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Using Big Data analysis, Internet of Things and
Blockchain technology to build a fresh food supply
chain traceability system
Mahir Ashef Roll: 1503074
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology
Email: ashef.ruet15@gmail.com Debashis Gupta Roll: 1503073
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology
Email: debashisguptapapai@gmail.com
Abstract—For the past few years, food safety and wastage
has become an outstanding problem for the world[1]. Since
traditional fresh food logistics pattern cannot match the
demands of the market any more, building an fresh food supply
chain traceability system is becoming more and more urgent.[2]
In this paper, we will -(a) Review the concepts of supply
chain management and traceability in Fresh food. (b)Review
the advantages and technological challenges of implementing
Data analysis, Internet of things and Blockchain as standalone
technologies in the supply chain. (c) Highlight the prospects of
using Data analysis, Internet of Things and Blockchain together
as a sustainable system in the supply chain. Finally, we will
discuss the working process of a hypothetical supply chain
implementing system.Through the traceability with trusted
information in the entire fresh food supply chain, which would
effectively guarantee the food safety and mitigated wastage, by
gathering, transferring and sharing the authentic data of fresh
food in production, processing, warehousing, distribution and
selling links.
keywords Fresh food; Supply Chain; Traceability; Big Data;
Internet of Things; Blockchain
I. INTRODUCTION
The aim of this paper is to discuss the possibility of
improvement of the existing traceability technology in modern
fresh food supply chain. The specific objectives are to show
lacking in the current traceability in agribusiness and to discuss
the implementation possibilities and prospects of using Data
analysis, Internet of Things and Blockchain together in the
food supply chains from farm to plate. Where the current status
causes food wastage that we can not afford. Finn [3] argues
that an urgent switch is needed to reduce food waste globally
on the grounds that we cannot afford to waste 30% to 50% of
our food nor can we afford the environmental consequences of
it. He supports that institutions, corporations and consumers
must unite efforts on behalf of their responsibility to feed
nine billion people by 2050. Furthermore, Securing states that
research should not merely observe and explain the empirical
phenomena but aim to help change the status quo [4]. This
may serve as a step toward that responsibility.
A. Definition and Concept of Fresh food Supply Chain and
Traceability
Various definitions of a supply chain have been offered in
the past several years as the concept has gained popularity.
The APICS Dictionary describes the supply chain as:
1the processes from the initial raw materials to the ultimate
consumption of the finished product linking across supplieruser
companies; and
2the functions within and outside a company that enable the
value chain to make products and provide services to the
customer (Cox et al., 1995)
The Supply Chain Council (1997) uses the definition: ”The
supply chain – a term increasingly used by logistics professionals
– encompasses every effort involved in producing
and delivering a final product, from the supplier’s supplier to
the customer’s customer. Four basic processes – plan, source,
make, deliver – broadly define these efforts, which include
managing supply and demand, sourcing raw materials and
parts, manufacturing and assembly, warehousing and inventory
tracking, order entry and order management, distribution
across all channels, and delivery to the customer.[5]
ISO 9001:2000 defines traceability as the ”ability to trace
the history, application or location of that which is under
consideration” . The traceability management requires many
operations that can be divided in two macro activities:
1.external traceability: which is the ability to follow the
path of a specific unit along the production chain, forward
and backward,[5] this macro ability can be divided in micro
activities:
a. business-to-business traceability, i.e., information exchange
in the production chain from a business to the next one;
b. business-to-customer traceability, i.e., the management of
the information transfer from the retailer to the final customer;
c. whole chain traceability, i.e., the management of the information
about the whole path of a commodity,from the producer
to the final customer.
2.internal traceability, which is the ability to correctly follow
the whole path of a specific unit within the company.
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The tracing system currently being used are basically distributed
or centralised computer based systems.[6] So, in a
stretch, supply chain of fresh food means the system in which
the produce travels the whole system, form the farmer to the
consumer. And Traceability is the system that can monitor
each unit or batch of the produce within the system and
backtrack or front track at any given moment if needed. The
current systems use the above mentioned technologies in them
but not all of them together as a system.The separate uses in
traceability will be discussed first than a system containgin all
three technologies will be explained with a test case schenario.
1) Technological Implications of Traceable Agricultural
Supply Chains and current state: Farmers, processors, marketers,
handlers, consumers, governments and the general
public have stakeholder interests in the safety and costeffectiveness
of global agri-food supply chains. implementation
of traceable agricultural supply chains means technological
innovations for product identification, process and
environmental characterization, information capture, analysis,
storage and transmission, as well as overall system
integration. This may include – a.Product identification
technology, b.Quality and safety measurement technology,
c.Genetic analysis technology, d.Environmental monitoring
technology, e.Developments in geospatial science and technology,
f.Software technology for traceability system integration
etc.[7] There are currently available traceability systems that
are used in different sectors such as live stock. Automation
and mechatronics has enabled huge steps forward in its
production efficiency, quality improvements and sustainability.
For example, global crop yield increased by 77% between
1961–2007 [8] and the total greenhouse gas emissions of
the primary production has been reduced by 23.8% in the
period 1990–2012 [9]. But this improvements were mainly
accomplished by non-Internet technologies, such as mechanization
of field operations, breeding new varieties, and more
environment-friendly cultivation techniques. Yet, the sector has
to drastically increase productivity to feed the growing world
population and to satisfy their changing food demands. This
must be accomplished while at the same time agriculture is
facing huge challenges in dealing with climate change, becoming
more resource efficient and creating a circular economy,
reducing waste, guaranteeing food safety and contributing to
a healthy lifestyle of consumers. Though many systems have
tried to implement Internet of Things or Data analysis or
Even Blockchain a supply chain that implements all the three
technologies as a system may increase the efficiency. And that
will be reviewed in this paper.
B. Definition and Concept of Big Data Analysis, Internet of
Things and Blockchain regarding fresh food supply chain
1) Definition and Concept of Big Data Analysis in Supply
Chain Management: Oracle [10] contends that big data is
the derivation of value from traditional relational database
driven business decision making, augmented with new sources
of unstructured data. Such new sources include blogs, social
media, sensor networks, image data and other forms of data
which vary in size, structure, format and other factors. The
usability of Big data analytic is in the process of examining
large and varied data sets uncover unknown patterns, hidden
correlations, market trends, customer choices and other information
that can help organizations make more-informed
business decisions.
Opportunities in Big data are at rudimentary, sophisticated and
advanced levels. At rudimentary level, Ingested Data can be
analyzed in real time. At sophisticated level, high resolution
of spatial maps of soil moisture can direct. And at Advanced
level, Remote sensed data coupled with measurements supports.
However there are few challenges like lack of Data
Scientists for analyzing the data, Mismatch in scale, precision
and accuracy of data, data to be quality controlled before used
in algorithm, interpreting the processed data.[11]
2) Definition and Concept of Internet of Things in Supply
Chain Management: Internet of Things refers to the networked
interconnection of everyday objects, which are often equipped
with ubiquitous intelligence. Internet of Things will increase
the ubiquity of the Internet by integrating every object for
interaction via embedded systems, which leads to a highly
distributed network of devices communicating with human
beings as well as other devices. Thanks to rapid advances in
underlying technologies, Internet of Things is opening tremendous
opportunities for a large number of novel applications
that promise to improve the quality of our lives.[12]
for small- and medium sized companies representing the
majority in farming as well as parts in the food chain.
A particular Internet of Things empowered app might be
enough to help solving a very particular problem. Apps
could help to process or interpret data and make suggestions
or give advice. For example: sensors in the field are
measuring the condition of the soil and consolidate this
data in an app that is also predicting rain. As a consequence,
the farmer is advised against spraying his field that
day. elaborate usage can help in the sectors such as Precision
Agriculture,Tracking and Tracing,Food Processing and
Manufacturing,Consumer Food Awareness,Data-Driven Farming,
Circular Economy/Green Farming and Food,Autonomous
Farm Operations,Outcome-based Agricultural Services,Urban
Farming,Virtual Food Chains,Personalised Nutrition etc.[13]
3) Definition and Concept of Blockchain in Supply Chain
Management: A blockchain is essentially a distributed
database of records, or public ledger of all transactions or
digital events that have been executed and shared among
participating parties. Each transaction in the public ledger is
verified by consensus of a majority of the participants in the
system. Once entered, information can never be erased. The
blockchain contains a certain and verifiable record of every
single transaction ever made. To use a basic analogy, it is
easier to steal a cookie from a cookie jar, kept in a secluded
place, than stealing the cookie from a cookie jar kept in a
market place, being observed by thousands of people. [14]
In the agri-industry billions of products being manufactured
everyday globally, through complex supply chains that extend
to all parts of the world. However, there is very little know
ledge of how , when and where these products were originated,
manufactured, and used through their life cycle. in almost
every case these journeys from the producer to the consumer
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remain an unseen dimension of our possessions.[15] The consumers
and end users are often unaware of the various crisis
involved with the production of goods. Supply chain visibility
is a key business challenge, with most companies having little
or no information on their own second and third tier suppliers.
End to end supply chain transparency and visibility can help
model the flow of products from raw materials to manufacturing,
testing, and finished goods, enabling new kinds of analytics
for operations, risk and sustainability.[16]Transparency
enables one to understand the effects and consequences of a
decision on a product and furthers understanding of environmental
circumstances.An proposed application of blockchain
in supply chain for manufacturing systems comprises of a decentralized
distributed system that uses blockchain(s)to collect,
store and manage key product information of each product
throughout its life cycle. This creates a secure, shared record
of exchange for each product along with specific product
information. As a product moves through its life cycle, it
is possessed by a variety of actors, for example, producers,
suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and finally the
end consumer. Each of these actors play an important part
in this system, logging in key information about the product
and its current status on to the blockchain network. Each
product would have a unique digital profile containing all
related information, populated during various life cycle stages.
Thus creating a transparent and visible supply chain.[17] And
in Fresh food industry a system like this creates a trust in the
consumer about the produce they consume. About its origin,
quality and attributes which are key points of concern of
modern consumers
C. Using Big Data analysis, Internet of Things and Blockchain
technology together in a self sustaining system
As stand alone technologies Big Data analysis, Internet of
Things and Blockchain have proved that they can help improve
the current supply chain standards to ensure the consumer
satisfaction along with profits for producers and other parties
involved in the chain. But together they can form a self sustainable
system that can move gradually mitigate cost, reduce risk
factors and increase profit by predicting demand and creating
consumer trust. The system starting at the core of the chain
which is the farm will include Internet of Things to monitor
farming procedure to mitigate risks such as pre-cultivation,
use of harmful chemicals etc. Blockchain technology will start
logging the data in the chain. After reaping the produce IoT
will follow the produce through its journey from the retailers,
distributors, transporters, storage facilities, suppliers and other
actors of the chain. The sensors will collect data and feed
the Blockchain log. Which will ensure the quality of the
produce through the whole procedure. This will create the
sense of trust on the produce from the consumers side as the
consumer will be able to trace everything about the produce
from the start. In casr of Fresh food everthing from the type
of seeds used to amount of fertilizers and pesticides used,
storage time, packing details and other information such as
GMO and other concerns can be satisfied. Next in the system
when the consumer buys the system will collect meta data
about the sell of the produce such as- season, place, time and
others which when analyzed can lead to pattern recognition
such as peoples preference based on location, season of the
year etc. This will help get accurate predictions for production
to meet the demand that has yet not been created. And as the
whole system cycle continues it will get precise in each step.
Interms removing wastage of food, imbalance between supply
and demand eventually removing the need for storage.
1) Test Case Scenario: Imagine the journey of a sack of
potato from the farm to the fork using the proposped system.
The journey starts by selecting a bag of quality seeds of
potatoes. They are then sowed in the farmland. Through the
cultivation process irrigation, use of fertilizer and pesticides
will be monitored and notified via the use of Internet of Things
technologies. Preventing over usage or lack of any of those
procedures. In the mean time Block Chain Technology will
log all the data from what day the potatoes were sown, what
species they are to what kind of fertilizers were used. Creating
a transparency that means none can use unwanted chemicals
or preservatives without everyone else knowing. After the
potatoes were ready for reaping they were transferred to a
warehouse for storing and after a time to the processing plants
or places where they will be batched together to be sent to
different places. In this phase Blockchain can make sure that
the potatoes are not stored longer than they are supposed to.
Internet of Things and Big Data Analysis will help determine
quickest routes to destination and other aspects to reduce cost
in the process. Then in the shop of the retailers the consumers
have access to all the information they can want. Where the
produce was harvested, if its GMO or not, Is it organic or
not. All the information that the consumers can trust thanks
to the Blockchain Technology. After the consumers buy the
produce their data is also logged into the system which in term
helps data analysis to predict demand among the consumers.
This makes it easy to close the gap between the demand and
supply. And as the cycle of the system continues each time
the predictions get more accurate based on more data. Finally
taking the traceability system to a self sustaining state.
II. CONCLUSION
Using the technologies together in a system rather than
standalone standards will allow the creation of a self sustaining
supply chain where Big Data Analysis will predict
the demand of produce, probability of calamities or other
risk factors properly to mitigate wastage. Where Internet of
things will ensure proper treatment of produce from production
to warehousing stage, which will ensure quality and remove
chances of adulteration or other concerns of the consumers.
And Blockchain in the end will ensure the consumers about
the quality of the produce they acquire creating a trust on
the system. It will therefore ensure a preventative quality and
safety management tool. The traceability management system
will allows for trace-back to the original producer as well
trace-forward to individual consumers and indeed any step
in the supply chain, for effective identification of products
and management of recall when quality and safety standards
are breached. From a consumer perspective, traceability will
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in terms help build trust, peace of mind, and increase confidence
in the food system. For the grower and post harvest
operators, traceability will work as part of an overall costeffective
quality management system that can also assist in
continuous improvement and minimization of the impact of
safety hazards through rapid determination and isolation of
sources of hazards./citerefninteen
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