Beefing up traceability: Ambrosus blockchain tracks Korea’s Nongshim beef sold at Mega Mart

11 Oct 2018 --- Ambrosus, the globally decentralized blockchain and IoT platform, has joined forces with NDS, a subsidiary of Korean food producer Nongshim, to track and trace premium quality beef sold by food retailer Mega Mart. Ambrosus is pioneering what it describes as a “revolutionary beef traceability model” in Mega Mark using the AMB-NET blockchain.

Uptake of blockchain technology is growing within the food and drinks industry as agile companies tap into its “game-changing” potential in terms of traceability. Earlier this week, French-headquartered retail giant Carrefour signed up to the IBM Food Trust blockchain network, adopting the technology to improve traceability of certain food products with plans to expand to all Carrefour brands by 2022.

A number of retailers, logistics firms and growers are working with IBM-developed blockchain technology – and now Europe’s largest retailer is adopting blockchain which will quickly help trace food back to its source within seconds, unlike traditional transactions.

Another early proponent of blockchain is Walmart which, last month, announced that its leafy green suppliers would be required to capture digital, end-to-end traceability event information using IBM Food Trust. The US retail giant lauds the benefits of the database that can quickly and efficiently identify contamination and expects these suppliers to be signed up by next fall. 

Ambrosus is a decentralized IoT network for next-generation supply-chains which combines high-tech sensors, blockchain protocol, and smart contracts. Ambrosus is building a universally verifiable, community-driven ecosystem to assure the quality, safety, and origins of products.

Its primary focus is on improving supply chains for food and medicine, although the protocol can be applied to almost any complex supply chain, according to the company. 

The AMB-NET blockchain will let company partners and consumers to easily access detailed information about the history and transportation surrounding each cut of beef. The partnership will add an essential layer of transparency and quality assurance to a historically complex supply chain.

“Cooperating with NDS for this proof-of-concept is mutually beneficial to both companies, as the PoC will provide consumers with much-needed information about the quality and origin of their beef products,” says Angel Versetti, CEO and Co-founder of Ambrosus.

“Ambrosus is looking forward to building an end-to-end solution for Mega Mart’s beef supply chain and to demonstrate the flexibility and efficiency of Ambrosus’ blockchain and IoT platform. Ambrosus is proud to pioneer this beef traceability solution in cooperation with the NDS.”

Ambrosus will be formally responsible for identifying and tracing all of Mega Mart’s’ beef using distributed ledger technology. It will also configure the data from each piece of meat into a consumer-oriented application, designed to facilitate trust and maximize customer satisfaction. 

All kinds of information will be captured through a QR code including the specific cow, its origin, the veterinarian’s health check of the meat, and the transportation conditions of the product.

Consumers can easily access the data through smartphone scanning.

“We are pleased to announce this strategic collaboration with Ambrosus, as it allows NDS to remain on the cutting edge of current technological solutions,” adds Joong-Won Kim, CEO of NDS.

“With the Ambrosus Network, NDS will be able to demonstrate the quality and origin of a variety of premium beef products to build consumer trust with much-needed transparency. For the first time, blockchain technology can be leveraged to practically improve Korean food standards, especially for all customers of Mega Mart."

This proof-of-concept of the Ambrosus Network follows a recent partnership with PREMIUM Goods, a French flavoring company, to use blockchain and IoT to provide transparency and proof-of-quality to Madagascar bourbon vanilla. 

By Gaynor Selby