Carrefour Blockchain-based Product Traceability
Sector: Tertiary sector · Industry: Retail · Organisation: Carrefour · Maturity level: Production
Carrefour has been using IBM's Food Trust blockchain platform since 2018 for comprehensive traceability of food products including chicken, milk, eggs, cheese, and salmon from origin to sale. Customers can scan QR codes to access detailed information about product origin, certifications, and the complete supply chain journey. The system has been scaled to over 12,000 stores across 33 countries and has reduced product traceability from days or weeks to seconds.
Documentation status
- Project status: Production
- Evidence: Evidence high
- Editorial review: Ufuk Avci, 15 April 2026
Description
Carrefour, with 12,300 stores in over 30 countries, uses IBM Food Trust (Hyperledger Fabric) for food traceability. First application: March 2018, chicken from Auvergne. The system stores all relevant product data on the blockchain; customers scan QR codes and immediately receive the full product biography.
Carrefour launched in March 2018 as a founding member of the IBM Food Trust platform with blockchain traceability of chicken from Auvergne — the first blockchain project for food in Europe at retailer level. The decision for IBM Food Trust came because national brands like Nestlé did not want to build individual blockchain connections for each retailer. QR code data: producer, field location, packaging location, transport means, harvest date, analysis results, variety, seasonality. In 2019, 7 more Carrefour Quality Line products were added: Cauralina tomatoes, free-range eggs (Loué), Rocamadour AOC cheese, Gillot fresh milk, Norwegian salmon, Christmas ham. In 2021, TEX — Carrefour’s exclusive textile brand with 450 products — followed as the first non-food blockchain application. Goal: by 2025, 50% of TEX cotton organic; by 2030, all own-brand products fully sustainable and traceable. Emmanuel Delerm, Director Organisation Carrefour France: "With blockchain, information is immediately available — previously, full traceability of a product took up to two days."
Perspectives
B2B — organisations perspective
Suppliers of the Carrefour Quality Line must input data into IBM Food Trust. This creates discipline in documentation on the one hand and gives Carrefour immediate transparency in quality issues on the other — without two days of research through ERP systems.
B2C — consumers perspective
Consumers receive the complete journey of their product instantly via smartphone scan — from producer to shelf. This gives the sustainability promise "organic" or "Label Rouge" a concrete, verifiable face.
Employees perspective
Employees in production, logistics and quality control must regularly enter data into the blockchain system and learn new digital workflows. At the same time, they receive better tools for quality assurance and can identify and resolve supply chain issues faster.
Benefits
General
- Blockchain tracking demonstrably increases sales of meat, dairy and fruit products through strengthened consumer trust.
- Seamless traceability enables precise localisation of affected batches in case of quality issues or recalls.
- Companies can differentiate themselves from competitors through proven transparency and authenticity.
B2B — organisations
- The increased transparency leads to measurable sales increases for products with blockchain tracking compared to conventional products.
Employees
- Quality controllers gain detailed insights into all steps of the supply chain and can proactively identify problems.
Challenges
General
- Coordinating all supply chain partners requires considerable effort and technical standardisation between different systems.
- Consumer acceptance varies greatly between regions, limiting economic viability in some markets.
B2B — organisations
- Integrating existing ERP and warehouse management systems with the blockchain platform requires significant IT investment and adjustments.
Employees
- Employees must learn new digital workflows and regularly perform additional data entries, increasing workload.
Technology foundation
Carrefour uses the IBM Food Trust platform, which is based on the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain. This private blockchain solution enables confidential supply chain data to be securely managed while making selected information transparently accessible to consumers.
Implementation examples
Carrefour Blockchain Food Traceability
Carrefour wanted to strengthen consumer trust and differentiate itself from competitors through verifiable product transparency. Complete traceability was also intended to help in cases of food scandals and recalls.
Carrefour implemented a comprehensive blockchain-based tracking system for more than 20 product categories across several European countries and China.
Carrefour launched a pilot project for poultry in France in 2018 and quickly expanded the system to meat, dairy products, fruit, vegetables, and textiles. The company uses the IBM Food Trust platform and cooperates with suppliers such as Nestlé for specific products. By 2019, over 20% of all Carrefour products were to be equipped with blockchain tracking, with plans to extend this to over 100 additional items. The system was rolled out in Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, and China.
The system addresses the challenge of lacking transparency in complex supply chains and enables consumers for the first time to gain complete insights into product origin and quality. In case of issues, affected batches can be precisely identified.
Tags
Supply chain, Transparency, Traceability, QR code, Consumer trust
Sources
- Carrefour to use blockchain for tracking origin of products
- Carrefour Becomes the First Retailer to Use IBM Food Trust Blockchain
- Carrefour expands blockchain traceability to textile products
- Carrefour Spain is launching blockchain food tracking platform for poultry (Archivversion)
- Majid Al Futtaim Taps IBM Food Trust to Deliver Food Traceability Across Carrefour Stores Using Blockchain Technology
- IBM Food Trust expands blockchain network to foster a safer, more transparent and efficient global food system
- Food traceability: Carrefour, blockchain pioneer in Europe, has joined IBM Food Trust platform
- Food & Blockchain