Development and assessment of blockchain-IoT-based traceability system for frozen aquatic product

This study puts forward a novel frozen aquatic product traceability system (BIOT-TS) that based on blockchain and Internet of things (IoT) technology, which can alleviate the drawbacks of current tracing management during cold chain logistic, such as the weak security performance, inefficient centralized data management as well as the easy-tampered traceability information. The proposed system possesses the advantages of decentralization, safety, reliability, and tamper-proofing when it compares with traditional tracking technology. It is particularly suitable for multi-stages tracking management of cold chain logistics from aquaculture, production, logistics, and circulation to sales. In terms of such blockchain-IoT-based technology, the system is deployed and evaluated with the case of frozen turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) that is circulated and sold under the background of e-commerce cold chain logistics. It can significantly improve the quality and safety of the frozen aquatic product by using smart contracts, consensus strategy, and data on-chain verification technology. The overall involved participants can share more reliable tracing information after adopting this tracing system. Furthermore, the performance of this hybrid tracing technology has been evaluated by the operations of on-chain process and tracing queries through the real experiments, and has testified to be effective. Therefore, the application of this system is beneficial for the improvement of the aquatic food logistics industry and ensures credit in its ecosystem. Practical Applications The blockchain-IoT-based frozen aquatic product traceability management is one of the most promising technologies that possess the advantages of tamper-proof, transparent, and irrefutable transactions combined with distributed monitoring and tracking functionalities. Through the decentralized data management, smart contract, and mechanism of consensus, the traceability information is partitioned and encrypted storage, which can be used for government supervision and consumers' retroactive queries. This novel frozen aquatic food product tracing technology can fundamentally improve the reliability of quality tracing applications and make the closely related tracing management more transparent, secure, and efficient.