Nestle Experiments with Tracking Gerber Baby Food on the Blockchain (wsj.com)

Nestle SA is putting some of its Gerber baby food products on a food-tracking blockchain to test whether the technology can trace the fruits and vegetables that go into its purees and squeezable pouches. From a report: Nestle's effort is part of a wider food-industry exercise aimed at improving food recalls by using the technology behind bitcoin to trace a worldwide ingredient supply chain. Food recalls can diminish consumer confidence and lead to lost sales. News of tainted baby food hits an especially sensitive nerve -- stakes that in part prompted Nestle to choose a popular variety of its Gerber linefor its blockchain test, said Chris Tyas, global head of supply chain at the Swiss company. Nestle offers more than 2,000 brands, including Haagen-Dazs, Stouffer's and Poland Spring. Nestle also sees the move as a way to generate customer trust everyday and during recalls. "People want to know, quite rightly, where ingredients they give to their baby have come from," he said. "We wanted a product in which trust meant something."

Comments

Got to disagree with the haters on this one

[drew_kime]

This is one of the few cases where I don't think it's just buzzword marketing. Everyone saying this is an "internal" tracking issue must have never heard the phrase "global supply chain". They're not just trying to track their internal logistics, they're trying to push verifiable tracking out to all their suppliers.

Devil in the details, blah blah ... I know, but this isn't obviously stupid.