ISO/TR 16340:2023

TECHNICAL ISO/TR
REPORT 16340
First edition
2023-07
Application of blockchain-based
traceability platform for cold chain
food
Application d'une plate-forme de traçabilité basée sur la chaîne de
blocs
Reference number
© ISO 2023
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on
the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below
or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: +41 22 749 01 11
Email: copyright@iso.org
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Overview . 1
5 Traceability process and data elements for cold chain system . 2
5.1 Stakeholders . 2
5.2 Traceability process at key links . 2
5.3 Data elements . 3
6 System architecture of blockchain based traceability platform .8
6.1 General . 8
6.2 User . 8
6.3 Business management . 8
6.4 Data process . 9
6.5 Basic support. 9
6.6 Security . 9
7 Benefits of platform . 9
Bibliography .11
iii
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO document should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
ISO draws attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the use
of (a) patent(s). ISO takes no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of any claimed
patent rights in respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, ISO had not received
notice of (a) patent(s) which may be required to implement this document. However, implementers are
cautioned that this may not represent the latest information, which may be obtained from the patent
database available at www.iso.org/patents. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all
such patent rights.
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to
the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see
www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 154, Processes, data elements and
documents in commerce, industry and administration.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.
iv
Introduction
With the outbreak of the epidemic since 2019, the safety of cold chain food is drawing more and more
attention. Due to that fact that the coronavirus (COVID-19) is cold-resistant, there are high risks that
the cold chain food be infected or contaminated by the coronavirus during the circulation of the cold
chain link, which can further exacerbate people’s panic. Therefore, how to guarantee the safety of cold
chain food is a primary and urgent issue expected to be resolved.
Traceability in the cold chain for food is essential in ensuring food safety, through which continuous
tracking of the whole lifecycle is realized, including cold chain food production, storage, purchase, sales,
and transportation, etc. In this document, a blockchain-based traceability platform is proposed, which
links the required data series throughout the circulation of the cold chain food. By applying such a
platform, the following benefits are expected:
— anti-counterfeiting: on this platform, each batch of cold chain food in the container is identified by a
unique code, which can enable identification of each distinct batch of cold chain food;
— trusted lifecycle tracking: the information throughout the circulation of the cold chain food is
written into the blockchain, which is tamper-resistant; and identity cannot be denied;
— supply chain collaboration: the traceability data are shared among the supply chain by leveraging
distribution databases/records/ledgers to achieve unified credentials and reduce logistics costs;
— effective regulation: the platform provides credentials for regulatory agencies, and the most
important information about cold chain food safety for consumers.
v
TECHNICAL REPORT ISO/TR 16340:2023(E)
Application of blockchain-based traceability platform for
cold chain food
1 Scope
This document addresses a blockchain-based traceability platform for cold chain food which realizes
continuous and effective tracking of the cold chain food. The following aspects are included:
— it explores issues and considerations for cold chain food traceability, especially during the epidemic
outbreak;
— it describes scenarios and stakeholders for effective tracking of the cold chain food using the
platform;
— it describes data elements and processes for the platform;
— it presents the platform capabilities such as data tamper resistance, sustainability;
— it gives relevant use cases based on the platform.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at https:// www .electropedia .org/
3.1
cold chain
temperature-controlled supply chain
Note 1 to entry: An uninterrupted series of storage and distribution activities which maintain a given temperature
range. It is used to help extend and ensure the shelf life of products such as fresh agricultural produce, seafood,
frozen food, photographic film, chemicals, and pharmaceutical drugs.
[SOURCE: ISO 26683-3:2019, 3.7]
4 Overview
To ensure the traceability of the cold chain for food, stakeholders encounter many problems in the
current processes, including but not limited to the following.
— Data integrity cannot be guaranteed for traceability of cold chain food among a large number of
parties on the supply chain, such as a massive flow of documents, inefficient manual verification.
— Enterprises are concerned about the risk of core business data leakage when traceability data are
made available.
— There is a lack of long-term food safety regulatory mechanisms.
To solve these problems, a blockchain-based traceability platform is proposed for cold chain food in this
document, which aims to link all trusted data series of food, people, places during the whole lifecycle
of cold chain food circulation and uses international standardized data elements and/or processes for
their traceability.
This document assumes that the traceability platform uses a consortium blockchain. Clause 5 describes
the traceability process and gives the minimum required data elements for data sharing and data
transfer. Clause 6 gives the whole platform architecture of blockchain systems which are provided by
stakeholders. At last, Clause 7 summarizes the benefits by utilizing such a platform.
5 Traceability process and data elements for cold chain system
5.1 Stakeholders
The main stakeholders involved in the traceability process of the cold chain system include:
— traceability platform providers;
— source warehouses/suppliers;
— subordinate warehouses;
— logistics providers;
— retailers and distributors;
— catering enterprises;
— government regulators;
— inspectors;
— consumers.
5.2 Traceability process at key links
Figure 1 shows the key links for the cold chain food traceability process. The data generated at the
key links throughout cold chain food circulation, for example, origin, dock, port warehouse, city
warehouse, supermarket, until cold chain food arrives at consumers, are encrypted and identified via a
unique traceability code to form a traceability record/data/block, and are stored and connected into a
blockchain.
At each of the key links, the cold chain food traceability process can be divided into 4 stages.
a) Cold chain food receipt process
— The logistic provider delivers the customs-related documents, such as customs declaration form,
inspection and quarantine certificate, disinfection treatment report, to the documenter.
— The documenter, for example, the customer officer, creates a receipt, scans and uploads the customs-
related documents, and applies for the traceability code on the traceability platform. When applying
for traceability code, the required information includes the applicant, product name, manufacturer,
number of packaging layers, whether to generate code according to product packaging scale, etc.
— The platform automatically prints the traceability code and sends it to the warehouse operator.
— The warehouse operator counts the received quantity of the cold chain food and other related
information and registers it in the tally sheet.
— The warehouse operator uses terminal programs such as mobile applications, applets, websites, to
scan the traceability code as well as his/her employ number and binds the information of the cold
chain food and the warehouse operator to each other.
— After receiving the cold chain food, the warehouse operator hands over the traceability code and
tally sheet to the documenter.
— At this stage the initial data of cold chain food firstly join the blockchain based traceability platform.
b) Cold chain food shipment-initiation process
— The documenter creates and prints the delivery order.
— The documenter sends the traceability code of the cold chain food and the delivery order to the
warehouse operator.
— The warehouse operator picks the cold chain food at the location based on the delivery order, scans
the traceability code and delivery order number for delivery.
— The warehouse operator u
...