VeChain has partnered with U.S startup KnowSeaFood to bring transparency to the multibillion-dollar seafood industry. KnowSeaFood will use StoryBird, a supply chain traceability platform powered by the VeChain blockchain to allow its customers to trace their food along the entire supply chain.
Announcing the partnership in a blog post, VeChain revealed that KnowSeaFood will implement Storybird, a transparency application powered by the company’s blockchain-as-a-service platform ToolChain. KnowSeaFood customers will now be able to trace their seafood ‘from catch to plate.’
VeChain prides itself on having the fastest lead time for blockchain implementation in the industry. With the latest offering, farmers will be able to upload harvesting, processing and harvesting information onto the VeChainThor blockchain. This data will integrate with the Storybird platform for access by the consumers. To cater to the less tech-savvy farmers, the platform comes with easy-to-use templates.
The partnership comes at a time when the seafood industry has been recording massive growth in the U.S. Due to the pandemic, most restaurants have remained shut down for months. This has forced U.S citizens to prepare seafood at home, sparking a surge in seafood retail sales. As per Nielsen data, seafood was the fastest-growing supermarket category in May this year. In addition, Americans have traditionally loved seafood, spending over $100 billion a year according to NCBI data.
Despite being one of the fastest-growing industries, seafood still faces several challenges. One of these is mislabelling which led to over 80% of consumers not meeting their seafood consumption recommendations in the past year. KnowSeaFood believes it can change this using blockchain.
Daniel McQuade, the founder and CEO of KnowSeaFood remarked:
The American consumer is demanding the kind of transparency and provenance that blockchain technology delivers. In working with VeChain and the Storybird application, we are bringing our customers the best technology in the market to have immutable trust in seafood.
Starting in Q4 this year, customers can trace Norwegian salmon, North Atlantic haddock, Maine lobster, and Peruvian mahi-mahi.
VeChain continues to target enterprise use
The VeChain Foundation’s latest partnership builds on the blockchain firm’s enterprise use. The company has set the pace in targeting large companies seeking to integrate blockchain technology. In September, VeChain joined the China Animal Health And Food Safety Alliance as a council member. The alliance has 130 members, including the Chinese subsidiaries of Walmart, Starbucks and McDonald’s. VeChain is the sole public blockchain technology provider to the alliance.
In an even more significant move, VeChain is set to partner with the Chinese government in its post-COVID-19 rebuild. As Crypto News Flash reported, the company’s blockchain will power China’s efforts to combat the virus, including rebuilding the public health system.
The VeChain Foundation recently announced the results of its partnership with retail giant Walmart China and how it could be a model for the future of supply chains. The two have been working together for over a year now, tracing over 100 items for the supermarket chain.