Rethinking Our Food Supply Chain Future Proofing Your Food

today

traceability on the chargings are taken

for granted

we are so used to hearing the term from

farm

to fork yet according to the world

health organization

almost 600 million

that’s one in 10 people get sick

every year from eating contaminated food

and 420 000 die

those deaths are caused by fraudsters

tampering with our food supply chain

yet we hear little in our daily lives

in january 2016 the world economic forum

told us

to be ready for the fourth industrial

revolution

the digital age and the fact that the

world

was going to change faster than ever

this new era that builds and extends the

impact of digitization

in new and unanticipated ways

15 months later the world was told to

prepare

for the fifth industrial revolution

the rise of artificial intelligence

machine learning and the internet of

things

never before have we seen such speed of

change

from self-driving and automated cars

to homes that know you’re close and turn

on

the lights and the heating just look at

the changes

in our mobile phones where would we be

today without our smartphone

in our day-to-day lives alexa and siri

has changed how

so many people live but when a farmer

steps out the door of their house and

into

their farm they’re using technology and

practices that haven’t changed much

since the turn of the 20th century

yes tractors are more comfortable and

milking machines have

become more automated but tracking and

tracing

our food is done largely with pen

and paper and it’s duplicated across

so many systems that it causes

some of the biggest issues you might

find it hard to believe but most farms

have hardly changed at all

in the last 100 years

this will in turn affect every single

one of us

in the coming months and years if we do

not look at our food and

how we consume it

so i want to take you on a journey

as a butcher’s son i followed my father

into the family business

i loved taking raw produce and turning

it into something that not only

tasted good but it’s something that

people

wanted i learned so

many skills and took great pride in my

work

i love listening to my customers and

splaining the origins

of their produce where they came from

and how to cook them nothing for me

felt better than seeing an empty counter

at the end of an evening

and as a trusted member of the community

it was a

privilege to provide such a service

but my curiosity did not stop there

i spent time in and across the supply

chain

working with fantastic and inspirational

people

i learned to appreciate the effort

required daily

not only feeding our nation but

supporting

farm exports and international trade

alongside my work i had a passion for

electronics

and i loved tinkering with circuit

boards computers

and i chose to develop that passion into

a professional

career and so i studied for my

professional

qualifications and built a career as a

technology specialist

i am glad to say that over the years i

have traveled the world

working alongside global organizations

leading technology companies

delivering solutions for government

healthcare

aerospace and the food and drink sector

now being part butcher part tacky

i wasn’t happy just sitting on the

sidelines and wanted to utilize my

passion

for food and farming and knowledge from

the technology

technology sector to address the global

issue

of food traceability and provenance

despite traceability been taken for

granted the age-old

problem of food fraud is more

significant now

than ever the first recorded incident of

food fraud dates back to the times of

the roman empire

when wine was diluted or mixed to ensure

guests present

had enough to drink the thought was

the more they drank the less they

worried about

quality i wouldn’t like to try that

today fast forward to today

and the issue is much more prolific the

horse meat

scandal of 2014 reported by our own

professor elliot of queens

highlighted the scale of adulteration

and the impact

to human health a 2016 pwc report

outlined the global impact of food fraud

and the cost to the economy

was in excess of 40 billion dollars

and the center for counter fraud studies

at the university of portsmouth

estimates 11.97 billion

for uk possible losses you may ask

what does this have what does this mean

to you

and to me well just like any loss that

loss has to be recovered

from someone and somewhere

it is estimated that five pence in every

pound is added to everyday items that

means an average shop of 50 pounds 2.50

goes towards that cost mislabeling a

product or wrongly portraying its

quality

its safety its origin its freshness

is just simply fraud dilution

misrepresentation adulteration even fake

rice are among some of the cases

recorded

by the institute of global food security

at queens

sad to say but our food is not the only

thing affected

medicines supplements and veterans have

measured our meteoric rise in cases

so the need for change has never been

greater

i remember addressing a class of

graduates in the us just before the

first lockdown in 2020

and i had the opportunity to ask the

question what is

innovation someone from the back of the

room shouted

innovation is answering the questions

the future is asking

you see during the pandemic the world

innovated more in 10 months than it had

in the previous 10 years

when faced with adversity we worked

together to achieve

some fantastic things greater

collaboration more outstanding

communication

yes even the family zoom quiz

so i say it’s time to rethink our food

supply

and apply new thinking faster

innovation more collaboration and most

of all

greater transparency

you see i know what i’m doing

i’ve already done it but i know

we can do it better i

was one of the first specialists in the

world to utilize blockchain technology

to help the craft beer and whiskey

industry communicate with their customer

and tell the story and passion behind

the brand

from the quality of the water to the

barley and the hops

even the story of the individual team

members

involved in the process that story of

the brewer’s passion and

all of the data was contained within a

scannable code

that was unique to each bottle

all you had to do was use your mobile

phone

authenticate your age and you would see

the video from the day of harvest

photo and dates from the day of

production

along with the records of bottling and

proof

of provenance this

effective yet simple solution give

customers

confidence and comfort to know what

their product was exactly what it was

supposed to be

who made it and where it came from

i asked the question what if we could do

for our food

what we did for the drinks sector what

if we could make

this level of transparency and proof of

provenance

commonplace across our food

by embracing change and collaborating

with our producers

processors and supply team members we

can not only see

and ensure who our food comes from

we can also reduce our food miles

100 guarantee provenance support

sustainability and establish a connected

community

by trusting the products we consume

you see my family are obsessed with

scanning food packaging

to get information about its calorific

and calorie content

why not utilize this simple technology

to take it

further and include cost trusted

information

from the farmer the processor the

distributor

and the retailer to not only tell the

story and passion behind the brand

but to prove provenance and create

positive economic value for our economy

by connecting to our food and trading on

the trust economy we can promote

our amazing produce globally

establish new trade agreements create

more jobs

and support transformation and

innovation

across our communities

it’s about the little steps it’s about

realizing there is a problem and meeting

those problems

with a solution it’s about working

together

it’s about giving voice to the farmers

and

their products this technology

is with us today and helps us to unlock

value across the community we serve

the land we work and the food we eat

renowned author rachel botsman state

trust enables innovation and as

consumers we all need to play our part

and demand greater transparency

so join me in our provenance journey

to utilize technology people

and dynamic processes across our

supply chain to eat the food we trust

and trust the food we eat