Apply 5-star Sustainability Practices for Food Products

According to FAO recommendations, sustainable agriculture should be environmentally, economically, and socially responsible and contribute to the availability, access, use, and stability of food security, while sustainable development is defined as “management and conservation of the natural resource base, and the orientation of technological change in such a manner as to ensure the attainment of continued satisfaction of human needs for present and future generations”

The proposed project will focus on the development and the extended pilot application of a holistic protocol for management of agrifood products, which will focus on 5 key goals (5-stars). The food must be:

1. healthy

2. trusted

3. fair (meaning social inclusion and economic equality),

4. environmentally-friendly, and

5. economically profitable.

Towards the fulfillment of the aforementioned key goals, that will enhance the sustainability performance of the agrifood products, cutting-end technologies (blockchain, IoT, AI) and specialised practices will be adopted throughout the whole supply chain starting from seeds and livestock breeding and going up to the recycle and reuse processes.

The application of the proposed Voluntary Protocol will by fully supported by the “Med Food TTHubs e-Platform”, which has been developed and tested under the Prima Project with the title “Trace & Trust Hubs for MED food” (Project Number: 1931). The project was selected for funding under the Prima 2019 call and it successfully ended on the 31st of March 2023. One of the main outcomes of the project was the web-based electronic platform, which uses blockchain technologies and open architecture for full interoperability.

While the “Trace & Trust Hubs for MED food” project focused on authentication (DNA and Isotopic profiling) and quality assurance of the food products, the proposed Holistic Voluntary Protocol for food products will be much more extended and it will provide detailed guidelines for the following procedures:    

-  Full traceability of products and by-products (F2F2F circularity approach – From Farm to Fork to Farm)

- Recording Inputs (materials, work, energy) and Outputs (products, by-products and waste) in productions and recycling route using GS1 standards

- Monitoring conditions in production, storing and transportation phases to reduce waste.

- Accurate CO2 footprint calculation for each product (LOT number level) at each step/action on the Supply Chain

-  Recording Fair Trade practices at each step- Adapt FairTrade Organization standards

The application of the Holistic Voluntary Protocol through the adaptation and use of “Med Food TTHubs e-Platform”, using blockchain, and its associated mobile apps will provide:

- Transparency and trustfulness concerning the input-output equilibrium of products using blockchain technologies and GS1 Organisation’s standards.

- Rating of products based on inputs, outputs and adopted practices. Promote sustainable products.

- Authenticity and quality assurance of the products.

- Activity-Based-Costing (ABC) and easy to analyze the building of prices for each actor addressing economic efficiency

- B2B services between sellers, buyers, service providers, logistic companies and authorities

- Monitoring the evolution of production levels related to climate change

- Reduction of food waste by having a better control of the food supply chain through the management of enriched information concerning the products, the processes and the conditions.

- Best practices based on real data through the use of the e-platform.

An effective integrated traceability process, as part of the Voluntary Protocol, needs to be built on a standardized approach to food production processes and location identification while also remaining flexible for the various supply chain roles and responsibilities within the ecosystem. While many trading partners already have linkages to external systems and processes for some level of product traceability, the next step toward an integrated approach is to identify opportunities for interoperability between internal and external processes across the entire food industry. This approach requires:

• Common language and procedures shared by all players through all levels of the supply chain

• Interoperable hardware (IoT included) and software solutions

• Transparent procedures through the whole supply chain from “seed-to-self”

• Clear evidence of benefits for all supply chain companies

One of the biggest challenges of the proposed project is the easiness of use for both the protocol and the electronic platform. In order to make the whole process as easy as possible for the users, mainly at the initial stages of the supply chain, Local Facilitatros will be trained to support the actors in the supply chain.

It is worth saying that the proposed protocol will address 7 out of the 17 UNs’ world Sustainable Development Goals (2,8,9,10,12,13,15).