Mastercard Blockchain to Bring Visibility to Food Systems

Integrates with Envisible’s Wholechain system to bring traceability to food supply chain

Topco food cooperative to pilot the technology to trace source of seafood at member grocery stores starting with Food City

Consumers increasingly want to know the story behind the food that they consume – the source of the produce, meats and seafood, and their journey to the table. Mastercard is collaborating with Envisible, a company that enables supply-chain visibility in food systems to bring more visibility to food that people eat every day.

Envisible’s Wholechain traceability system will be powered by Mastercard’s blockchain-based Provenance Solution and used by Topco Associates, LLC, a leading United States food cooperative, to help its member-owners’ supermarkets trace and highlight the origin of seafood. Topco is working with its member grocery chains, starting with Food City, to pilot the use of the technology to provide better line of sight into ethical sourcing and environmental compliance of the seafood selection sold at their stores. The first of several species to be tracked will be salmon, cod and shrimp.


“Given consumers’ expectations for reliable information about the food that they eat, we’re excited to partner with Food City and Envisible on this trace and provenance solution pilot, and the promise of Envisible’s Wholechain solution,” said Scott Caro, senior vice president of Fresh, Topco.

“Using Envisible Wholechain, powered by Mastercard, our grocers will be able to stock shelves with confidence and also be able to pinpoint issues in the food chain during any unfortunate events such as recalls,” added Dan Glei, executive vice president, Merchandising and Marketing, Food City.

With over 100 blockchain patents filed, Mastercard is number three globally among top blockchain innovators[1]. The company has built a permissioned blockchain network that is integrated with its global network and provides a secure tamper-proof ledger, high transaction throughput, enhanced security, transaction privacy, and support for multiple use cases with one deployment.

Built on its proprietary blockchain technology, the Mastercard Provenance Solution is industry-agnostic and helps brands provide visibility into product journeys and a clear record of traceability designed to contribute to consumer confidence, trust and awareness. The Mastercard Provenance Solution alsoprovides governance capabilities to complex supply chain networks, leveraging Mastercard’s proven track record of establishing trust and rules in highly-regulated markets.

“The identity of things is becoming even more important as consumers raise demands for transparency,” said Deborah Barta, senior vice president, Innovation and Startup Engagement, Mastercard. “Our provenance solution leverages Mastercard’s established network capabilities, globally-scaled technology, and services, such as payments and counterfeit programs. This allows us to deliver trust, financial inclusion and back-end efficiencies to the marketplace.”

“The sheer volume of global trade makes it difficult to track the journey and authenticity of food,” said Mark Kaplan, partner, Envisible. “We’re excited that Mastercard shares our vision and is driving consumer trust by bringing its significant expertise in using technology at scale with commercial-grade processing speeds, data flexibility and privacy, and security standards to an area that has previously been considerably opaque.”

The company will demonstrate its provenance solution at the Mastercard Booth (#5108) at Money20/20 in Las Vegas from October 27-30.

[1] https://www.coindesk.com/alibaba-ibm-lead-global-blockchain-patent-drive-says-report

 

About Mastercard 

Mastercard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. Our global payments processing network connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. Mastercard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MastercardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.

About Envisible

Envisible, an ARKK Food Company joint venture, is led by a team of passionate people driven by an awareness that global food systems are at the core of some of the world's most pressing challenges.We believe that many of the social, financial and environmental challenges the world is facing today can be traced back to the complex, and sometimes corrupt, systems that have evolved to bring us our food. We offer a combination of technology focused solutions, including our traceability system Wholechain, designed to make food systems more visible so that responsible businesses and consumers can make the right decisions that will drive up quality and change supply chains for good.

About Topco Associates LLC 

Topco Associates LLC is a $14 billion, privately held, member-owned company that provides aggregation, innovation and knowledge management solutions for its leading food industry member-owners and customers, including grocery retailers, wholesalers food service and pharmacy companies. Topco leverages the collective volume, knowledge and commitment of these companies to create a competitive advantage in the marketplace by reducing costs and offering winning business-building capabilities. For more information, please visit www.topco.com.