Samenvatting

Consumers who buy organic food, have expectations about its quality and rely on certifying organizations to verify this quality and to provide information about the origin of organic products. However, organic food traceability knows several issues, such as problems with organic labelling, certification fraud and transparency issues. Although current technologies and data exchange formats already allow for information sharing between chain partners, it is unclear which companies or projects in the organic food industry are successfully using Information Technology (IT) solutions to improve organic food traceability from ‘Farm to Fork’. The main research question is therefore: “How can Information Technology (IT) improve food traceability in the organic Food Supply Chain (FSC) in Europe?”.
This thesis presents a study, which aimed to evaluate several cases in light of the European Union regulations around food traceability. Considered from a theoretical and system perspective, the combination of sensing, detecting and software technology has found to be able to contribute to organic food traceability.
The empirical results of the case study showed that implementing Blockchain technology could provide benefit because of its characteristics of immutability, distributed ledger technology and the ability to exchange data amongst chain partners. It was recognised that traceability projects could be technology driven and identify issues in the supply chain around traceability as well as improve relationships between chain partners. Case study found that regulations and standards are seen as a wholesaler or retailer responsibility. Increased accountability for the Food Supply Chain (FSC) towards its consumers was found as well.
The key explanation of how Blockchain, as the most qualifying technology, can improve food traceability in the of organic FSC is the combination of ‘chain discovery’ and ‘data capture’ and making the relevant choices depending on the characteristics of the organic chain.
Whether or not driven by technology, warnings from a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), a food incident or the ambition to increase consumer satisfaction, improving whole chain traceability can be done without Blockchain technology. Nevertheless, it could be a good solution for a complex FSC.
Considerations for using Blockchain technology are discussed along with several fruitful areas for further research directions.