Nigeria must embrace blockchain technology in addressing food safety and traceability issues

Food safety and traceability have become paramount concerns in Nigeria’s food supply chains which are driven by increasing incidents of contamination, fraud, and supply chain inefficiencies. Ensuring the safety and integrity of food products from farm to table is essential for safeguarding public health and maintaining consumer trust (food and drug administration), which is very critical in the food supply chain. Traditional methods often lack data fragmentation, inaccuracy, and lack of transparency.

Food safety encompasses a wide range of issues that can occur at any stage of the food supply chain, from farm to fork. Here is a closer look at some of the most prominent challenges such as contamination (microbial, chemical and physical contamination), food fraud (deliberate adulteration or misrepresentation of food products), and supply chain inefficiencies. Food safety incidents can have severe consequences on public health risks, economic burden, and erosion of consumer trust.

Food traceability assembles, stores and transmits adequate history of any food products, from cultivation or rearing to the final product in the consumer’s basket, at all stages inside the food supply chain to check the product for quality control as well as safety and can be traced forward and backward whenever required.

The food agencies of Nigeria, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and Food Safety and Quality Programme (FSQP) still rely on the traditional food traceability which is a form of paper-based records and manual data entry for record-keeping. This approach suffers from several limitations that hinder effective food safety management, such as lack of transparency (through fragmented and incomplete paper trails), data inconsistency (as a result of manual data entry), and slow response times (as a result of slow and cumbersome paper-based systems).

These limitations of traditional traceability highlight the need for more efficient, transparent, secure, and advanced technologies for food safety management. This emphasises the emergence of blockchain technology as a potential solution to food safety and traceability. This can be seen across many of our products, as marketers add chemical preservatives that are not documented for the consumer to choose or know and this has led to 70% of our food export being rejected internationally. From beans, maize, yam, to palm oil, even livestock age and process are all traditional.

What if there is a better way to keep a high standard food system?

That is where blockchain technology in our food system can come in. Which is a decentralised ledger system which comprises digital blocks, connected via cryptographic methods. This form of technology has emerged as a promising solution to enhance food safety and traceability by providing transparency, security, and accountability throughout the supply chain. Each block contains data related to a specific transaction, along with virtual signatures to verify its authenticity and links to subsequent blocks, forming the blockchain and making it immutable.

At its core, blockchain technology utilises decentralised, immutable ledgers to record transactions or events in a transparent and tamper-proof manner. Blockchain technology enables real-time visibility into the movement and provenance of food products, enhancing trust, accountability, and efficiency across the entire supply chain.

By recording each step of the production, processing, and distribution process on a distributed ledger, stakeholders can trace the origin, authenticity, and handling conditions of food items with unprecedented accuracy.

Despite its promise, implementing blockchain technology in the food industry in Nigeria presents several challenges, including scalability, interoperability, regulatory compliance, and data privacy concerns. Overcoming these challenges requires collaboration among industry stakeholders, government agencies, and technology providers to develop standards, protocols, and best practices for blockchain adoption in food safety and traceability applications.

In conclusion, the government must encourage and support the agricultural sector in ensuring food safety, quality and traceability in the food chain. However, the dynamic nature of information in this chain can pose challenges for tracing. As earlier described, blockchain technology can effectively provide transparency and immutability in transactions, enhancing stakeholders’ trust. It enables traceability in food supply chains, allowing for the tracking of product origins and verification of authenticity. This facilitates regulatory control and helps identify potential fraudulent behavior throughout the supply chain. It also prevents the use of false labels in the food market, enhancing compliance with food standards and sustainability practices.

•Adesina Oyelami is a Sheffield Hallam University graduate with a Master’s degree in Food Consumer Marketing and Product Development. He is dedicated to the AgricTech sector, where he adeptly merges technology, business strategy, value chain optimisation, and sustainability initiatives. Adesina has demonstrated his proficiency in leveraging technology to enhance Nigeria’s Agritech sector. He has contributed to the development of innovative digital technologies to address pressing challenges within Nigeria’s agricultural landscape.