The “World Commission on Environment and Development” defines sustainable development as “filling the demands of the present without affecting future generations’ ability to fulfil their own needs” [1,2]. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) globally identifies food and agriculture as key sustainable development sectors. In this context, the food supply chain (FSC) is inextricably linked to sustainability since output must be raised to satisfy the demands for the future, wherein rising competition for more limited resources is inevitable. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) research, nearly one-third of the food produced for human consumption is wasted each year, amounting to more than 1.3 billion tons globally. More than 40% of losses in developing countries occur during the post-harvesting and processing stages, while more than 40% occur at the retail and consumer levels in developed countries (source). The study states that the lack of coordination and transparency among the supply chain partners leads to increased losses in the network.

Furthermore, it facilitates the creation of a transparent supply chain, which reduces the chances of fraud, product recalls, and product loss [17]. Thus, BLCT helps to achieve sustainability in FSC by tracing the information on product origin, shelf life, lot details, quality details, transport, and storage monitoring [13,18]. In addition to improving sustainability, this technology is also energy efficient [19,20], and researchers are trying to increase the efficiency by changing the consensus algorithm from proof of work (PoW) to proof of stake (PoS) as it consumes less energy [21]. BLCT is also used to ensure the transmission of real-time, accurate information among the entities in a supply chain, such as transparency, traceability, security, and irreversibility.

Q3: How will BCLT help to achieve net zero through safety, security, and traceability in the FSC?