How blockchain will surpass certified labels

by Lumai Mubanga

Millions of individuals have suffered allergic reaction after consuming products bought from some chain stores. These products could have been accurately labelled as non-organic. They could even have “passed” food and safety standard tests. Most of these products come from different countries with different standards. As such, there has never been any guarantee that the foods we buy off-shell are as authentic as they are labelled.

Developing countries have been at the receiving end of such product especially that most of their borders are porous and vulnerable. How will the adoption and implementation of blockchain help these countries?

USDA certified organic foods

All food products that come with USDA certified labels are manufactured under strict and controlled environments. These include the quality of soils used to grow such products, types of weed killers and pesticides used in their growth management. When you purchase an imported product with such a label, you may feel confident that you are purchasing a certified product especially if you have allergic family members who may be sensitive to pesticide allergies.

While you feel good that the product you are buying actually is organic and has been treated with all-natural pesticides, and will not make you sick, sometimes you may wonder if that product really is organic. The same could be said with regard to organic milk. If you care so much about the welfare of animals, you may want to stick to buying organic milk as opposed to non-organic. How though can you really know that someone did not just print up a bunch of these stickers in their basement and apply them at the last minute?

How Blockchain will help

Blockchain will go a long way in assisting with such challenges. However, it will not only provide a solution for buyers but will also provide detailed insight into the life cycle of any given product. Buyers will be able to gain greater insight into any purchased product, possibly from any corner of the earth.

Using your smartphone, you will be able to scan a QR Code on the product. This is better than the current USDT certified labels that could be a merely forged sticker. after the instant QR code scan, the system will show a pop up of the entire life cycle of the purchased product. This information, which can be accessed even before you make the final purchase, will help you to decide whether to make the purchase based on the information or not.

Possible Insight

You will be able to confirm the date that it was planted on the orchard. You can even see the organic pesticide company that came along and treated it with an all-natural pesticide. You can even verify that the pesticide is natural by seeing the ingredient list in that pesticide. For organic milk, you will see the grazing area were animals fed from through a google map. Finally, you may see who actually delivered that product to the store.

Such insight will assist buyers to make informed decisions beyond what a mere sticker is able to provide today. Ultimately, this type of data extracted from blockchain will help consumers better understand what they consume than what we see on mere stickers we see today.