Walmart China, China Chain-Store & Franchise Association (CCFA), PwC, Inner Mongolia Kerchin Co., Ltd., and VeChain together unveiled the Walmart China Blockchain Traceability Platform, built on the VeChainThor Blockchain. The new joint venture was announced at the 2019 China Products Safety Publicity Week Traceability System Construction Seminar. This seminar was jointly organized by Walmart China and the CCFA in Beijing.
The announcement came with the introduction to the first batch of 23 product lines that have been tested and launched on the Platform which is designed to ensure food safety.
The platform is expected to scale by another 100 product lines by the end of the year covering more than 10 product categories including fresh meat product, rice, mushrooms, cooking oil, etc. It is expected that the Walmart China's traceability system will see traceable fresh meat account for 50% of the total sales of packaged fresh meat, traceable vegetables will account for 40% of the total sales of packaged vegetables, traceable seafood will account for 12.5% of the total sales of seafood by the end of 2020.
Elton Yeung, Strategy and Innovation Leader, PwC Mainland China and Hong Kong, pointed out: "PwC's mission is 'building trust and solving important problems', which is the top priority of PwC in providing professional services and making business decisions. In the face of food safety, how to build consumer trust is a problem that PwC, our clients and partners have been trying to solve. We believe that Walmart's Blockchain Traceability System will be an excellent example of blockchain technology applied in the retail industry, helping to improve food safety and quality management, and providing a strong guarantee for building consumer trust.
Through the technical support of PwC and VeChain, Walmart China has built the proprietary food safety traceability platform on the VeChainThor Blockchain. Participants in the supply chain will share their portion of data, and promote the visibility and management efficiency of the whole chain by utilizing the decentralized and tamper-proof blockchain technology.
