Traceability
Food traceability with QR codes and blockchain, explained
Food traceability means being able to follow a product through every stage from farm to buyer. Farm2Fork records each stage on a Hyperledger Fabric ledger and gives every order a QR code, so a buyer can scan it and see the farm record, collection, transport and delivery steps.
Why traceability matters for fresh produce
When produce passes through several traders before it reaches a shop, the buyer often cannot tell which farm it came from, when it was picked, or how it travelled. That makes it hard to trust quality claims, hard to find the source of a problem, and hard for good farmers to be recognised for good produce.
Traceability answers three practical questions: where did this come from, who handled it, and what happened between harvest and delivery. For the wider picture, read what farm-to-fork traceability is.
How to verify produce with a QR code
Order from a named farm
Every Farm2Fork order is tied to a single farmer, so the origin is known from the start.
Open the scan screen
In the Farm2Fork app, open the scan option and point the camera at the order's QR code.
Read the journey
The app shows the farm record, then collection, transit and delivery in order, each with the participant who recorded it.
Compare it with what arrived
Check that the produce, quantity and delivery match the record. If something is off, the record gives you a precise starting point for a complaint.
What Farm2Fork records
- Farm record: the farm, crop, quantity and quality grade at listing time.
- Order: the buyer, the farm and the agreed items.
- Collection and transit: shipment status updates from the transport partner.
- Delivery: the final handover to the buyer.
Why Hyperledger Fabric
Hyperledger Fabric is a permissioned blockchain framework hosted by the Linux Foundation. In a permissioned network only identified participants can write records, and the history cannot be quietly edited afterwards. That suits a supply chain where the farmers, carriers and platform are known parties, and it avoids the energy cost and public exposure of an open blockchain.
A technical explanation is in how blockchain food traceability works.
What blockchain traceability cannot prove
Common questions
Do I need to understand blockchain to use traceability?
No. You scan a QR code and read the journey on screen. The ledger works in the background to keep the record from being altered.
Is the traceability record public?
Records are written to a permissioned ledger, so only approved participants can write to it. Buyers see the journey of the orders they placed through the app rather than a public blockchain explorer.
Trace your first order
Create a buyer account, place an order from a named farm, and scan its QR code.