Majid Al Futtaim, a shopping mall, communities, retail and leisure pioneer across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and owner and operator of the Carrefour franchise in these regions, has announced that it has joined IBM Food Trust, a Blockchain-enabled global ecosystem for the food industry run on IBM Cloud.
Carrefour has become the first retailer in the region to offer new levels of insight and transparency to its customers about the provenance of their food via end-to-end visibility on products throughout its supply chain, promoting increased quality, credibility and safety for its shoppers.
The initiative will start with two initial products categories, Carrefour’s own fresh chicken brand and microgreens harvested from select in-store hydroponic farms, before expanding into more product lines. According Majid Al Futtaim, all participants in this initiative across the supply chain will benefit from a smarter and more sustainable food ecosystem.
“Trust in the food supply is becoming increasingly important worldwide, a trend accelerated by changing consumer demands and the subsequent health and wellbeing concerns arising from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Hani Weiss, Chief Executive Officer, Majid Al Futtaim Retail. “It is therefore imperative for us to invest in ensuring quality throughout the value chain while simultaneously working to build robust customer trust and loyalty. In meeting the new market expectations, we are now offering enhanced food traceability for our valued Carrefour customers and improved operational efficiency for our business.”
Majid Al Futtaim is engaging with its supplier partners to enable broader participation in this initiative, giving Carrefour customers access to traceability details across diverse products throughout the UAE, before introducing it to other Carrefour markets operated by the company in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Nalla Karunanithy, Chief Digital Officer, Majid Al Futtaim Retail, said: “Thanks to the availability of advanced cloud-based, Blockchain technology and the commitment of Majid Al Futtaim to deliver the highest quality to its customers, we are proud to be using this supply chain solution to provide the very best in quality, safety and trust to our customers in the markets we operate in,”
By simply using their smartphone to scan a QR code on participating products such as Carrefour’s fresh chicken, customers will be able to get immediate access to actionable food supply chain data, from farm to store shelf.
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