© 2010 IBM Corporation
George Mattathil -
4/14/2011
Let’s build a smarter food supply Smarter food. Technology is shaping how it grows, how it tastes and how it gets to your plate.
© 2010 IBM Corporation
Part of IBM’s efforts to help build a smarter planet
How do we put food on our tables? Today, we depend on a global web of growers,
fisheries, packers, shippers, manufacturers, retailers as well as government and
industry bodies.
As the world becomes smaller and "flatter," countries that at one time seemed distant are now primary
sources of our food supply. Many of those countries do not have consistent standards for quality, process
and accountability.
The result is an opportunity for our food system to get a lot smarter.
We need to make sure our food system is safe. In the U.S. alone, 76 million cases of food-borne illnesses
occur each year. Imports account for nearly 60% of the fruits and vegetables we consume, and 75% of
the seafood. Yet only 1% of those foods are inspected before they cross our shores.
And we need to make it more sustainable and efficient. At the same time, 50% of all food in the world
ends up going to waste.
Trying to manage these problems in isolation is no longer an option. Fortunately, a smarter global food
system—one that is more connected, instrumented and intelligent—is at hand.
A smarter food system means end-to-end visibility across the entire global supply chain. So scarce
resources can be more thoughtfully managed. So people can have more confidence in the quality of their
food. So the whole world can put healthy meals on the table. Let's build a smarter planet.
Setting the table for a smarter planet
© 2010 IBM Corporation
Part of IBM’s efforts to help build a smarter planet
© 2010 IBM Corporation
Part of IBM’s efforts to help build a smarter planet
Pet food. Lettuce. Peanut butter. Baby food. Milk. These are just some of
the high profile recalls we've seen in the last year.
Consumers worldwide are worried—and rightly so. Is their food safe? And
where did it come from?
One solution is track and trace technology, including 2D and 3D barcode
and radio frequency identification (RFID). This allows us to track food from
"farm to fork."
And now government regulations and industry requirements for quality and
traceability are driving food producers worldwide to provide more detail on
products.
With an increasingly global supply chain, that detail must be
comprehensive and reliable. And with that detail, companies can realize
added value as well, such as a streamlined distribution chain and lower
spoilage rates.
In fact, consumer product and retail industries lose about $40 billion
annually, or 3.5% of their sales, due to supply chain inefficiencies
© 2010 IBM Corporation
Part of IBM’s efforts to help build a smarter planet
A sampling of consumer product recalls within the past two years
© 2010 IBM Corporation
Part of IBM’s efforts to help build a smarter planet
Less waste. Smarter supply chains. Safer food.
© 2010 IBM Corporation
Part of IBM’s efforts to help build a smarter planet
Food is as fundamental as it gets. And our relationship with it has changed with every year.
Just ten years ago, most consumers were focused on eating a diet low in fat. Biotechnology
was extremely limited in its application and considered somewhat dangerous. And few
people knew what organic meant or why it mattered.
Today, the picture is one of heightened challenges. Food prices are soaring. Shortages
have sparked unrest the world over. And every year, ten million people die of hunger and
hunger-related diseases.
At the same time, consumers are hungrier than ever for information about their food. They
are better informed about nutrition and more aware of the environmental and societal
impacts of everything they buy.
In fact, according to an IBM Institute for Business Value survey, two of every five U.S. and
U.K. consumers say safety concerns dictate what food they will—and won't—purchase.
A healthy appetite for innovation
© 2010 IBM Corporation
Part of IBM’s efforts to help build a smarter planet
When Cyclone Nargis struck in May 2008, the
people of Myanmar lost an estimated one third of
their rice supply.
Investigators in the United States were baffled by a
mysterious salmonella outbreak that infected more
than 1,300 people and cost tomato growers more
than $100 million.
These events illustrate the vulnerability of the food
supply chain as well as the fragility of food supplies
in general.
With innovative digital technology and powerful
solutions, IBM is making sure food is traced
properly as it passes though an increasingly
complex global supply chain. IBM is also making
that food heartier through biological research.
The future of food starts today.
So what does IBM have to do with food? Food technology.
© 2010 IBM Corporation
Part of IBM’s efforts to help build a smarter planet
The average meal has been through a complex supply
chain by the time it reaches the dinner table. Dozens of
companies are involved in the production of just a single
rib eye steak.
In the Canadian Province of Manitoba, IBM helped
develop full traceability solution, providing business
consulting and project management services, working
more than 16 supply chain partners, including beef and
pork producers, animal feed ingredient producers, feed
manufacturers, farmers, processing plants, truckers and
a retail grocery chain.
Using Global Traceability Network (GTNet) software from
IBM Business Partner TraceTracker, Manitoba's project
shows it is possible to securely and accurately gather
and crunch data about a piece of meat from a variety of
sources and share that information, at any step in the
process.
Farm to fork
© 2010 IBM Corporation
Part of IBM’s efforts to help build a smarter planet
Butchers at Germany's METRO Future Store
do more than dress roasts. They also apply
RFID smart labels in a solution designed
with IBM.
Each package is identified and recorded
when it is placed into the refrigerated display
case, which is fully equipped with readers
and antennas to scan the label of each
product as it goes in, as it sits on the shelf
and as it goes back out with a consumer.
The information helps the store maintain
fresh products, control the environment in
which they are stored and manage inventory
levels with real-time sales data.
The smart freezer
© 2010 IBM Corporation
Part of IBM’s efforts to help build a smarter planet
Rice is the main food staple of more than half the world's population. According to the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 20% of the total food energy intake for
every man, woman, and child in the world comes from rice.
So what if food technology could make rice—a dietary staple for most of the world—a
stronger crop that is more nutritious?
First, we have to study the structures of the proteins that make rice itself. The
Computational Biology Research Group at the University of Washington has developed
state of the art software that does just that.
The researchers plugged into IBM's World Community Grid.
With the processing power of 167 teraflops, the World Community Grid can harness the
donated and otherwise unused power from nearly
one million individual PCs. Using the Grid, the
project can be completed in less than
two years—as opposed to over 200 years
using more conventional computer systems.
Good grains
© 2010 IBM Corporation
Part of IBM’s efforts to help build a smarter planet
Few things are as clear-cut as a candy bar.
But there is a lot of science behind something
so simple and sweet.
IBM Research, the U.S. Department of Agriculture
and Mars, Incorporated are teaming up and
through their collaboration, they hope to sequence
the genome that makes cocoa, the key ingredient
of chocolate.
Researchers plan to use IBM's computational biology technology and expertise to develop a
detailed genetic map, identifying the specific genetic traits that produce higher cocoa plant
yields and resist drought or pests.
But like any sweet treat, the results of this research will be better when shared. Mars will
make the genome information available for free through the Public Intellectual Property
Resource for Agriculture (PIPRA), which supports agricultural innovation for both
humanitarian and small-scale commercial purposes.
Good taste is in the genes
© 2010 IBM Corporation
Part of IBM’s efforts to help build a smarter planet
How do you provide end-to-end visibility across a supply chain that can span
thousands of miles and cross international borders? How do you reduce
waste and loss—which today stand at 50% between field and fork—in a world
where 820 million people are undernourished? How do you build a smarter
food system?
Matiq, a subsidiary of Norway's largest food supplier, is developing just that. They're working with
IBM on a technology infrastructure to potentially track every chicken breast, every pork chop, and
every beef filet they produce for the Norwegian food market from the farm to the supermarket shelf.
As a result, Norwegian food suppliers and supermarkets will have more and better information
about the meat they sell, and will be able to use software to trace the food anywhere in the supply
chain.
Matiq's smart food system can help suppliers and grocers reduce costs and improve safety. Even
more importantly, it can increase consumers' confidence in the quality of the food they purchase by
providing detailed information on where any given animal has lived and what it has eaten.
Let's build a smarter food system, for a smarter and healthier planet.
© 2010 IBM Corporation
Part of IBM’s efforts to help build a smarter planet
It’s a new world— retailers and consumer products organizations are key players in an economy that demands increased value, sustainability and accountability.
Develop smarter
merchandising and
supply chains. Shifting to value-based services for
suppliers, distributors and retailers;
methodologies and transparent
information channels to support
better decision-making and
sustainability.
Deliver a smarter shopping
experience. Capture and analyze shopper and
consumer data to invoke more
successful new product and
service launches.
Build smarter operations. Improving cost efficiencies
through streamlined processes
and intelligent technology with
stakeholder collaboration, and
inter-industry standards
development.
RETAILER /
CONSUMER
PRODUCTS
© 2010 IBM Corporation
Part of IBM’s efforts to help build a smarter planet
An opportunity for food systems
to think and act in new ways.
Deliver a smarter
shopping experience.
Develop smarter
merchandising and
supply chains.
Build smarter
operations.
+ + =
The companies are becoming
instrumented, interconnected and intelligent.
© 2010 IBM Corporation
Part of IBM’s efforts to help build a smarter planet
The world will continue to become
smaller, flatter and smarter. We are
moving into the age of the globally
integrated and intelligent economy,
society and planet.
To thrive in a Smarter Planet, we need a
Smarter Food System that supports a
profitable and growing value chain.
There’s no better time to start building.
And there’s no better time to invest in
creating the kind of planet we all desire.
Let’s work together to drive
real progress in our world.
We’ve only just begun to uncover what is possible on a smarter planet.
© 2010 IBM Corporation
Part of IBM’s efforts to help build a smarter planet
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IBM Corporation 2011
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