The global food chain is complex, bringing together farmers, warehousing, shipping companies, distributors, and grocers. Involving so many different parties also means involving many different types of record keeping methods, from Excel sheets to emails to paper printouts. Not only is this system inefficient, it’s also imprecise. That’s why a number of the biggest food companies are starting to use blockchain technology, the system that supports cryptocurrencies, to keep track of everything that passes through their supply chain. This system makes it easier to to trace food outbreaks to the source should they happen, while also giving customers the opportunity to know exactly where their food is coming from.