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Consumer confidence in Chinese-made food is at an all-time low. From fake eggs and honey to artificial wine.
A few years ago, China’s largest infant formula company, the Sanlu Group, was arrested for selling fake baby milk. The product contained the hazardous industrial chemical melamine. It was added to the mixture to artificially boost protein levels. The result was a heartbreaking story of greed that had real consequences – children died, thousands of people got sick. It was a horror story that affected the entire country. It has turned into an international counterfeit food scandal. It was another nail in the coffin of the idea that Chinese consumers could trust their food producers.
Fake Food: Restoring Trust
With this in mind, the Guizhou Agricultural Provincial Government has begun making huge investments. The plan is to revitalize the rural areas and give the locals a chance to get involved. The idea is to stop them from moving to cities where there is no one to grow food. But this requires that consumers on the mainland consider the food to be legal. But how can they be sure of this?
The mushroom comes to the rescue. In China, it is eaten very widely – it is known as the “key edible ingredient”. And you can definitely expect to see plenty of species there that most Westerners would consider alien. But the mushroom has been a staple food around the world since the dawn of agriculture. “Wild chicken” is an incredibly important part of the diet in Asia. But how can consumers be sure that this product is safe and edible?
The Mushroom Demonstration Zone in Guizhou Province comes to the rescue. It exists to show how blockchain technology can be used to trace mushrooms and verify their provenance. They also use blockchain technology to ensure the security, reliability of information and data. This helps manufacturers build confidence in quality and safety assurance. The last thing their customers want is another fake product scandal.
Mushroom and blockchain
Baiyun District in Guiyang City has combined the mushroom industry with blockchain technology. The idea is to keep the entire industrial chain traceable and integrated.
Edible mushrooms are one of Guizhou’s main industries – in Guizhou alone, edible mushrooms have generated $2.89 billion in revenue in the past four years. During the same time, their production volume in this locality increased by 51% per year. Meanwhile, prices have risen by 60%.
This increase may be due to the fact that the supply chain for edible mushrooms is now equipped with a full-fledged traceability mechanism. The product is registered in the blockchain at all stages – from the farm, processing to certification.
Called “Intelligent Mushroom Cloud”, it is a platform for the entire edible mushroom industry using cutting-edge technology. The platform has 31 data collection points. These are 15 edible mushroom companies, cooperatives, bases and large farms.
Guizhou Jukong Technology is one of the enterprises that is in the mushroom blockchain system. Rare edible mushrooms are grown here in Baiyun. Participation in the blockchain makes the production of edible mushrooms traceable and verifiable.
Intelligent Mushroom Cloud Demo Center
Government officials who put all their money into the mushroom industry built the Guizhou Mushroom Museum. Visitors can get information about how the blockchain process works. It is hoped that farmers and producers will win the trust of the general public.
Ma Ningyu, Guiyang’s acting mayor, says, “The data chain has become an important engine of Guiyang’s high-quality development. Guiyang is currently promoting blockchain deep integration for rural revitalization.”
Guiyang District plans to continue the development of smart agriculture. He also wants to promote IoT, AI technologies in agriculture and become an example for the whole country. This is especially important in the fields of planting, breeding, processing and logistics.
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