Traceability Applications Research Articles

Design of agricultural product traceability system based on blockchain and RFID

Ensuring the traceability of agricultural products is essential for quality control and food safety. Recent technological advances have provided new ways to enhance traceability systems. This study aims to use blockchain technology, centralized database and RFID tags to develop a secure agricultural product traceability system, retain the detailed information of agricultural products traceability, ensure that the summary information of agricultural products on the chain cannot be modified, and optimize the SM3 algorithm to effectively summarize the traceability data and improve the efficiency of the system. The aggregated data is time-stamped, recorded on the blockchain, and written into an RFID tag. The optimization of the SM3 algorithm improved the efficiency by 30% and reduced the execution time of 192-byte messages to 210µs. The system ensures accurate linking of traceability data through secure data retention and unalterable summaries on the blockchain. The integrated use of blockchain, centralized database and RFID technology, as well as the enhanced SM3 algorithm, allows the system to meet the standards for data accuracy and performance requirements in agricultural traceability applications.

Research Survey on Role of Blockchain Technology in Agriculture

Blockchain is a decentralized ledger technology where all the data and information can be stored and shared. They allow accessibility for every network users rather than just a single server and admin. The information in the database can then be accessed and validated by several parties, increasing security and lowering the risk of corruption. Traceability is made possible by blockchain's ability to store and manage data. This feature is used to help develop and execute solutions for index-based crop insurance and intelligent farming. It is an important advance in the fields of modern agriculture. Food safety in agriculture is ensured by blockchain applications in crop certification, information systems, agro-trade, financing, and traceability of origin, among other areas. It offers a trustworthy source of information regarding contracts, inventories, and farm conditions in agriculture, an industry where obtaining such data is frequently exceedingly expensive. Because food traceability can be tracked via blockchain technology, reliable food supply chains and consumer-producer trust can be established. It makes it easier to employ data-driven technology to improve farming because it is a reliable method of storing data. Additionally, when combined with smart contracts, it enables prompt payments between parties that may be brought about by modifications to data that appear in the blockchain. The applications of blockchain technology from a theoretical and practical standpoint in smart farming, food supply chains, agricultural insurance, and agricultural product transactions. With numerous current initiatives in various food items and food-related difficulties, blockchain is a promising technology towards a transparent food supply chain. However, there are still many obstacles and hurdles that prevent its greater appeal among farmers and systems. Technical issues, education, legislation, and regulatory frameworks are all involved in these challenges. Key words: Agriculture, Blockchain, Supply chain, Farming, Traceability

Strengthening Maqāṣid al-Sharī’ah Values in Halal Traceability: Evidence and Analysis of Block Chain Based on Halal Supply Chain Applications

Strengthening Maqāṣid al-Sharī’ah Values in Halal Traceability: Evidence and Analysis of Block Chain Based on Halal Supply Chain Applications

Blockchain-Based Traceability for Agricultural Products: A Systematic Literature Review

In recent years, with the frequent crises of trust in the food industry, food safety issues have become an issue of particular concern to consumers. The traditional agricultural food logistics and transportation model can no longer guarantee the traceability of food safety information, and it is particularly important to establish an effective traceability system. Therefore, a traceability system is applied as a tool to assist in the assurance of food safety and quality, as well as to achieve consumer confidence. Blockchain is a new decentralized infrastructure and distributed computing paradigm that has gradually emerged. Blockchain has the characteristics of decentralization, immutable information and trustworthiness. When blockchain is applied to the traceability system of agricultural products, the quality of agricultural products will be well guaranteed. This article aims to provide a comprehensive review of the recent research efforts on traceability in agricultural products based on blockchain technology. First, the method of content analysis used in this article to sort out the papers is introduced. Second, the background concepts of blockchain and the key technologies are presented. Thirdly, the traceability applications based on blockchain technology for agricultural products are described in detail. Finally, we expand on the current trends and provide new perspectives pertaining to this exciting application of this field.

Terahertz-readable laser engraved marks as a novel solution for product traceability

Counterfeit products pose significant economic, security, and health risks. One approach to mitigate these risks involves establishing product provenance by tracing them back to their manufacturing origins. However, current identification methods, such as barcodes and RFIDs, have limitations that make them vulnerable to counterfeiting. Similarly, nonvolatile memories, physically unclonable functions, and emerging techniques like Diamond Unclonable Security Tag and DNA fingerprinting also have their own limitations and challenges. For a traceability solution to gain widespread adoption, it must meet certain criteria, including being inexpensive, unique, immutable, easily readable, standardized, and unclonable. In this paper, we propose a solution that utilizes ultrashort pulsed lasers to create unique, unclonable, and immutable physical tags. These tags can then be read nondestructively using far-field Terahertz (THz) spectroscopy. The primary objective of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of our proposed approach. We aim to assess the ability to distinguish laser marks with varying depths, evaluate the sensitivity of THz reading to laser engraving parameters, examine the capacity to capture high-information-density marks, and explore the ability to capture subsurface tags. By addressing these aspects, our method holds the potential to serve as a universal solution for a wide range of traceability applications.

Implementation of a Low-Cost Chipless RFID System With Paper-Based Substrates Printed Tags for Traceability Applications in the Packaging Sector

Increasing competitiveness as well as levels of sustainability are some of the main challenges that the packaging sector is facing. The introduction of information and communication technologies provides new functionalities, such as traceability within logistic processes. In this context, RFID technologies can play a key role but can also pose hurdles, owing to increased cost, as well as to difficulties in relation with recycling and complying with product circularity. In this sense chipless RFID opens new possibilities, by avoiding the use of information coded chips, reducing costs in material and placement, as well by improving recyclability. In this work, a frequency based chipless RFID solution is presented, in which 2D geometrical patterns printed with conductive ink, resembling transmitive or reflective metasurfaces, are designed and integrated within paper-based substrates. An in-house reader system is implemented based on conventional Software Defined Radio platforms in the 0-6GHz and in the 0-12GHz range, in which received signal post-processing is performed to increase reader sensitivity, without the need of using Vector Network Analyzer equipment. Moreover, in order to reduce material waste, an automatic fault detection system based on artificial vision coupled to a robot arm is designed and tested. Different prototypes in paper substrates as well as in reference printed circuit boards have been fabricated and measured, showing good agreement. The proposed solution provides a feasible chipless RFID system with a portable low-cost reader which can be embedded in paper/cardboard materials in packaging applications.

Anti-Counterfeiting and Traceability Consensus Algorithm Based on Weightage to Contributors in a Food Supply Chain of Industry 4.0

Supply chain management can significantly benefit from contemporary technologies. Among these technologies, blockchain is considered suitable for anti-counterfeiting and traceability applications due to its openness, decentralization, anonymity, and other characteristics. This article introduces different types of blockchains and standard algorithms used in blockchain technology and discusses their advantages and disadvantages. To improve the work efficiency of anti-counterfeiting traceability systems in supply chains and reduce their energy consumption, this paper proposes a model based on the practical Byzantine fault tolerance (PBFT) algorithm of alliance chains. This model uses a credit evaluation system to select the primary node and integrates the weightage to contributors (WtC) algorithm based on the consensus mechanism. This model can reduce the decline in the algorithm success rate while increasing the number of malicious transaction nodes, thereby reducing the computing cost. Additionally, the throughput of the algorithmic system increases rapidly, reaching approximately 680 transactions per second (TPS) in about 120 min after the malicious nodes are eliminated. The throughput rapidly increases as the blacklist mechanism reduces the number of malicious nodes, which improves the system’s fault tolerance. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed model, a case study was conducted using data from the anti-counterfeiting traceability system of the real-life supply chain of a food company. The analysis results show that after a period of stable operation of the WtCPBFT algorithm in the proposed model, the overall communication cost of the system was reduced, the throughput and stability were improved, and the fault-tolerant performance of the system was improved. In conclusion, this paper presents a novel model that utilizes the PBFT algorithm of alliance chains and the WtC algorithm to improve the efficiency and security of anti-counterfeiting traceability systems in supply chains. The results of the case study indicate that this model can effectively reduce communication costs, improve throughput and stability, and enhance the fault tolerance of the system.

Marketing data security and privacy protection based on federated gamma in cloud computing environment

This study aims to address the existing data security and user privacy vulnerabilities in the “cloud” environment, which is essential for ensuring the safety and integrity of data in the era of big data and cloud computing. To achieve this purpose, we propose a novel approach that combines the logit link function with a longitudinal joint learning framework for the gamma regression model. This approach enhances the application of the model and the loss function, providing a robust solution for data security and user privacy in cloud-based systems. While cloud computing technology has greatly improved the convenience of work and life, it has also introduced significant challenges related to data security and user privacy. This study leverages semantic web technology and blockchain technology to establish a distributed and credit-guaranteed product quality and safety traceability application. By designing a concept verification system and ensuring data integrity at each stage of the product supply chain, this approach addresses these challenges effectively. The distributed network architecture employed in our technical design ensures overall system stability, reliability, and sustainability, with no single point of failure.

Development and implementation of in-line segmentation for continuous electrode production in lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing for traceability applications

One of the biggest challenges in battery cell production is reducing manufacturing costs. Production errors and manufacturing inaccuracies due to a complex process chain and cost-intensive material flows lead to high scrap rates and costs. In order to detect and eliminate production errors early in the manufacturing process, traceability approaches have been increasingly referred to in the literature. Here, process and product parameters are already assigned to the individual intermediate products and used to evaluate whether further processing is possible. When transferring traceability concepts to battery cell production, the challenge is to identify individual sections in the continuous processes of electrode production. These process steps have a decisive influence on the later electrochemical performance of the battery cells and have so far only been performed in batches to reduce possible defects. This paper presents two approaches to segmenting the produced electrodes in-line in the coating process to provide discrete sections for tracking and tracing applications. Production data are allocated to single electrodes instead of the entire electrode coil. Laser and ink marking systems are used to apply unique markings that are subsequently read out for product and process data assignment. Appropriate integration requirements must be met for both marking systems to apply readable markings. The requirements are derived for both marking systems from the respective mode of operation and compared with each other. It is shown that laser systems are more technically challenging and cost-intensive to integrate than ink systems but offer greater geometrical flexibility. Furthermore, it is shown how both marking technologies are integrated into the respective coating lines for lithium-ion battery electrodes within the pilot production lines at two research facilities. The traceability of product data to individual electrode sections is demonstrated using in-line and hand-measured electrode areal mass loading data.

Near Infrared Spectroscopy as a Traceability Tool to Monitor Black Soldier Fly Larvae (Hermetia illucens) Intended as Animal Feed

The demand for animal proteins, especially from pork and poultry, is projected to increase significantly due to rapid growth in population and underlying socio-economic conditions. Livestock rearing using conventional feed ingredients is becoming challenging due to climate change and several other factors, thereby suggesting the need for alternative, viable and sustainable animal feed sources. The use of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) (Hermetia illucens) as a component in animal feed is a promising candidate due to their ability to valorise different organic waste streams. The nutrient composition of BSFL reared on organic waste streams is also comparable to that of several conventional animal feed ingredients and varies depending upon the feed, rearing conditions, and the morphological stage of the larvae. The identification of organic waste is of importance as it can determine not only the composition but also the safety issues of BSFL as an animal feed ingredient. The objective of this study was to determine the ability of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy to trace the food waste used to grow BSFL. Samples of BSFL (5th and 6th instar BSFL; n = 50) obtained from a commercial production facility were analysed using NIR spectroscopy. Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was employed to develop the models. The outcomes of this study revealed that NIR spectroscopy could distinguish different larval instars and suggested the importance of larval instars in developing calibration models for traceability applications. The developed PLS-DA model could predict the feed source used for rearing the 5th instar larvae (R2 value: 0.89) and 6th instar pre-pupae (R2 value: 0.91). This suggests that NIR spectroscopy could be used as a non-invasive traceability tool for BSFL and to assist in selecting the suitable time frame for larvae harvesting in commercial facilities.

A Blockchain-Based Framework for Developing Traceability Applications towards Sustainable Agriculture in Vietnam

Recently, many governments in the world have been focusing on building sustainable agriculture to improve the life quality of farmers and significantly increase their income. In Vietnam, however, the farmers still face the problems of “good harvest–low prices, and vice versa” and lack capital for scaling or transforming the production model. One of the main reasons for this phenomenon is that the price of agricultural products does not depend on farmers’ efforts but is based on the purchase price of the trader or the market price. Besides, the farmers also maintain farming habits based on regional culture or follow trendy and profitable agricultural products. Those production strategies make this type of product oversupplied, leading to a down in price shortly, so the farmers’ income will decrease. The above problems stem from the lack of information and communication tools between actors in the agricultural value chain, especially between cooperatives, farmers, and consumers. This paper presents a Blockchain-based framework for developing a traceability solution as an effective method of communication between actors in the agricultural value chain toward a sustainable agricultural model. The proposed approach helps to fully convey the production and distribution of agricultural products and the ability to verify traceability information, thereby helping to increase prices and protect the brand of agricultural products.

Traceability model based on improved witness mechanism

Traceability system is one of the popular applications of graphic blockchains. However, there are centralisation problems and a long time for final consistency confirmation in the graphic blockchain. In addition, the blockchain system in the traceability application scenario has the problem of insufficient supervision. Therefore, a witness-based graphic blockchain consensus mechanism is proposed. In the consensus mechanism, a verifiable random function is used to screen the publishers of the unit; an SM2 threshold signature is used to sign the unit information to improve the non-repudiation of the traceability information uploaders to the unit information under the supervision of the witness. The improved consistency algorithm cancels the process of finding a stable main chain and makes relatively many nodes to participate in the consensus process. The experimental results show that the graphic blockchain using the improved witness mechanism can reduce the degree of centralisation, shorten the time for new units to reach consensus, and greatly ensure the security and scalability of the blockchain system.

Characterization and Costs of Integrating Blockchain and IoT for Agri-Food Traceability Systems

An increasing amount of research focuses on integrating the Internet of Things and blockchain technology to address the requirements of traceability applications for Industry 4.0. However, there has been little quantitative analysis of several aspects of these new blockchain-based traceability systems. For instance, very few works have studied blockchain’s impact on the resources of constrained IoT sensors. Similarly, the infrastructure costs of these blockchain-based systems are not widely understood. This paper characterizes the resources of low-cost IoT sensors and provides a monetary cost model for blockchain infrastructure to support blockchain-based traceability systems. First, we describe and implement a farm-to-fork case study using public and private blockchain networks. Then, we analyze the impact of blockchain in six different resource-limited IoT devices in terms of disk and memory footprint, processing time, and energy consumption. Next, we present an infrastructure cost model and use it to identify the costs for the public and private networks. Finally, we evaluate the traceability of a product in different scenarios. Our results showed that low-cost sensors could directly interact with both types of blockchains with minimal energy overhead. Furthermore, our cost model showed that setting a private blockchain infrastructure costs approximately the same as that managing 50 products on a public blockchain network.

Monitoring of beef cold chain to ensure quality, safety, and halal using RFID: A review

The traceability application by the industry to ensure products along the supply chain include quality, safe and halal. Traceability is an essential part of the cold chain system for meat and meat products. The cold chain of beef, including a slaughterhouse, distribution, and retail, needs to be monitored. The decline in the beef quality is marked by sensory changes such as color, unpleasant odor, and mucus formation triggered by bacterial growth. Beef quality is easily damaged during distribution due to the complexity and length of the cold chain. Consumers also pay attention to the halalness of beef in the supply chain. The implementation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) can monitor changes in quality and halalness of beef when distribution utilizes various sensor and product information tags. RFID requires a transponder to store and retrieve data remotely, an antenna for transponders, and a reader. This article reviews the RFID traceability system, the cold supply chain for beef, and RFID development to maintain beef quality, safety, and halalness. RFID technology helps producers and consumers to get quality, safe, and halal beef information in real-time.

Blockchain-Enabled Supply Chain Traceability in the Textile and Apparel Supply Chain: A Case Study of the Fiber Producer, Lenzing

Supply chain traceability is a dominant concern for many industries, regulators, and policymakers. In the textile and apparel industries, social, environmental, and sustainability issues are frequent causes for concern, highlighting the need for effective traceability solutions. Blockchain technology has characteristics that make it attractive for supply chain traceability applications. However, the literature lacks discussion of empirical cases. We discuss current blockchain applications in the textile and apparel industries and analyze an exemplar of a prominent blockchain traceability solution adopted by a world-leading fiber producer, the Lenzing group. In this study, we identify two related objectives for traceability-product authentication and supply chain sustainability. The case study analysis has stimulated a rich discussion about the different levels of traceability achievable across the supply chain, the digital identification of products, and the extension of blockchain solutions across the whole supply network. Significant technical and business challenges exist in extending traceability to the upstream raw material supply chain and to the dispersed garment manufacturing networks downstream. More broadly, the study highlights the need to (1) clarify the objectives of a traceability initiative, and (2) scope a traceability solution appropriately, both horizontally across the supply chain and vertically with respect to the granularity of the items traced.

Evaluation of simple sequence repeats (SSR) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based methods in olive varieties from the Northwest of Spain and potential for miniaturization

Miniaturization of DNA-based techniques can bring interesting advantages for food analysis, such as portability of complex analytical procedures. In the olive oil industry, miniaturization can be particularly interesting for authenticity and traceability applications, through in situ control of raw materials before production and/or the final products. However, variety identification is challenging, and implementation on miniaturized settings must be carefully evaluated, starting from the selected analytical approach. In this work, SSR- and SNP-based genotyping strategies were investigated for the identification and differentiation of two olive varieties from the Northwest of Spain. For the selected SNPs two genotyping methods were tested: real-time allele-specific PCR and high resolution melting analysis. These methods were compared and evaluated regarding their potential for integration in a microfluidic device. Both SNP-based methods proved to be successful for identification of the selected varieties, however real-time allele-specific PCR was the one that achieved the best results when analyzing mixtures, allowing the identification of both monovarietal samples and mixtures of the varieties tested with up to 25%.

Identifying Exogenous DNA in Liquid Foods by Gold Nanoparticles: Potential Applications in Traceability

Quality control of food products requires the development of powerful analytical tools and regulations to avoid fraud to consumers and ineffective product recalls. DNA barcoding represents a potent...

User Interface of Blockchain-Based Agri-Food Traceability Applications: A Review

Blockchain technology is a secure distributed ledger for lists of transactions, which has immense potential to solve traditional agri-food supply chain issues. An increasing number of research on blockchain-based traceability applications aims to improve food quality and safety. Still, relatively few works considered user interfaces when developing and reporting their applications, which could lead to usability issues. This paper aims to address this gap by reviewing existing works from user interface perspectives. We gathered 25 review papers on blockchain or agri-food supply chain and 39 research papers that presented screenshots of user interfaces of related applications. We first reviewed 7 review papers that focused on the blockchain-based agri-food supply chain to understand the benefits and challenges in the blockchain applications. We then analyzed 14 blockchain-based agri-food traceability applications and 10 non-blockchain-based agri-food traceability applications. The analysis resulted in categorizations of 5 target user groups, 3 main approaches for collecting data, 5 main approaches for visualizing data, and a discussion of other aspects of user interfaces. However, we found insufficient details and discussions on the user interfaces and design decisions of the applications for further usability assessment. Additionally, user involvement for evaluation is lower in blockchain-based researches than in non-blockchain-based researches. This trend could lead to usability problems of blockchain applications, causing blockchain technology to be underutilized. Finally, we discussed research gaps and future research directions related to user interface design, which should be addressed to ease future blockchain adoption.

Quantum Pliers Cutting the Blockchain

Recent years have seen the continuous evolution of technology, which has led to the definition of frameworks such as the internet of things (IoT) and Industry 4.0. These paradigms are producing enormous quantities of data every single day. These data are subject to data analysis, shared publicly or kept secret. Traditionally, this task was carried out using databases. With the advent of Blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies (DLTs), instead, these data have a new way of being stored and shared (or kept private). The last actor role in this play is acted by quantum computers, since sufficiently large quantum computers are expected to seriously threaten the security and integrity of DLTs thanks to their totally different way of representing information. This paper aims to investigate the real threats for blockchain due to quantum computing and review post-quantum DLT solutions for traceability applications.

Rewritable and Sustainable 2D Barcode for Traceability Application in Smart IoT Based Fault-Tolerant Mechanism

With the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, two-dimensional (2D) barcodes are widely used in smart IoT applications as a perception portal. In industries with many circulations and testing links like traceability, since the existing 2D barcode cannot be changed once it is printed, it can only be replaced with more expensive radio frequency identification (RFID) labels or new 2D barcodes, causing a waste of human resources and costs. For better circulation efficiency and resource utilization, we propose a new design of the rewritable and sustainable 2D barcode based on the fault-tolerance mechanism. The ability to add new information in the 2D barcode can be achieved through data encryption and the insertion of a rewritable layer. It means the message of 2D barcodes could be changed, and increases the flexibility and liquidity of the 2D barcode application. Besides, the encoding and decoding method of the proposed 2D barcode is presented. Experimental results have illustrated the superiority of rewritable and sustainable 2D barcodes in the traceability of herbal medicine compared with the conventional 2D barcodes, and demonstrated the feasibility of the design. The findings show the potential for significant application in the field of traceability in smart IoT, as well as in the manufacturing industry and logistics.