The Guayaquil, Ecuador-headquartered Sustainable Shrimp Partnership (SSP) has launched a traceability application designed to enable consumers to access key information on the farm-to-fork journey of the cultured shrimp they purchase in supermarkets or other grocery stores. The web application is connected to IBM Food Trust platform, based on blockchain technology, which ensures transparent data about the provenance and quality of shrimp on the retail market.
Each package of SSP Blue Box shrimp is stamped with a QR code that consumers can scan and in matter of seconds get to know where, when, who, and how their shrimp was farmed and processed, and trace it in every stage so that they can trust they are buying a premium quality and a safe product.
“The shrimp industry worldwide produces over 5 million tons of product each year, and we continue to see many examples of food fraud – especially in seafood industry. So how can consumers can trust that the products they are buying are safe for them and their families?” asked José Antonio Camposano, executive president of the National Aquaculture Chamber from Ecuador. “This is how: using the most secure and latest technology available for food traceability and committing producers to the highest levels of transparency. This way they acquire the power to make an informed choice and increase their capacity to buy healthy and responsibly farmed shrimp.”
SSP’s members, which include responsible aquaculture companies based in Ecuador, will enter data about how the shrimp is produced onto IBM Food Trust – from its birth in the hatchery, how it is raised on the farm, processed and packed in the processing plant. Current members of the SSP that are connected to the IBM Food Trust platform and offering blockchain traceability include Omarsa, Songa and Promarisco-Grupo Nueva Pescanova.
SSP shrimp is produced to the highest social and environmental standards – ASC certified, use of zero antibiotics, and with neutral impact on local water quality. The Blockchain Traceability Project was co-financed by The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), an SSP Advisory Board Member.
“The story of SSP shrimp deserves to be told so consumers can have total confidence and security about what they are buying, but also to highlight the essential role of our producers – their dedication, effort
and commitment to farm shrimp applying the best practices, focused on being responsible with the ecosystem, their workers, communities and of course with their clients,” said Pamela Nath, the director of SSP.
IBM Food Trust provides a secure platform to which immutable data of SSP shrimp can be uploaded and shared in real-time, and provides verification of the authenticity of the product, including that it is antibiotic-free, ASC certified and have neutral impact on the environment.
“TheIBM Food Trust mission is to enable producers, retailers and consumers build relationships based on data transparency, promote food safety and enhance the sustainability of our global food supply chain. SSP is a stellar member of the Food Trust network and a pioneer in the seafood industry for shrimp farm traceability and data transparenc,” said Raj Rao, IBM’s general manager for blockchain platforms, IBM. “This instills greater confidence for consumers to choose high quality shrimp, knowing its origin and that is has been sustainably harvested. We are confident that the Consumer App being released by SSP will raise the bar for the industry to embrace radical transparency.”
“With the complexity of current global food supply chains, visibility into where and how food is produced is necessary to understand the impacts on people and nature, but historically, this information has not been available” said Blake Harris, the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) aquaculture traceability manager. “WWF is encouraged to see the SSP taking steps to utilize new technologies, like blockchain, to track this information electronically and share it directly with consumers. We hope the SSP’s leadership has a knock-on effect to drive industry-wide traceability and transparency efforts that are necessary for a more sustainable food system.”
“The SSP exemplified that a data driven system is possible and can attract customers. Eventually blockchain will secure them of safe, sustainable, and traceable supply,” added Lisa Van Wageningenof the Sustainable Trade Initiative and member of the SSP Advisory Board. “It is a very brave step. It is a group of companies working together to achieve traceability. That is incredibly special. The companies decided to not compete but to collaborate. It is an invitation to other producers to join them to the race to the top, and I hope that other producers accept this challenge.”
