About 20 years ago, I worked for a food cooperative canning various fruit products distributed across restaurants, grocery and big box stores. It was my job to ensure the quality of each product met the customers specifications. Quality ingredients were documented and tracked using an oracle database to ensure we could conduct a recall if necessary. This was documented using an Oracle database specifically designed for the company to track ingredients from suppliers to the company's shipping department and those receiving the company’s products. Many other industries use similar technology to track their respective products, but not all of these systems are able to communicate in a secure manner that is timely. 

The 18 months of COVID has pushed the limits of the supply chain and demonstrated there are weaknesses that technology can be developed or rather use to help ensure the supply chain is reliable for all types of goods. The blockchain provides a transparent network where information is provided and distributed that cannot be manipulated. Ingredients, shippers, trademark goods are all guaranteed to be authentic. This is set up to ensure counterfeit and lower quality ingredients will stay out of the supply chain. Two specific technologies are paving the way for this to happen: VEChain and Dock. 

VEChain is being adopted predominantly in China and has been endorsed by the government. This potentially provides China with a competitive advantage but will allow them to see and process all the information held with raw materials and products developed in their country to the point it reaches the final consumer in all countries around the world. Other countries and companies can also use VEChain. 

It’s competitor is Dock. Dock is a technology that will track similarly to VE chain but just started in 2017 whereas VEChain has been around for well . Dock is also providing credentials certification for the medical industry doctors and nurses as well as professional certifications and college degrees. They ensure the credentials are authentic. Similarly, Cardano has partnered with an African country to assist in tracking grades and credentials for the country’s entire education system. 

I am not a financial advisor but very interested in technology such as blockchain and cryptocurrency. I write to learn and also help educate others.