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Wal-Mart, JD.com launch blockchain alliance to improve food safety in China

JD.com Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., computer technology company International Business Machines Corp. and Beijing-based Tsinghua University on Dec. 14 jointly announced they will work together to use blockchain technology to improve food tracking, traceability and safety in China.

The collaboration, called the Blockchain Food Safety Alliance, aims to improve real-time food traceability throughout the supply chain by creating standardized ways of gathering information on the origin, safety and authenticity of food.

IBM is in charge of providing the blockchain technology and its expertise in the IT sector, while Tsinghua University serves as the technical adviser for food technology and China's food safety ecosystem.

Wal-Mart and JD.com will help develop and launch the technology to other companies that will join the alliance.

Along with IBM and Tsinghua University, Wal-Mart piloted the use of blockchain technology to trace food products from when they were sourced until they reached store shelves. According to the big-box retailer, the technology cut the time it took to trace a product throughout the supply chain to two seconds from days or weeks.

The blockchain collaboration is an addition to the ongoing partnership between JD.com and Wal-Mart.

In June 2016, the U.S.-based supermarket chain struck a partnership deal with JD.com by selling its Chinese online marketplace Yihaodian to the e-commerce giant. Wal-Mart also has opened a flagship store on the JD.com platform, and its members-only warehouse retail chain, Sam's Club, was included in JD.com's discounted bundled membership.