# Walmart Food Traceability with Blockchain

> Walmart uses blockchain technology for complete food traceability throughout the entire supply chain. The system reduces mango traceability time from several days to 2.2 seconds and already covers over 25 products from five suppliers. The solution enhances food safety through transparent documentation of every step from producer to consumer.

**Sector:** Tertiary sector · **Industry:** E-commerce · **Organisation:** Walmart · **Maturity level:** Production

Canonical URL: https://www.sapientblock.com/en/use-cases/walmart-rueckruf-tagen-sekunden-verkuerzen

## Documentation status

- **Project status:** Production
- **Evidence:** Evidence high
- **Editorial review:** Ufuk Avci, 15 April 2026

## Description

Walmart piloted two blockchain projects with IBM: pork in Chinese Walmart stores (uploading authenticity certificates) and mangoes in US stores (origin tracking). For mangoes, the traceability time was reduced from 6 days, 18 hours and 26 minutes to 2.2 seconds. IBM wrote the chaincode; suppliers uploaded data via a web interface. The platform is called IBM Food Trust and is based on Hyperledger Fabric.

After an E. coli contamination in salad leaves in 2018, US health authorities took a week to locate the source — too slow to protect consumers. Walmart had already been working with IBM on blockchain solutions since 2016. The two pilot projects: (1) pork in Walmart China — successful upload of authenticity certificates to the blockchain, solving a serious trust problem. (2) mangoes in US stores — traceability time reduced from 6 days, 18 hours, 26 minutes to 2.2 seconds. After the pilots, Walmart and IBM, together with 11 other food companies, founded the IBM Food Trust network. Walmart's CEO then called other food retailers the same day to join — including further retailers. From 2020, IBM Food Trust became mandatory for all Walmart leafy green suppliers. Walmart now tracks over 25 products from 5 suppliers — fruit, meat, dairy products, ready meals such as salads and baby food. Frank Yiannas, then VP Food Safety at Walmart: "We can take a jar of baby food and see in seconds where it was made and trace all ingredients back to the farms."

## Benefits

- Improvement of supplier relationships through transparent and trustworthy data sharing in a secure network.
- Enhanced consumer trust through full transparency about product origin and quality standards.
- Reduction of product traceability time from several days to 2.2 seconds through automated blockchain documentation.
- Increased food safety through seamless and immutable documentation of all supply chain steps.
- Cost savings in product recalls through precise identification of affected batches instead of large-scale withdrawals.
- Significant time savings in product traceability and quality controls through immediate availability of all relevant product data.

## Challenges

- Required close collaboration with numerous suppliers of varying sizes and technical capabilities.
- High initial investments for technology implementation and training of all suppliers involved in the network.
- Necessity of complete digitisation of existing supply chain processes among all partners.
- Need for comprehensive training for employees to use the new blockchain-based systems.

## Technology foundation

The system is based on Hyperledger Fabric for the US markets and VeChain Thor Blockchain for operations in China. These private blockchain networks enable Walmart and its partners to securely share product data while keeping sensitive business information protected.

## Sources

- [Blockchain in the Food Supply Chain](https://tech.walmart.com/content/walmart-global-tech/en_us/blog/post/blockchain-in-the-food-supply-chain.html)
- [DLG Expert Report: Blockchain in the Food Supply Chain](https://www.dlg.org/en/mediacenter/dlg-expert-reports/nutrition/dlg-expert-report-06-2019-blockchain-in-the-food-supply-chain)
- [Walmart China plant die Nachverfolgung von Lebensmitteln](https://blockchainwelt.de/walmart-china-plant-die-nachverfolgung-von-lebensmitteln/)