Blockchain and Food Traceability: What Needs to Happen Before It Can Deliver
“Blockchain” has become a buzzword in nearly every industry, including food manufacturing. The technology — originally built to record cryptocurrency transactions — offers a shared, secure digital ledger where multiple partners can record, verify, and access supply chain data.
In theory, it’s an ideal fit for food traceability: transparent, fast, and verifiable. But in practice, most of the food industry isn’t ready for it. Blockchain can’t deliver meaningful visibility until every manufacturer in the chain can capture and share accurate, validated lot-level data in real time — something many still struggle to do.
Why Blockchain Isn’t a Quick Fix
Blockchain’s potential is huge: instant recall visibility, verified supply data, and shared accountability from farm to retailer. But the challenge isn’t technology — it’s readiness.
Many manufacturers still rely on paper logs, spreadsheets, or disconnected systems to record lot information. For blockchain to work, every participant in the supply chain — growers, processors, co-packers, distributors, and retailers — must contribute validated, digital traceability data. Without that, blockchain becomes an incomplete record rather than a source of truth.
Retailers are already pushing adoption. Walmart, for example, began requiring blockchain participation in parts of its supply chain several years ago, and other large buyers are likely to follow. Yet most food manufacturers still face the same barriers: fragmented systems, manual data entry, and inconsistent traceability processes.
The Real Foundation: Digital, Validated Traceability
Before manufacturers can participate in blockchain, they must first ensure their own internal traceability is digital, accurate, and validated.
That means:
- Capturing lot data in real time. Relying on paperwork or after-the-fact data entry introduces errors and delays.
- Using systems that validate transactions. Validation ensures lot numbers, quantities, and locations make sense before data is recorded — preventing impossible or duplicate transactions.
- Standardizing inputs. Many raw materials still arrive without machine-readable lot codes (such as Code 128 or GS1 barcodes). That makes scanning difficult and leads to manual relabeling, wasted time, and potential errors.
Without these fundamentals in place, any “blockchain-ready” initiative is built on shaky ground.
The Hidden Problem: Unvalidated Data
Even companies that store lot information electronically often do so in unvalidated systems. A spreadsheet or an open text field in a legacy ERP system can’t stop a user from typing “LOO1” instead of “L001.” Those small errors can quickly break traceability, distort inventory, and erode trust in the data.
True traceability requires software that checks every transaction as it happens — confirming that the lot exists, that the quantity is available, and that the transaction is possible. That’s the difference between having data and having validated data you can depend on.
Blockchain’s Role — and Its Limits
In an ideal blockchain-enabled food supply chain, each participant records lot shipments to their next buyer, who then verifies receipt. That shared visibility allows recalls or audits to trace product movement almost instantly.
But blockchain alone doesn’t capture how those lots were transformed inside a manufacturing facility — which raw materials were used in which batches, or what finished goods they became. That level of internal traceability still depends on the manufacturer’s own software systems.
Until those systems are digitized and validated, blockchain can’t fill the gaps. It can only reflect the data it’s given.
Where the Industry Stands Now
A handful of blockchain pilots in food have shown impressive speed — Walmart’s mango trial famously traced fruit back to its origin in just 2.2 seconds. But those projects worked because the product wasn’t transformed along the way, and every participant used compatible digital systems.
Manufactured foods are far more complex. Ingredients cross borders, undergo processing, and change form multiple times before reaching the consumer. That makes full blockchain participation — with all members contributing verified data — a long-term goal rather than an immediate solution.
What Manufacturers Should Focus on Today
Before blockchain can deliver, manufacturers need to:
- Automate internal traceability. Move away from paper and spreadsheets toward systems that record lot data in real time.
- Validate data at every step. Ensure software prevents impossible transactions and confirms lot accuracy.
- Standardize supplier data. Encourage or require suppliers to provide machine-readable lot codes to simplify scanning and reduce errors.
- Prepare for integration. Choose tools that can connect with future blockchain or AI-driven traceability networks.
The priority isn’t adopting blockchain — it’s preparing for it. Once manufacturers have reliable, digital traceability in place, connecting to shared platforms like IBM Food Trust or future retailer-led chains becomes straightforward.
Final Thoughts
Blockchain will likely become part of the future of food traceability — but only after the industry solves its more immediate challenge: consistent, validated, digital data.
Manufacturers that modernize their traceability systems now will be ready to integrate when their retail or regulatory partners require it. In the meantime, the best investment isn’t in blockchain pilots — it’s in the tools that make your internal data accurate, real-time, and audit-ready.
Because blockchain can only be as trustworthy as the data that feeds it.