The need for documented traceability in the ready meals sector, covering the entire supply chain, from the field or farm to the processing and production units of the meals, but then to the point of sale or consumption, is becoming a key requirement nowadays. The food industry recognises the importance of traceability and food safety.

The aim of traceability of raw materials, plants, animals and fish intended for processing and the production of meals (freshly cooked for immediate consumption, preserved for 28 days and frozen for 12 months) is to enable the complete traceability of a product, with the possibility of tracing it back from the point of cultivation, rearing or catching to the consumer, in order to make available information relating to food safety on the one hand and to a sustainability approach where the consumer receives The need for the above traceability elements is already strong in the foreign markets to which AMALTHEA is addressed. However, also for the domestic market the provision of full traceability will soon be a major competitive advantage mainly due to the need for fully documented food safety procedures in sensitive markets such as mass catering services in hospitals and educational institutions.

A key element of the proposed project is the design and development of an electronic platform based on blockchain technology that will support the efficient implementation of traceability schemes and quality assurance protocol to support ready meal companies and other partners throughout the relevant supply chain. In particular, it will facilitate the traceability and quality assurance process and the nutritional profile of finished ready-to-eat products. The online platform will effectively support point-to-point traceability throughout the supply chain using a blockchain approach for increased transparency and trust building. It will also support the implementation, monitoring and documentation of the Quality Assurance Protocol throughout the product lifecycle. The online platform will be built in a modular (modules - mosaics) way so that each IT tool (module) can work independently or in combination with other IT systems.

All data on the Food Meals Trace online platform will be managed through a blockchain approach (shared, permissioned ledger) in order to provide transparency and trust throughout the supply chain. In the proposed system, the blockchain can act as a shared data layer to allow multiple parties to track the status of a product as it moves throughout the supply chain and share information about its origin and handling in a secure and transparent manner. On top of the blockchain architecture will be deployed web applications and modules. A specific Data Protection approach will be adopted to access these components via the Internet, which will ensure the authentication of users accessing the data and, in addition, the confidentiality, access rights control and integrity of the data handled in accordance with the permissions granted by the data owner.