Alibaba rolls out blockchain-powered platform to monitor food supply chain network

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba has launched a blockchain-encrypted platform, the Food Trust Framework, in a bid to boost accuracy and transparency across its supply chain network.

The new platform will also enable users of its subsidiaries Tmall and Lynx to authenticate, verify and record data throughout the shipping process.

Australian vitamin brand Blackmores and New Zealand-based dairy supplier Fonterra are partnering with Alibaba to be the first to try the Food Trust Framework, shipping products to China via Alibaba's Tmall Global platform, New York's Air Cargo World reported.

The company said the objectives are to promote transparency between partners within the supply chain and prevent "food fraud" - the act of corrupting food cargo in the form of unapproved additives, misbranding, unintentional contamination or theft.

At the end of last year, JD.com initiated a similar project, Blockchain Food Safety Alliance, within its network in partnership with Walmart, IBM and Tsinghua University National Engineering Laboratories for e-commerce technologies.

If Alibaba's new trial proves a success, the technology could be implemented throughout its shipping operations and become the basis for a standard in the industry.

While urging against protectionism, Alibaba's chairman, Jack Ma expressed confidence that any setbacks from protectionist rhetoric to-date will be overcome. "Through our digital-commerce platforms, where more than 500 million Chinese consumers shop, Alibaba will continue to help American small businesses and farmers access the China market," he said.

Over the next five years, China is expected to import US$8 trillion in goods.