The halal meat scandal in Malaysia that was revealed last month has angered Muslims in the country.
Where the revealed that the beef wave to the Muslims of Malaysia was not only wrongly described as halal, but it was probably not beef in the first place.
This example is only the tip of the iceberg, as food fraud is occurring globally.
Imported food:
Malaysia, as well as other Muslim countries around the world, usually import supplies of meat from abroad.
The Ministry of Islamic Development in Malaysia offers Halal certification for meat processing plants in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, India, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and the United States.
However, fake halal meat is imported from countries such as Colombia, China, Ukraine and instead of the exporting countries mentioned above, and it is packaged with a halal logo, but it is not.
What is outright fraud.
Horse meat, kangaroo meat, donkey meat, or even sick beef is shipped which is being repackaged as high-quality meat products bearing the Halal logo.
Once the fake halal meat reaches Malaysian ports, the shipment will bypass inspection procedures by corrupt officials at ports cooperating with smugglers.
Then they reclassify the meat as halal using the existing halal-certified brands and distribute them with other brands.
This puts consumers' health at risk, and according to the aforementioned source, fraud in halal food has been going on for 40 years.
Technical solutions to combat food fraud:
The issue of food fraud is not new globally.
Countries like China and the United States have faced this problem before.
Food fraud becomes possible as the gap increases from the source farm to the end consumer, which means that since we no longer purchase food directly from farmers, there are now more intermediaries involved in the food supply chain.
It is estimated that there are at least six players involved in the food supply chain before we can consume our food.
These are farmers, food producers, food processors and packers, warehousing, wholesale distribution, and finally, supermarkets.
There is now a technology that can combat fraud in the field of food and it is blockchain technology, which also stands behind cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain, as is well known, are decentralized ledgers that are distributed across many parties, and every transaction that takes place in them is recorded.
This means that no hacker can alter the data, as the data is not stored by one central system but by multiple decentralized parties.
Using blockchain technology, the food industry can now ensure that food sold can be returned to the source.
Food fraud usually involves misleading labels or the use of fake labels, as in the Malaysian halal meat scandal in which we opened our article.
Global startups using blockchain technology in the food market:
The real problem is that until now there is no affordable solution that can track our food from farm to consumer plate.
Currently, most of the major brands are facing violent reactions from consumers when their products are manufactured by people in very poor working conditions.
All because someone was able to trace the source of the product, thanks to the modern technologies used.
Among the emerging companies that seek to solve the problem of food tracking, we find the company "OneAgrix", where this company proposes a solution to significantly reduce the problem of food fraud if not eliminate it completely.
It provides a platform and cross-border marketplace between B2B companies for halal food, agricultural and food products using blockchain technology and food DNA tracking.
OneAgrix has the technology to ensure transparency, traceability and confidence in the food supply chain.
Diana Sabreen, CEO of OneAgrix, said:
The agri-food sector is one of the sectors that can use advanced technology.
OneAgrix works with a number of halal certification bodies around the world to ensure the authenticity of halal foods as well as laboratories to ensure that products are not contaminated with non-halal content, such as pork or alcohol.
To ensure the company's success, the OneAgrix founders waited for the right time to launch their startup.