With the rising problems including contamination, deception, and inefficiencies in the supply chain, food safety and traceability are now crucial issues within Nigeria’s food supply networks. It is imperative to protect public health and uphold consumer confidence by guaranteeing the safety and authenticity of food items throughout the entire supply chain, from production to consumption. Outdated techniques frequently suffer from issues like incomplete data, errors, and a lack of openness. Meanwhile, food safety involves a broad array of concerns that can arise at any point in the food production process, starting from the farm all the way to the consumer’s table.
Contaminants in food, whether microbial, chemical, or physical, along with food fraud and supply chain issues, present significant challenges. Any lapse in food safety can lead to serious public health risks, economic losses, and a decline in consumer confidence. The reason why this problem continues to exist is due to the fact that Nigerian food controlling agencies, such as National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and Food Safety and Quality Programme (FSQP), still use traditional methods of food traceability, which involve paper records and manual data entry for keeping track of information.
There is necessity for improved, secure, and advanced tech.
The traditional method has numerous drawbacks that impede proper food safety management, including a lack of transparency due to incomplete and disorganized paper trails, inconsistent data from manual input, and delays in response time because of outdated paper systems. These issues underscore the necessity for improved, secure, and advanced technologies in order to enhance food safety management. Emergence of blockchain technology is highlighted as a promising answer to issues concerning food safety and traceability.
Chemical preservatives are often used on various products by marketers without proper documentation for consumers to make informed decisions. As a result, 70% of our food exports are being rejected by international community. Whether it’s beans, maize, yam, palm oil, or livestock, all aspects of production and processing remain rooted in tradition. For this reason, Nigeria needs to integrate blockchain technology into its food system and leverage its decentralized ledger system made up of interconnected digital blocks secured by cryptographic methods.
Blockchain tech provides instant access to information.
This new type of technology has arisen as a hopeful answer to improve the safety and tracking of food by offering clarity, protection, and responsibility across the supply chain. Every section holds information tied to a particular transaction, along with digital signatures for confirming its genuineness and connections to following sections, creating the blockchain and ensuring its permanence. Blockchain technology is based on decentralized, unchangeable registries that record transactions or occurrences in a transparent and secure manner. It provides instant access to information on the origin and path of food items, boosting confidence, responsibility, and effectiveness throughout the supply chain.
Utilizing blockchain technology (BT) has the potential to enhance the governance and efficiency of food systems, improving traceability and supply chain operations. BT offers the opportunity to boost consumer confidence, accelerate production processes, and optimize product performance, addressing pressing needs in the food sector. The implementation of BT has the potential to enhance worldwide food supply networks by facilitating quicker and more economical product transportation, enhancing visibility and traceability within supply chains, optimizing the communication in real-time among collaborating parties, and simplifying data management for all involved stakeholders.
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Tracking food items in Nigeria using blockchain technology faces obstacles such as scalability, interoperability, regulatory compliance, and data privacy issues, despite its potential to accurately trace the origin, authenticity, and handling conditions of products by documenting each stage of production, processing, and distribution on a distributed ledger. To achieve success in tackling these hurdles, it is imperative for industry players, governmental bodies, and tech experts to work together in creating guidelines, procedures, and top-notch methods for implementing blockchain in food safety and traceability initiatives.
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