IBM has announced a major collaboration with a group of leading companies across the global food supply chain aimed at bolstering consumer confidence in the global food system.

According to the official release, the consortium, including Dole, Driscoll’s, Golden State Foods, Kroger, McCormick and Company, McLane Company, Nestlé, Tyson Foods, Unilever, and Walmart, will work with IBM to identify and prioritize areas where the global supply chain can benefit from blockchain.

By establishing a trusted environment for all transactions, blockchain technology could help address the challenges faced by the global food system. All participants in the global food supply chain – growers, suppliers, processors, distributors, retailers, regulators, and consumers – can gain permissioned access to known and trusted information regarding the origin and state of food for their transactions. This, in turn, would help in the expedited tracking contaminated product to its source, safe removal from store shelves, and curbing the spread of illnesses.

IBM said that the work will draw on its previous pilots and production networks in related areas. The initiative follows recent blockchain trial in which IBM and Walmart demonstrated that the technology can be used to track a product from the farm through every stage of the supply chain.

“Unlike any technology before it, blockchain is transforming the way like-minded organizations come together and enabling a new level of trust based on a single view of the truth,” said Marie Wieck, general manager, IBM Blockchain. “Our work with organizations across the food ecosystem, as well as IBM’s new platform, will further unleash the vast potential of this exciting technology, making it faster for organizations of all sizes and in all industries to move from concept to production to improve the way business gets done.”

IBM’s Enterprise-Grade Blockchain Platform

In order to accelerate blockchain adoption, IBM has announced the first fully integrated, enterprise-grade production blockchain platform that will allow more organizations to quickly activate their own business networks and access the capabilities needed to successfully develop, operate, govern, and secure these networks. Available via the IBM Cloud, IBM Blockchain Platform builds off of the successful blockchain work IBM has delivered to more than 400 organizations.

The platform addresses a wide range of enterprise pain points, including both business and technical requirements around security, performance, collaboration, and privacy. It allows multiple parties to jointly develop, govern, operate, and secure blockchain networks to help enterprises accelerate blockchain adoption.

To complement the new platform, IBM Global Business Services is offering Blockchain Services, which brings deep industry expertise from its 1,600 blockchain consultants who apply design thinking to help enterprises conceptualize and implement blockchain enabled business models to realize optimal value.