers worldwide.
Several Norwegian seafood companies are now in the process of putting data onto the network. One of these companies is Kvarøy Arctic, a leading provider of sustainably sea farmed Atlantic salmon, who will soon begin delivering its fish to leading retailers in the United States and Canada using the tracking and provenance technology. BioMar, a leading provider of high-grade fish feed, has also joined the network allowing Nordic seafood companies to provide insight into the origin and quality of seafood as well as the quality of feed the fish consume.
Norwegian seafood is known for its quality and the country exported more than 2.7 million tons of seafood in 2019, the equivalent of 25,000 meals per minute. At the same time, monitoring where the fish comes from, its growing and storage conditions, and reducing food waste remain of critical concern to seafood consumers who care deeply about sustainability.
Blockchain technology can help seafood producers create a “single version of the truth” about supply chain events, allowing consumers to trace their seafood products directly back to the source and enabling producers to tell stories about the products, where they come from, and how to prepare them. The private blockchain network records data about catch location and time, supply chain events like shipping updates and customs clearance, and even temperature, which can then be shared with permissioned parties.
The blockchain network uses IBM Blockchain Transparent Supply, an innovative offering from IBM using the underlying technology behind Food Trust. It enables organizations and consortia to rapidly build out their own sustainable blockchain-based ecosystem for improved supply chain operations across numerous industries. IBM Blockchain Transparent Supply promotes transparency and collaboration, allowing networks to manage their own membership, securely share documents and create a permanent record of the history and lifecycle of physical and digital assets.