Yesterday Angus Australia, a society for Angus cattle and beef farmers, announced the launch of Angus Verified, a food traceability blockchain application.
The blockchain solution, developed with Australian agritech firm Aglive, allows users to trace and verify the origins of purebred Angus meat and cattle through the Aglive app. The technology is available for farmers and producers and aims to tackle the “imposter” issue of black-hided cattle sold as Angus beef, thereby ensuring greater confidence throughout the supply chain.
In 2019 Australia was the third largest exporter of beef after Brazil and Argentina. Last year the country exported more than a million tonnes of beef with Japan as its biggest market.
Food traceability is a common application of blockchain technology and Aglive’s technology provides “paddock-to-plate” platform for cattle farmers. The animal tracking app follows cattle all the way from birth through to processing and delivery to consumers, thereby ensuring quality.
“More and more we are seeing black-hided imposters benefitting from the good Angus name, built from years of hard work by Angus producers. Angus verified helps the Angus producer build better relationships based on trust and loyalty and adds integrity and credibility to their business and their reputation,” said Liz Pearson, Angus Australia’s commercial supply chain manager.
The app will be used as an electronic national vendor declaration (eNVD), part of Australia’s commercial National Livestock Identification System (NLIS), documenting cattle movement for the purposes of disease prevention and monitoring.
“The Aglive app records Angus Verified animals and it can also record weight gains, treatments and other important livestock management information. The new eNVD is built into the Aglive app providing access to shipments and NLIS transfers at the touch of a button, making compliance and integrity a breeze,” said Paul Ryan, CEO of Aglive.
Angus Verified is the latest in a number of Australian beef verification applications designed using blockchain technology. The Aglive app already hosts Macka’s Australian Angus Beef. US start-up BeefChain grants “proof of steak” verification using blockchain to ensure traceability.
