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This work, originally presented at an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers conference and now published in an IEEE journal (purchase required), provides an example of how a small team of researchers can develop a bespoke digital traceability system for the Agri-Food industry.  This provides an alternative approach to buying one of the distributive ledger systems available from large commercial software vendors.

The researchers developed a decentralized system for the agrifood supply chain that allows product traceability and quality assurance. System decentralization and privacy preservation were enabled through the combination of Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI), Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs), and Verifiable Credentials (VCs). DIDs provide stakeholders with complete control, eliminating the need for centralized identity providers. Role-based access control is facilitated through VC-Role, which defines the permissions of actors, and VC-Access, which ensures secure interactions with private blockchain channels.

The publication includes a description of the system architecture, DID and VC integration for access control, and a discussion of the QA requirements of the food industry.

The authors conclude that their system promotes traceability and ensures tamper-proof records of product quality. A proof of concept demonstrates the feasibility and potential impact of this approach in improving quality assurance.

This review (open access) covers food fraud in a wider context, including macro-economic motivation and opportunities for fraud.  The review has a particular focus on the Halal food sector within Islamic countries and communities.  After a discussion of modern “big data” analytical methods, such as spectroscopy and sequencing, it goes on to discuss point-of-use and real time testing approaches, sensors and internet-of-things, and predictive modelling  It concludes with the challenges in scaling some of these approaches, including inter-operability and data sharing, and makes a number of recommendations for capacity building in this field.  The authors propose a systems-level roadmap to bridge scientific innovation with regulatory and industrial application.

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Michel Neilsen, professor of analytical chemistry at Wageningen University & Research, was recently interviewed about an EU-funded project to develop smartphone-based food screening capabilities.

The FoodSmartphone project aims to develop smartphone-based (bio)analytical sensing and diagnostics tools for simplified on-site rapid pre-screening of food. The three-year project is scheduled to wrap up in December.

Nielsen explains that the project works to develop a device that can be attached or connected to a shopper's smartphone to test for allergens, pesticides, and whether the product is organic. The team hopes to empower shoppers to test food at the shelf.

The interview was recently published by Horizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine from the European Commission, and can be read here.