Nestlé collaborates with OpenSC to offer supply chain transparency

Nestlé has announced a collaboration with OpenSC, a blockchain platform that allows consumers to track their food back to the farm.

The company claims to have become the first major food and beverage company to announce a pilot of open blockchain technology through this approach to offer full transparency.

OpenSC was founded by WWF-Australia and Boston Consulting Group Digital Ventures. It has built a platform that enables anyone to gain access to independently verifiable sustainability and supply chain data.

Under the initial pilot programme, consumers will be able to trace milk from farms and producers in New Zealand to Nestlé factories and warehouses in the Middle East.

Subsequently, the technology will be tested using palm oil sourced in the Americas.

Nestlé will be able to understand how scalable the system is through these pilots.

Nestlé executive vice0president and head of operations Magdi Batato said: “We want our consumers to make an informed decision on their choice of products, to choose products produced responsibly. Open blockchain technology might allow us to share reliable information with consumers in an accessible way.”

Since 2017, Nestlé has piloted this technology, most prominently with IBM Food Trust.

It provided access to consumers to blockchain data for the first time, through Mousline purée in France in April.

Nestlé global head of responsible sourcing Benjamin Ware said: “This open blockchain technology will allow anyone, anywhere in the world to assess our responsible sourcing facts and figures.

“We believe it is another important step towards the full disclosure of our supply chains announced by Nestlé in February, raising the bar for transparency and responsible production globally.”

Last month, Nestlé joined a project launched by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to develop a circular economy solution for the existing food system.