This fish-farming Mitsubishi subsidiary just put salmon on the blockchain

Norwegian Mitsubishi subsidiary Cermaq is putting salmon on the blockchain and feeding it to the French.

Cermaq’s ‘blockchainified’ salmon will be sold by French food company Labeyrie. A press release notes consumers will be able to scan special QR codes on Labeyrie labels to receive comprehensive details about the salmon’s journey “from egg to store.”

Marketing materials refer to these tidbits as a “CV,” which will feature the salmon’s origin, how it was farmed, its size upon transference into seawater, as well as the farming facility’s location.

Health and welfare information will also reportedly be shared, including the salmon’s diet, and even which vaccinations it received.

Instead of a public ledger, these firms have chosen IBM Food Trust to manage this data. It’s a specialized software suite for tracking food supply routes with private distributed ledgers.

IBM built the platform using open source DLT software Hyperledger Fabric, released by the Linux Foundation.

“This project contributes to reassuring French consumers that the salmon they are purchasing has been farmed in a responsible and sustainable way, is healthy and nutritious, and comes from the beautiful, cold and crisp waters north of the Arctic Circle,” said Cermaq exec Brede Løfsgaard.

Last week, Hard Fork reported that leading food brand Nestlé had joined forces with French retailer Carrefour to put baby milk formula on the blockchain, also using IBM Food Trust.