JD.com Using Blockchain Technology for Meat Imports

One of China’s biggest e-commerce websites is looking to start using Blockchain technology to better control the sale of its meat imports. For JD.com, they believe that using this technology would allow their consumers to better understand where their meat products are coming from.

By using the Blockchain, their customers would be able to follow, in real-time, each step of the production process. The company recently made a statement to Business Insider that their clients would be able to follow each and every piece of beef from the farm where it was raised in Australia, all the way to their front door.

Winning Consumer Trust

On the Chinese market, it’s not a rare occurrence to see counterfeit products make their way into the mainstream without anyone even noticing it. For example, in August of 2016, nearly 300 pigs in Southeastern Asia were found to be contaminated with illegal drugs such as Salbutamol and Clenbuterol. After this, regaining the trust of consumers became a major priority for almost every meat-producing company within the country.

Now, for many of these companies, using Blockchain technology seems to be one of the best possible solutions to remedy the issue. With it, consumers would be able to verify the origins of each piece of meat before buying it and it would even be able to provide them with more in-depth information about the product.

At the Mercy of Demanding Customers

According to Chen Zhang, Chief Technology Officer at JD.com, consumers are no longer content to simply buy imported products from China. They also want to know the details about its production such as where it’s coming from and how it got there. Moreover, once Blockchain technology is implemented as a means of traceability, the company’s customers will have access to a wide range of information about the products that they are buying.

For Zhang, the addition of Blockchain technology would allow their clients to have peace of minds regarding their consumption and they would also have access to information about where and how the animal was raised, as well as how the meat was processed and transported.

A Competitive Edge for Blockchain Advocates

JD.com is a big company which can significantly influence the Chinese market and the entire country’s economy. According to a recent report from Business Insider, the company rakes in about $290 million per month and had an annual turnover of nearly $55 billion in 2017. Therefore, the fact that the company wants to start using the Blockchain represents a major advantage to those who advocate for the technology

In addition to proving that the technology can be used for more than just cryptographic currencies, this also proves that it can be beneficial to major corporations such as JD.com.

And, although many still believe that the Blockchain is only good for cryptocurrencies, this could prove to the world that it is an extremely secure and non-falsifiable system for the transmission of information related to any and all products.