Cermaq, the salmon and trout farming company, in a press release, announced that with the use of QR-code and blockchain technology, their consumers could receive information on their mobile phones, via text and photos. Cermaq’s partnership with Labeyrie would serve traceability and transparency with all their products, and it has been acknowledged highly by the increasingly- educated consumers.
The consumers can remotely access information about the company’s products, information like-the farming location of the fishes, the food they were fed, and all other related information.
Consumers are paying attention to what they consume and are extremely concerned and cautious about the quality of food they are availing. This demands food companies to maintain complete transparency and sustainability in their distribution chains and their manufacturing processes, which they aim to achieve via the incorporation of the distributed ledger technology.
All Cermaq products (salmons and trouts) are supplied with a CV, containing extensive information regarding the fishes- their origin; when they hatched; which freshwater facility they were born in; its dimensions and weight when they were introduced to seawater; the seawater facility they were farmed in; information about vaccination of the fishes, if any vaccines were given; their feeding chart; and their harvesting date. In collaboration with one of Cermaq’s customers, Labeyrie, and IBM Food Trust (on IBM cloud blockchain technology), these data would be made available to the consumers in the French market.
Labeyrie is the leading brand of smoked salmon in France. They initially launched their blockchain-based traceability system for two of its Norwegian smoked salmon products, enabling their consumers to access any information they requested, regarding the production procedure of the products they were purchasing. On scanning the QR code (available on the product packaging) via the use of mobile devices, consumers were allowed to initiate the dedicated application that displayed information regarding the salmon, from its egg stage to its shelf-state.
Brede Løfsgaard, the Sales Director in Cermaq Norway, commented:
With the implementation of blockchain technology, Cermaq is all set to tap into the French market, which has a keen taste bud for quality salmons and trouts. It is ready to compete with the early-adopters of the decentralized technology in the region.