Blockchain for Food Industry Opportunities Requirements Case Studies and Research Challenges

Abstract

The Blockchain-Enabled Food Waste Management and Redistribution project seeks to revolutionize local food systems by addressing the pressing issues of food waste and community food insecurity. Through strategic collaborations with businesses, restaurants, households, and community organizations, the initiative aims to establish a comprehensive system for efficiently collecting, sorting, and redistributing surplus edible food. By creating partnerships with local food banks, charities, and community organizations, the project seeks to redirect surplus edible food from businesses, restaurants, and households to those in need. Key aspect of this system is the integration of Blockchain Technology, ensuring transparency, traceability, and security throughout the food redistribution process. Here develop a simplified version of the blockchain network to test the feasibility of using blockchain for tracking and recording food redistribution transactions. This includes creating and validating blockchain nodes with hashing. This application provides a robust system for collecting, sorting, and managing surplus edible food. This will predict the user’s location that will be matched with donor’s location and send the notification automatically. Leveraging the transparency and traceability features of Blockchain, the system enables users to submit requests for food assistance, specifying their particular needs. The requests are then reviewed by potential donors who can accept or reject them based on the available surplus and the alignment with the user\'s needs. Upon acceptance, user details are communicated to the donors, who, in turn, provide a final acceptance based on the quantity of food available and the quantity needed by the user. Users whose requests are rejected receive timely notifications, ensuring transparency and managing expectations in the redistribution process

Introduction

The Blockchain-Powered Food Supply Chain Management System aims to improve transparency, traceability, and efficiency in tracking food products from farm to consumer. Using a blockchain ledger, it creates secure, time-stamped, and immutable records of every transaction, covering production, transportation, storage, and retail. Consumers and stakeholders can trace food origins and conditions via QR codes or mobile apps, enhancing trust and food safety while reducing fraud and waste.

The proposed system expands on this by using blockchain to tackle food waste and hunger. It facilitates the redistribution of surplus edible food from businesses, restaurants, and households to food banks, charities, and people in need. Donors list available surplus food, and users submit requests via a secure blockchain platform. The system enables transparent, automated matching and communication between donors and recipients, ensuring fair and efficient redistribution.

Key Features and Advantages:

• Reduces food waste by rerouting surplus food to the needy.

• Ensures traceability and trust via blockchain technology.

• Helps charities coordinate pickups and deliveries more effectively.

• Provides real-time visibility and notifications for better logistics.

System Architecture Modules:

1. Application Design – User-friendly UI for donors and recipients.

2. Donor Enrollment – Handles registration, profiles, and verification.

3. Surplus Food Details – Manages listings (type, quantity, expiry, quality).

4. Blockchain Implementation – Stores secure records of all transactions.

5. Share Intimation – Auto-notifies users based on proximity and need.

6. Request Processing – Matches requests with available donations and updates users on status.

Conclusion

This project tackle the critical issue of surplus edible food management and redistribution by leveraging blockchain technology.It managing surplus food while ensuring efficient redistribution to those in need.By predicting user locations and matching them with nearby donors, the system optimizes the redistribution process, minimizing transportation costs.The integration of blockchain technology adds transparency and traceability, enhancing trust among users and stakeholders..

References

[1] De Boni, Annalisa, Giovanni Ottomano Palmisano, Maria De Angelis, and Fabio Minervini. \"Challenges for a Sustainable Food Supply Chain: A Review on Food Losses and Waste.\" Sustainability 14, no. 24 (2022): 16764. [2] Harvey, John, Andrew Smith, James Goulding, and Ines BrancoIllodo. \"Food sharing, redistribution, and waste reduction via mobile applications: A social network analysis.\" Industrial Marketing Management 88 (2020): 437-448. [3] De Laurentiis, Valeria, Carla Caldeira, and SerenellaSala. \"No time to waste: assessing the performance of food waste prevention actions.\" Resources, Conservation and Recycling 161 (2020): 104946. [4] Meshulam, Tamar, David Font-Vivanco, Vered Blass, and Tamar Makov. \"Sharing economy rebound: The case of peer-to-peer sharing of food waste.\" Journal of Industrial Ecology 27, no. 3 (2023): 882-895. [5] Read, Quentin D., Samuel Brown, Amanda D. Cuéllar, Steven M. Finn, Jessica A. Gephart, Landon T. Marston, Ellen Meyer, Keith A. Weitz, and Mary K. Muth. \"Assessing the environmental impacts of halving food loss and waste along the food supply chain.\"Science of the Total Environment 712 (2020): 136255.

Copyright

Copyright © 2025 Mrs. S. Abirami, Abishek S., Javakar P., Shivaguru G.. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.