Abstract:
The food industry is becoming more consumer-oriented today. Honey is being increasingly
consumed for its high nutritive value and its immense contribution to human health. Globally,
the annual honey production is about 1.2 million tons which account for about 1% of the total
sugar production. Economically developed countries have a higher consumption rate of honey.
Getting unifloral honey consistently from uncultivated sources is relatively rare in occurrence,
making it a high-value commercial product which is in huge demand. However, a large number
of adulteration cases in honey have been observed hampering the otherwise high potential of
this food commodity. Failure to meet the prescribed quality standards, as suggested by the
International Honey Commission, has created an urgent need for employing easy and accurate
techniques for detecting adulteration. Honey supply chain comprises of multiple entities from
producers i.e. beekeepers/farmers to end consumers. The various entities work together to bring
the premium quality of honey on the market. This kind of system is aimed at ensuring speed,
cost, and system efficiency in the supply chain. This has necessitated countries to maintain
transparency and visibility in the entire supply chain. Implementation of food safety systems
such as Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) and exporters’ access to market
information and on their marketing know-how has become a crucial content in addressing food
safety issues. The study at IIT Delhi aims to use blockchain technology to track the supply
chain of unifloral Honey. This research focusses on the utilization and development of
blockchain technology and thus analyze its usage in building the unifloral honey supply chain
traceability system. This would effectively guarantee the food safety issues in Indian honey by
gathering, transferring and sharing the authentic data of honey in production, processing,
distribution and selling links
