When it comes to food safety, trust concerning the origin of raw materials and the quality of the processes starting from cultivation and breeding until packaging and transport can be a bit of a challenge. At the same time, lack of traceability approaches to be applied to the full supply-chain poses additional threats to food industry sector preventing to fully satisfy consumers’ expectations for safe foods, as well as meet regulatory requirements. Το fill these gaps, MED Food TTHubs will launch a new e-platform supporting the creation of an end-to-end trust-chain in the Mediterranean food sector.
Through the activities of WP4 “Design & Development of an e-platform for traceability and authenticity” aims to design and develop a user-friendly digital platform based on blockchain technology to support end-to-end traceability process, the authentication, and the quality assurance, as well as the nutritional profile of Mediterranean food products. More specifically, this dedicated web-based platform will encompass several modules to:
- Facilitate sharing of information across the whole food supply chain;
- Support the documentation of traceability and authenticity;
- Support the effective provision of more trustful processes for certification and quality control.
Ultimately, the MED Food TTHubs e-platform and its connected modules will support full transparency concerning the traceability and authenticity of Mediterranean food products towards the creation of an end-to-end trust-chain in the food sector.
WP4 activities were initiated with the design of the e-platform and its 10 modules based on the requirements analysis of WP2, as well as on the needs regarding the implementation of the full-path tracing protocol developed in WP4. More information on software functional requirements, software architectural design requirements and software detailed design are available in D4.1.
Currently, the development process of the e-platform and its modules is on-going. The MED Food TTHubs e-Platform will be piloted soon focusing on Mediterranean food products as key points in the reform of tracing and authenticity procedures of traditional products. Three versions of the e-platform are foreseen along the project lifespan:
- The e-platform alfa-version, which will be tested and validated within the consortium,
- The e-platform beta-version, which will be evaluated during the running of the pilots
- And the e-platform final version, which will be produced based on the feedback received form the pilots.
Where do we stand now?
The alpha-version is almost ready, and the internal testing has been started. WP4 and its various activities will be completed by the end of 2022 along with the launch of the final version of the e-platform and its modules.
The fun part starts now: after designing, we have finally started developing what will be then tested in real-life contexts. One reason more to keep following us… Things will get more and more exciting!