Enhanced Traceability of Livestock-Based Products by Blockchain Technology: Comparison
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Blockchain has become a modern technology that can enhance the traceability of products and services, which is particularly relevant to agri-food supply chains. While blockchain technology is potentially sustainable and worthy of applications, there remain various limitations and complications toward adoption, such as the low awareness among stakeholders, the weak sector-wide coordination, and the lack of capacity in primary suppliers. Potential benefits and implications of blockchain technology for the food industry have yet to be widely understood, especially in the ASEAN. These findings would call for coordinated support from both the governments and the private sector, especially to raise awareness of the technology, reinforce sector-wide coordination, and develop skills required for adoption.

  • blockchain
  • traceability
  • food supply chain

1. Introduction

Food safety has become a major global public health concern, causing considerably decreased consumer confidence due to various outbreaks of food-borne illnesses, including epidemics [1].With the lack of transparency and traceability in food supply chain systems, consumers’ concerns regarding food provenance and quality are growing in many countries, resulting in the increased demand for food products whose origin is certified [2]. Consumers increasingly insist on a comprehensive and integrated food safety policy, such as the farm-to-table policy, which has consequences for both producers and control authorities.

Enforcement of an adequate and integrated traceability system, covering both plant and animal products, is essential for performing effective risk assessment along the production chain. A sound food safety policy requires regulatory action to manage risks and the implementation of an effective control system to monitor and enforce regulations. Each element is part of a chain; thus, changes in farming practices, feed and food production, and processing often require amendments to existing regulations, while feedback from the control systems helps to identify and manage both existing and emerging risks [3].

Supply chain management is increasingly leveraging online processes in their business operations. For instance, the online-to-offline (O2O) supply chain strategy uses an online trigger to prompt potential customers to visit the outlet in person to complete the purchase, which is gaining popularity in certain industries, such as print-on-demand. [4][5]. Recent research suggests the advantage of strong coordination between manufacturers and retailers in decentralized supply chain management to address the risk of demand fluctuation in short life-cycle products [6]. Moreover, the concept and practice of green supply chains are gaining momentum in the agri-food sector.

2. Traceability in the Agri-Food Industry

Traceability is widely recognized as the basis for any modern food safety control system integrating both animal health and food hygiene components. Traceability is the ability to recognize the origin of foods or agricultural products, especially when products are found to be defective [7]. A traceability system leads the organization through all the stages of the value chain, from the origin until the end. Traceability and transparency are necessary for building trust in the agri-food supply chain [8].

According to Opara [9], traceability in the agricultural supply chain can be divided into six major elements: (1) product traceability, which describes the location of a commodity at any stage of the supply chain to simplify the logistics, inventory management, and other required information for customers and stakeholders; (2) process traceability, which describes the types and order of activities that occur with the product during the operations, including the interaction between the product and other elements that affect value addition to the product; (3) genetic traceability, which describes the genetic information of the product, including the type of materials or ingredients for creating a raw material; (4) inputs traceability, which describes the types of inputs such as fertilizer, irrigation water, feed, and other relevant activities or inputs used during the production and processing stages; (5) disease and pest traceability, which describes any contamination that occurs resulting from agricultural raw materials; and (6) measurement traceability, which describes the single measurement results that follow the national and international standards. In addition, according to Shankar et al. [10], the traceability system for the agricultural supply chain can be classified into three stages: (1) tracing the source of contamination from downstream to upstream; (2) tracking the physical movement of the agri-product from upstream to downstream; and (3) maintaining the product history information associated with the movement of products along the supply chain.

An integrated food chain control system should be able to identify and document the following with accuracy: (a) all materials and ingredients used; (b) production processes; (c) personnel involved; and (d) final products. This identification and documentation has the following goals: (a) to increase confidence in product safety; (b) to control public health risks derived from product use/consumption; (c) to facilitate disease control procedures, including sampling; (d) to identify the source of possible contamination; and (e) to facilitate the product recall procedure. The globalization of trade complicates the identification of the origins of materials used for either feed or food preparation [11]. Furthermore, the lack of harmonization of labelling requirements, particularly at the international level, often precludes traceback of an ingredient or raw material to the source.

3. Adaptation of Technology and Policy in the ASEAN Agri-Food Industry

According to the ASEAN Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) Work Plan toward the ASEAN Economic Community 2025, modern technologies will be practiced to advance the productivity of crop, livestock, and fishery production in the region and improve the quality of products to support the agri-food stakeholders [12]. Digital agriculture, including use of drones to spray fertilizers and pesticides, robotics, and wireless sensors, provides innumerable opportunities for realizing the AMAF Work Plan. Additional technologies, such as data sensors, can provide farmers with information on the optimal quantity of production inputs (e.g., seeds, nutrients) and the environment (e.g., temperature, humidity) to boost yields [12]. Investment is needed to secure key resources of modern technology.

3.1. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

RFID (radio frequency identification) is a type of communication technology for non-contact automatic identification, which automatically identifies multiple high-speed moving objects simultaneously, even in resource-poor environments and without manual intervention. Moreover, it can tag, save, and manage information through a radio-frequency signal. Compared to the bar code, the RFID tag technology has considerable advantages, such as convenience, antipollution, mass-capacity information, and recyclability. With regard to logistics, RFID has been widely used in production-processing, warehouse management, logistics tracing, and product anti-fake. With the extensive applications of RFID, the level of supply chain management has been highly enhanced [13].

3.2. Near Field Communication (NFC)

NFC (near field communication) is another step from RFID. The NFC technology enables simple and safe two-way interactions between electronic devices. Customers can use the NFC technology on their smart phone to read passive information and important parameters, and thus purchase safe food [14].The following are examples of applications of NFC currently used in field [15]: first, contactless tokens including the RFID label, contactless Smart Cards, and tokens without electric connections. The contactless token has no communication link with the main device and cannot run any complex protocols. Contactless tokens are used for storing some data which can be read by the NFC device. Second, ticketing/micro payment can be stored in a secure device in order to transfer some valuable information. Last, device pairing is when two devices in the same group communicate with one another.

3.3. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN)

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) aim to increase efficiency and reliability by developing new algorithms, protocols, and techniques.The advantages of WSN include its capacity to dispense multiple network topologies, secured communication among nodes, and the ability for long reading ranges. Nonetheless, some disadvantages remain, such as the inapplicability for needs and identification purposes and the high energy consumption in continuous sensing [16].

3.4. Cloud Computing Technology (CCT)

Cloud computing technology (CCT) is the most recent technological concept in many industries, such as banking, retail, education, and logistics. The main benefits of CCT are a reduction in hardware and software cost, better visibility of information, and faster development with well managed computing resources by the provided software [17]. Moreover, CCT can be used as part of a tracking system along the agri-food supply chain. For example, previous researchers conducted research on a cloud-based beef supply chain in order to assess carbon footprint [18]. The literature discusses different stakeholders of the beef supply chain and corresponding sources of carbon emissions [18].

3.5. DNA Barcoding

In order to address the disadvantages of the previous technologies, DNA barcoding was invented to improve quality assurance. DNA barcoding technology functions to analyze proteins in food products and ensure their traceability [16]. In the seafood industry, research shows that standard and inexpensive DNA-based analytical methods presented an excellent opportunity to improve self-regulatory programs within internal traceability systems, achieve customer satisfaction, and protect company interests [19]. 

4. Blockchain Technology

4. Blockchain Technology

Blockchain is a technology made up of the key concepts of decentralization, security, immutability, and smart contracts
[2021], where smart contacts are a digital contract stored in the blockchain which automatically runs when the conditions are met
[2122]. Blockchain provides a distributed data structure, which is replicated and shared among members of a network
[2223]. Blockchain technology has been applied in anticipation that it will assume a significant role in ensuring the traceability of the agri-food value chains

5. Challenges and Opportunities

5. Challenges and Opportunities

At present, there are several challenges in the adoption of blockchain technology along the agri-food supply chains, as follows:
  • Accessibility: this is a significant challenge because blockchain technology underlies multiple digital technologies, such as IoT, RFID, sensors and actuators, robots, biometric data, and big data [29].
  • Matching the physical to the digital: although blockchain can be used to create credibility and highly effective digital assets, participants need to be convinced that it represents what is happening in the physical world. Building robust digital infrastructure of IoT IoT devices, sensors, and on-site integrations is critical for providing physical verification [30].devices, sensors, and on-site integrations is critical for providing physical verification [30].
  • Incentives and cooperation: supply chains are networks of diverse participants with widely varying interests. The right incentives need to be provided by way of efficiency gain, improved liquidity, and data security in order to ensure that decision makers will buy in across the entire network [30].
  • Gold standards: blockchain technology can be subject to fraud. There needs to subject to fraudbe confidence in data inputs and certifying standards in order to ensure that blockchains are not only immutable, but also accurate [30]. There needs to be confidence in data inputs and certifying standards in order to ensure that blockchains are not only immutable, but also accurate [30].
  • On the other hand, a few opportunity areas have been identified as follows:
  • Competitive advantages: blockchain technology has potential to elevate the agri-food industry to the next level by strengthening cyber security and credibility through real-time management time management [31][3132][3233], as well as reducing transaction costs for digital payments [3334], as well as reducing transaction costs for digital payments [34]..
  • Benefit and cost: while small-scale farmers produce over 80% of commodities in developing countries, they tend to lack access to financial schemes, including insurance [31]. The transparency allowed by blockchain technology can help to minimize corruption, raise social capital [32], and foster effective supply chains based on enhanced reputation. Overall, Perboli et al. [33] suggest that implementation costs for blockchain technology are sustainable and worthy vis-à-vis its benefits.

6. Implications of Blockchain Integration into the Livestock-Based Products Supply Chains in Thailand

  • Ranchers record information on animal well-being during the husbandry stage, according to standards such as nutrition, pasture environments, special treatment, and other relevant practices.
  • Processors record all standard processes required for quality assurance.
  • Retailers provide information on livestock products and product shelf life to consumers.
  • Consumers are the end of the chain, and can retrieve information from all previous stages in order to help make the purchase decision.

7. Conclusions

Blockchain technology is one of the modern technologies that can be applied to supply chain management in the agri-food industry, as the technology is suitable for improving transparency, reliability, security, decentralization, and information sharing across supply chain actors. It may well help to enhance the competitive advantage of livestock products from Thailand in the international market. To date, however, the adoption of the new technology has yet to be widespread.
(1) the early paper in 2016 mentioned blockchain technology and food supply chains. Thereafter, an increasing number of research papers demonstrated the adoption of blockchain technology in sectors in Asia, such as China, Vietnam, and Thailand. (2) For livestock-based products, blockchain technology has not been fully adopted and implemented sector-wide. (3) The food industry has observed some changes over time, such as the increased awareness of food quality and food safety based on the new standards and requirements, including the pandemic-induced changes since 2020. (4) The challenges facing blockchain adoption in the food industry have been identified at each stage of the supply chain. The most significant challenge is the lack of awareness of the benefits of the technology among stakeholders in the food industry. Another challenge is the limited adoption capacity, especially among small-scale processors and farmers. Moreover, sector-wide coordination is inadequate for harnessing the potential of product traceability along the entire supply chain. (5) In the ASEAN region, blockchain technology adoption is expanding among the member states, such as Vietnam and Malaysia. There are guidelines for promoting digital technologies, including blockchain use, for the agri-food sector.
Blockchain technology is one of the modern technologies that can be applied to supply chain management in the agri-food industry, as the technology is suitable for improving transparency, reliability, security, decentralization, and information sharing across supply chain actors. It may well help to enhance the competitive advantage of livestock products from Thailand in the international market. To date, however, the adoption of the new technology has yet to be widespread.
(1) the early paper in 2016 mentioned blockchain technology and food supply chains. Thereafter, an increasing number of research papers demonstrated the adoption of blockchain technology in sectors in Asia, such as China, Vietnam, and Thailand. (2) For livestock-based products, blockchain technology has not been fully adopted and implemented sector-wide. (3) The food industry has observed some changes over time, such as the increased awareness of food quality and food safety based on the new standards and requirements, including the pandemic-induced changes since 2020. (4) The challenges facing blockchain adoption in the food industry have been identified at each stage of the supply chain. The most significant challenge is the lack of awareness of the benefits of the technology among stakeholders in the food industry. Another challenge is the limited adoption capacity, especially among small-scale processors and farmers. Moreover, sector-wide coordination is inadequate for harnessing the potential of product traceability along the entire supply chain. (5) In the ASEAN region, blockchain technology adoption is expanding among the member states, such as Vietnam and Malaysia. There are guidelines for promoting digital technologies, including blockchain use, for the agri-food sector.

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