Today standards body GS1 US announced the completion of the first phase of a Proof of Concept (PoC) to exchange food traceability data. The test involved platforms from FoodLogiQ, IBM Food Trust, ripe.io and SAP, and the solutions used blockchain, cloud as well as other technologies. All four organizations have blockchain traceability solutions, although both FoodLogiQ and SAP have historically used other technologies.
The test involved simulating the use of GS1 standards for a seafood supply chain to enable faster and more efficient food recalls. The project involved using GS1 for unique identification as well as EPCIS for the data model.
EPCIS is a standard around events to enable different solutions to share data, such as whether a product has been packed, shipped or received. Given most solutions already use GS1 for identification, we’re guessing that EPCIS is the emphasis.
“GS1 US is passionate about leading industry toward interoperable solutions,” said Melanie Nuce, SVP , corporate development, GS1 US.
“These four solution providers have joined together with GS1 US to help solve the challenge of systems interoperability because they recognize the value of GS1 Standards as a foundation for emerging technologies like blockchain and understand the tremendous benefit of that consistency to the end user.”
This is the first of a multi phase test. The next step will involve getting industry participants such as suppliers, distributors, retailers and food service companies to implement EPCIS.
GS1 said that it wants to determine whether there is a “new technical standard or protocol required for interoperability to enable permissioning, privacy and access controls.” We’ve asked for clarification because interoperability can mean many things, including integrating data from a company’s systems with a blockchain system, or between two or more blockchains.
In terms of integrating data from one blockchain protocol with another, Hyperledger Cactus is aiming to provide a solution.
Ultimately GS1’s aim is to ensure consistency between the different solutions. To that end, three months ago, GS1 US published a guideline on using GS1 standards for blockchain supply chain applications.
