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Blockchain Technology in Dairy Industry

Article · February 2022

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 focus
Blockchain Technology in Dairy Industry
Aparnna V.P., Shubhendra Singh
and Anil Kumar Chauhan
B
lockchain technology is a decentralized, digital ledger
system that can help the dairy industry to tackle its
issues related with transparency. Integrating blockchain
into the milk supply chain is beneficial as it would improve
the traceability of milk and build consumer trust in the
milk supply chain.
Indian dairy industry has already taken its step
towards complete automation and digitalization in both
farm and processing. Counterfeiting and concerns linked
to product traceability are challenges that must be addressed
as the number of dairy products on the market are
growing.
Consumer consciousness related to food safety
has made food companies invest more in quality control
and safety of food products. In the existing market,
there is no way customers can get information about
the product other than what the manufacturing business
tells them through labeling and advertisements. They
are unaware of where their milk comes from, as well as
the cleanliness standards employed in the milking process,
the chemicals used in animal nutrition, and other issues.
In most of the cases traceability systems are centralized,
asymmetric, and out of date in terms of data sharing
52
INDIAN DAIRYMAN
and integration.
Blockchain technology is a distributed digital database
system in which all network participants record and store
information. The fourth Industrial Revolution is changing
traditional food production businesses into cybernated
systems powered by IoT, cloud computing, sensors, AI,
big data, and additive technologies. The use of blockchain
technology in conjunction with these systems will aid in
the creation of a searchable digital storage record for
the enormous amount of data collected.
Blockchain Technology
Blockchain technology is one of the world’s most
well-known foundation technologies of the bitcoin
cryptocurrency. It is also known as Distributed Ledger
Technology (DLT). The technology is decentralized, which
means that instead of a centralized server containing all
the data, all of the participants and devices connected to
the chain (known as nodes) will have the same copy of
the data. All transactions in the blockchain network after
authentication are added to the block and secured
cryptographically using hashing algorithm Double SHA256.
Smart contracts, also known as programmable
protocols, are used in a blockchain network, which allows
parties to agree on particular conditions. This
also enables the storage of sensitive data on
the blockchain in a database that is encrypted
with the hash algorithms, ensuring that the
data is secure.
Blockchain is immutable. Attempts to
tamper with or distort the data will change
the hash, resulting in a cryptographic link
breakage, rendering the block invalid. If one
or more blocks of the chain are maliciously
modified, or if a system error occurs during
the data input process, resulting in a data
re-storage problem, the cryptographic link
will be broken. This challenge is overcome
by installing decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P)
networks, which is an essential component
of blockchain technology and enables a major
advance in data storage technology over
FEBRUARY 2022
 Integrating blockchain technology into the milk supply chain is beneficial
as it would improve the traceability of milk and build consumer trust in the
milk supply chain. Blockchain creates a web of trust, allowing each
member to trust each other. Since blockchain technology is still in its early
stages of development, there are few implementation standards. Tracing
food pathway will help prevent food waste by encouraging end users to
evaluate their food’s ecological impact and rerouting extra food to areas in
need. However, attempting to establish traceability back the farm in a
country like India, which has over 500 million farmers, is a huge task.

traditional centralized alternatives. dairy products in the market.

Blockchains are classified into three types:
 Public blockchain – Anyone can view, submit
transactions, and participate in the consensus process which
is completely decentralized and transparent.
 Permissioned blockchain – Decentralized blockchain
in which a set of nodes control consensus and read
permission is limited to participants.
 Private blockchains – Necessitate a ‘high trust’
entity with centralized write permissions for one entity
and read access for all participants.
Each block establishes a digital footprint by storing
the data of all transactions in the system over some time,
which can be used to verify the information’s accuracy
and link up with the following block.
Transactions are carried out directly by blockchain
participants, removing the need for third-party involvement
and lowering the risk of middleman scams and fraud.
Application of Blockchain in Dairy Supply Chain
The dairy supply chain is made up of a series of
steps or business operations, such as manufacturing and
distribution linked sequentially or in parallel with precedence
linkages for the variety of dairy products. The major
participants in the dairy supply chain are dairy farmers,
milk chilling centers, processing dairies, certification agencies,
logistic agencies, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers.
Participants in the complicated supply chain network find
it difficult to interact with each lowering system transparency.
Application of Blockchain technology in milk supply
chain is useful as:
 It can be helpful in connecting all the supply
chain's components, improving the system’s clarity.
 It is beneficial to participants as they can interact
more effectively with other participants in the system.
 The producer can keep an eye on the flow of
FEBRUARY 2022
 In cases of mishandling, product can be quickly
identified and prevented from reaching consumers.
 It’s especially beneficial in the event of a product
recall because it makes it simple to track down the
source of the goods.
 Food safety concerns and food-borne illness
can be reduced by increasing accountability and quality
assurance using a blockchain-based system.
 Consumers are provided with adequate confidence
in the food they buy since they will know every aspect
of it from the time it is produced until it reaches their
hands.
 All participants are accountable for disseminating
accurate information.
 The retailer may keep track of the present capacity
of suppliers and get connected to place new orders
using the entire traceable system
 Allows collection of relevant data such as delivery
time, lot size, and storage and transportation conditions.
Application of Blockchain
To integrate blockchain technology in the supply
chain, all stakeholders will be registered in the system.
Each participant will be given a distinct digital identity
and profile.
The potential application of blockchain technology
at dairy farms, in conjunction with Radio Frequency
Identification and cloud storage is that all essential
information can be saved in the cloud-based system,
and access granted to verified cattle farm members.
Blockchain is used as a security mechanism, with the
relevant data’s hash being used to ensure data security
and reliability.
Milk producers can update details such as the farm’s
location, breed, age, weight, amount of milk collected
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INDIAN DAIRYMAN
 focus
Fig. 1: Architecture Diagram for Milk Traceability Scheme
Source: Traceability method for milk using Blockchain Technology-Yajie Wang et al, 2020
per animal, vaccines, medications, and special treatments,
the data regarding the quality of milk at milking can be
sent to the chilling centers or milk collection centers.
The steps that would take place in a blockchain
system at a dairy farm that involves the application of
RFID tags would have the following steps:
 When a user enters their ID, the system creates
a record that includes the user’s information as well as
the date of access.
 After entering the information, the user can
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INDIAN DAIRYMAN
identify the animal by scanning the RFID ear tag.
 Once the user, date, and animal have been identified,
weight, age, herd, and other information can be changed.
Following the alterations, a block containing the data is
produced and its hash code is confirmed.
 Following successful validation, the hash is recorded
in the cloud server.
 The blockchain sends the hash code to the local
server.
 Using a valid access code, data formerly stored
FEBRUARY 2022
on a local server can now be uploaded to the cloud and
made available to other chain members.
Most farmers will find it uneconomical to deploy
blockchain systems with RFID tags across a vast area.
Implementing an offline sync option that allows users to
make changes to data on their devices while they are
offline is a good idea in this scenario. Once a network
connection is established to the database, the device will
sync with the cloud and implement any changes performed
while offline.
Maintenance of cold chain throughout the transit
of milk to any of the following locations is required to
avoid deterioration of milk and milk products.
Sensors of various types can be used to accomplish
this during transportation at any point in the supply chain.
Trucks and storage coolers that are connected via IoT
systems can monitor milk and milk products they are
housing and identify them with appropriate environmental
factors like temperature, humidity, light, shock, or location,
ensuring that the product is handled safely during its
voyage. GPS can also be used to track vehicles in real-
time while in transit and relevant data throughout the
journey can be updated to the ledger.
Certification agencies can also be made a part of
the blockchain network as they are also given digital
profiles in the system. They can monitor and handle the
numerous data provided by farmers and processing
companies. They can conduct audits to check if the
conditions and claims made are fulfilled or not. These
claims can be about the product, such as organic
certification, chemicals used, farm welfare status, farm's
ecological footprint, working conditions, and welfare
situation, and so on.
This makes the certification procedure more
manageable and this data can be used by companies to
transmit certification information to the customer. These
certifications help farmers and companies stand out among
competitors and eventually enhance consumer trust.
Product detail encryption like nutritional quality and
authenticity can be encrypted using blockchain. It's also
capable of encrypting prices and ensuring data security
in the supply chain. The QR code is an improvement
over the linear barcode in terms of data storage. The
QR code can also be used to encrypt data but has a
limitation of data storage.
Blockchain helps companies and farmers provide
evidence of specific quality attributes and evidence of
provenance in products. This is beneficial for premium
or expensive products as they become prey to fraud and
cause economic loss.
FEBRUARY 2022
As demonstrated in Fig.1 a milk traceability method
based on blockchain technology was proposed by Yajie
Wang et al, 2020. The bottom layer, the operation layer,
is primarily in charge of data collection throughout the
entire process, from milk production to sales. Using
bar codes, RFID, and other sensors, the data collecting
layer collects milk-related information from the farm.
The data layer, which essentially comprises of the
underlying technologies of the block chain, such as the
blockchain’s data structure, Merkle tree, asymmetric
encryption method, and other fundamental technologies,
stores the information gathered from the task layer.
The consensus layer and network layer ensure that the
information of all systems connected to the system is
consistent. The network layer is largely responsible for
network dispersion and message validation. For data
transmission, blockchain employs a peer-to-peer network.
The criteria for milk production and safety, which
are ensured by smart contracts, are included in the business
and application layers. The presentation layer is displayed
to users, who are primarily milk producers, processing
dairies, regulatory bodies, and end consumers, via web
page technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JS.
National Scenario
The Indian Agro-food companies are slowly shifting
towards blockchain systems realizing its potential
applications. Foreseeing the capability of blockchain
technology, the Central and state governments are creating
new strategies and flagship projects to implement
blockchain into production, certification and supply systems.
The Govt. of India’s Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology has created an institutional project
called Distributed Center of Excellence in Blockchain
Technology. Organizations like C-DAC, IDRBT and
VJTI are given the responsibility to execute this project.
A blockchain management strategy was published by
NITI Aayog in 2021 which aims to create an ‘IndiaChain’
using the existing Digital India campaign and blockchain
technology. These interventions from government can
help in further successful establishment of Blockchain
powered supply chain system in India which can eventually
be applied in Indian dairy industry.
EmerTech innovations, an Indian startup did a
flagship project called ‘Blockchain for Indian farmers’
identifying the scattered small scale farming systems in
India and their problems. By creating farmer collectives,
they merged it into a single crop value chain on Blockchain.
EmerTech has made mobile applications which makes
it easy for the farmers to communicate with the end
consumer. 55
INDIAN DAIRYMAN
 focus
Bangalore based Agri-Tech startup Trace X
Technologies has created blockchain platform called
FOODSIGN™. Many of the food brands that
collaborated with Trace X were able to overcome the
problems caused by restricted movements during the
recent COVID-19 pandemic.
The Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic
Council (K-DISC) has decided to use blockchain
technology to create a well-organized distribution network
for milk, vegetables and fish.
Lack of qualified workforce with knowledge about
blockchain technology is one of the major issues that
needs to be addressed. To solve this K-DISC has created
an Accelerated Blockchain Development (ABCD)
Programme for student to create trained professionals
in the field of blockchain technology. The state is planning
to use blockchain technology for crop insurance scheme
which will help the authorities to judge the reasons for
crop loss as the data is immutable.
Case Study of Blockchain Applied in Food
Traceability Systems
Technological giants like IBM, Infosys, windows
are stepping in to create blockchain solutions for the
food supply chain seeing its vast possibilities. IBM food
trust is a modular solution for network participants in a
food ecosystem. Windows has created Azure workbench
as the connecting link between the enterprise ledger
technologies applied in industries, IoT devices and
horizontal SaaS and adapters.
Prospérité milk created a blockchain-traced, on
the track audited, digitally certified milk system. Connecting
Food has created the blockchain platform for Prospérité
milk. Blockchain allows customers to track and verify
the claims made on the label such as “Hauts-de-France”,
“animal welfare-friendly” or “GMO-free fed”. The data
is uploaded to the software and it is sent to blockchain
without the use of intermediaries, allowing for no human
engagement during the process.
Nestle has partnered with Microsoft Digital to
test an IoT-enabled solution that records the movement
of its renowned Bacio Perugina chocolate across its
supply chain.
Leading Ecuadorian shrimp growers are leading a
sustainability program called the Sustainable Shrimp
Partnership. They have teamed up with IBM’s Food
Trust blockchain system to establish a safe and secure
platform for data sharing and uploading. Consumers
and retailers will be able to access data connected to
shrimp production via the blockchain at every stage of
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INDIAN DAIRYMAN
the process. This platform will also verify the shrimp’s
SSP qualification, such as compliance with the Aquaculture
Stewardship Council standard and antibiotic-free status.
Walmart was one of the first companies to apply
blockchain technology partnering with IBM. They use
IBM Blockchain to track over 25 products from several
vendors, including fresh fruits, leafy greens, dairy, meat,
and poultry. In addition to tracking, Walmart hopes to
address food safety concerns by determining the origins
of a foodborne disease epidemic. It assisted them in
coordinating more effective recalls of potentially tainted
commodities, and it is considering retaining additional
data to support sustainable supply chain practices.
With the use of RFID tags, The World Wildlife
Fund (WWF) successfully created a “Bait-to-Plate” project
which helped create traceability system for tuna in New
Zealand in order to reduce illegal tuna fishing. They used
Ethereum-based blockchain for this project.
A network where farmers, producers and distributors
share traceability information on product origin, possible
allergens and additives may be established and exchanged
in a secure and immutable manner.
Blockchain creates a web of trust, allowing each
member to trust each other. Since blockchain technology
is still in its early stages of development, there are few
implementation standards. Tracing food pathway will
help prevent food waste by encouraging end users to
evaluate their food’s ecological impact and rerouting extra
food to areas in need.
Despite the fact that the data is irreversible, the
blockchain lacks a verification mechanism to ensure that
the raw data is correct. If a sensor is tampered with, the
blockchain will not be able to detect it.
There are a number of technical challenges that
must be addressed before it can be implemented in
practice, which include data acquisition, network
maintenance, enterprise architectural models, and cold
chain and blockchain compatibility.
Conclusion
Blockchain technology offers a solution to a more
integrated risk management solution across the supply
chain, while also enhancing the value of conventional
audit-based systems. Using blockchain technology will
help create an immutable contract between participants
in a supply chain, allowing for more transparency. Blockchain
is being hailed as a promising new tool in the fight to
ensure consumer food safety. It is part of a wider system
aimed at strengthening the value of traditional audit-
based solutions while also improving risk management
FEBRUARY 2022
across the entire supply chain. Aparnna V.P.
M.Tech Dairy Technology
The food supply system in India has the potential Department of Dairy Science & Food
to be radically transformed by blockchain. Attempting Technology
to establish traceability back the farm in a country like Institute of Agricultural Sciences
Banaras Hindu University
India, which has over 500 million farmers, is a huge task. vpaparnna33@gmail.com
The milk supply chain in India is not well-organized,
making these novel interventions difficult to implement.
To begin, blockchain can be used in the tracing of high- Shubhendra Singh
quality products and farm management. A problem is Research Scholar
Department of Dairy Science & Food Technology
the lack of proposed frameworks for integrating blockchain Institute of Agricultural Sciences
technology into existing systems. Food businesses are Banaras Hindu University
shubhendra.singh10@bhu.ac.in
experimenting with pilot-scale operations to integrate
blockchain into their supply system with the help of
technology interventions, and many of them have been Anil Kumar Chauhan
successful. In opportunity viewpoint, the benefits associated Professor (Food Technology)
Department of Dairy Science & Food Technology
with the adoption of blockchain technology outweigh Institute of Agricultural Sciences
the risks associated with its adoption. Banaras Hindu University
References achauhan@bhu.ac.in
Authors may be contacted through email for
references.

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