Olive oil producer deploys IBM Blockchain for full traceability
CHO, one of the largest producers of olive oil in the southern Mediterranean, is using IBM Blockchain to provide traceability for its Terra Delyssa extra virgin olive oil across eight quality assurance checkpoints, including the orchard where the olives were grown, the mill where olives were crushed, and the facilities where the oil was filtered, bottled, distributed, and more.
Starting with its most recent harvest now being bottled, customers of Terra Delyssa retailers around the world will be able to scan a QR-code on each label, allowing them to view a provenance record. By detailing each step of the product's journey, consumers can gain peace of mind about the origins of their olive oil and richer insight into its journey and quality checkpoints, and even view images of the fields where the olives were grown.
CHO has joined IBM Food Trust—a permissioned blockchain network that spans to the food supply chain across growers, processors, shippers, retailers, regulators, and consumers.
Terra Delyssa is grown in CHO's pesticide-free orchards with 320 days of sun, is first cold pressed, and is made entirely from a single source. The company has already begun using Food Trust to manage and record traceability efforts for its extra virgin line, the highest grade of olive oil as classified by the International Olive Oil Council and the USDA.
According to the companies, media coverage of olive oil mislabeling and illicit counterfeit olive oil operations, plus the general confusion about how olive oils are blended, are driving consumer distrust. And even for products where there is less confusion, today's consumers still say they demand authenticity and transparency. A recent IBM Institute for Business Value study found that 73% of consumers will pay a premium for full transparency about the products they buy.
Blockchain technology enables greater trust across the supply chain by creating a permanent, digitized chain of transactions that cannot be altered. Olive farmers, millers, distributors and retailers alike can all interact more efficiently using near real-time access to comprehensive product data. Consumers can be provided access to detailed information traced to the blockchain about the origins of the products they consume.
Using blockchain technology creates a, verifiable record of where each bottle of olive oil was produced and the methods used. This information can then be shared in near real time with distributers, retailers, and other permissioned members of the company's supply chain.
"Our families have been olive farmers and olive oil millers for generations. We created Terra Delyssa with a unique, smooth flavor profile to be the ambassador of Tunisian olive oil," said Wajih Rekik, CEO of CHO America. "With Food Trust, we believe we are among the first olive oil producers to use blockchain to provide our consumers a window into each step that goes into making our olive oil so exceptional."
For distributors and retailers, a separate enterprise application using blockchain will enable them to access in-depth information about each processing and control stage of production, including that it was first press, extra virgin, organic, all using analysis from CHO's IOC accredited laboratory and third-party auditors.
For more information, go to www.terradelyssa.com and www.ibm.com/blockchain.