%0 Journal Article %J Technology Innovation Management Review %D 2021 %T An Exploration of Blockchain-based Traceability in Food Supply Chains: On the Benefits of Distributed Digital Records from Farm to Fork %A Mika Westerlund %A Soham Nene %A Seppo Leminen %A Mervi Rajahonka %K blockchain %K distributed ledger technology %K food innovation %K Food safety %K food supply chain %K supply chain management %K traceability %X There are growing internal and external pressures for traceability in food supply chains due to food scandals. Traceability refers to tracking food from the consumer back to the farm and vice versa for quality control and management. However, many traceability solutions have failed to meet the needs of supply chain stakeholders. Blockchain is a novel distributed database technology that could solve some issues of traditional traceability systems, such as cost of adoption and vulnerabilities to hacking and data tampering. This study aims to gain insights on the benefits of applying blockchain technology for traceability in food supply chains through literature review and an investigation of five companies that are experimenting with blockchain-based food traceability. Our findings suggest that, upon implementation and contribution by all supply chain participants, blockchain-based traceability can provide cost-savings, reduced response time to food scandals and food-borne illness outbreaks, improved security and accuracy, better compliance with government regulations, and thus increase consumer trust. %B Technology Innovation Management Review %I Talent First Network %C Ottawa %V 11 %P 6-18 %8 06/2021 %G eng %U timreview.ca/article/1446 %N 6 %1 Carleton University Mika Westerlund, DSc (Econ), is an Associate Professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He previously held positions as a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley and in the School of Economics at Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland. Mika earned his doctoral degree in Marketing from the Helsinki School of Economics in Finland. His research interests include open and user innovation, the Internet of Things, business strategy, and management models in high-tech and service-intensive industries. %2 Universities Canada Soham Nene is a Business Systems Analyst with Universities Canada in Ottawa, Ontario since August 2019. He works on designing student scholarship software / system solutions by performing requirements analysis, developing software system workflows, and studying system capabilities. He holds a master’s degree in the Technology Innovation Management program at Carleton University and holds an undergraduate degree in Information Technology from Pune University, India. He is passionate about technology and food innovation and entrepreneurship. While pursuing master’s degree Soham worked on ‘Benefits of Blockchain-based Traceability in Food Supply Chains’ as his research project. %3 University of South-Eastern Norway Seppo Leminen is Drammen City Municipality chaired (Full) Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the USN School of Business at the University of South-Eastern Norway in Norway, an Adjunct Professor of Business Development at Aalto University in Finland and an Adjunct Research Professor at Carleton University in Canada. He holds a doctoral degree in Marketing from the Hanken School of Economics and a doctoral degree in Industrial Engineering and Management in the School of Science at Aalto University. He is an Associate Editor in Techovation and an Associate editor in BRQ, Business Research Quarterly. His current research topics includes digital business models and ecosystems (cf. Internet of Things), robotics, block chains, living labs, innovation ecosystems, collaborative and networked models of innovations, collaborative methods of innovations, as well as management and marketing models for different types of companies. Results from his research have been reported in Industrial Marketing Management, the Journal of Cleaner Production, the Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, the Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Management Decision, the International Journal of Innovation Management, and the Technology Innovation Management Review, among many others. %4 South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences XAMK Mervi Rajahonka, DSc (Econ), works as an RDI Advisor at the Small Business Center (SBC) at South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences XAMK, Finland, and she is an Adjunct Research Professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. She has been working at SBC for about 10 years, participating in numerous EU-funded projects. She earned her doctoral degree in Logistics from the Department of Information and Service Economy at Aalto University School of Business in Helsinki, Finland. She also holds a Master’s degree in Technology from Helsinki University of Technology and a Master’s degree in Law from the University of Helsinki. Her research interests include business models, service modularity, and service innovations. Her research has been published in a number of journals in the areas of logistics, services, and operations management. %& 6 %R http://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/1446