Supply chain management and logistics play a pivotal role in ensuring the smooth functioning of the consumer products industry. The supply chain segment frequently faces problems like a lack of transparency, forgery, inadequate record-keeping, and delays. When it comes to perishable goods, including food & beverage products, it becomes a lingering predicament. Blockchain is swiftly emerging as an elixir to the industry.

In 2020, an E.coli outbreak spread like wildfire in the US across 19 states. Around 20 people were hospitalized. The calamity was traced back to leafy greens, and the industry spent millions of dollars notifying the public as

well as tracking and removing the contaminated vegetables from the market. Blockchain could have prevented or at least made disaster management way easier.

For instance, let's take the case of Walmart. The American multinational retail corporation has been using blockchain technology to not only digitally transform its supply chain and reduce the time it takes to track the source of food contamination. Walmart now requires all suppliers of leafy green vegetables to upload data onto a blockchain. This helps the company realtime track produce right back to the farm it came from. In batch contamination, the company can trace contaminated food within seconds versus the weeks-long manual process. This is invaluable during times of product recall.

Walmart, indeed is not alone; Nestlé uses a blockchain to trace the growing origins of its Rainforest Alliance-certified coffee brand. This helps the brand guarantee the sustainability practices of the coffee growing. On the other hand, the consumer can simply scan a QR code on the packaging to view real-time information on farmers, the time of harvest, the roasting period, and even the transaction certificate for their coffee's specific shipment.