Abstract: The globalization of the supply chain has opened numerous opportunities for modern food companies, but also has led to increasingly complex global issues that this industry has to face. Added to this is the fact that savvy consumers demand more product visibility, as well as end-to-end traceability on raw materials and production process. Yet another dimension of food safety involves compliance issues, quality incident handling, and recall management.

Prior applications of blockchain technology to the food sector has shown immediate success in several areas, including enhanced traceability, fraud deterrent and prevention, and improved mitigation of food borne illness and contamination. Other added benefits are better visibility among trading partners through smart contracts, and integration with other technology solutions such as Internet of Things (IoT) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) markers.

Whereas most solutions are designed to address issues relating to mass produced foods, there are ample opportunities to make similar provisions for individual consumers, their specific preferences and restrictions, and their safeguard.  The talk will show how the confluence of several modern technologies can dramatically improve this most basic and essential human experience. As François de la Rochefoucauld eloquently stated five centuries ago, "To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art."

Forouzan Golshani is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, a Life Time Fellow of IEEE and a Fellow of AAIA.  He served as Dean of the California State University - Long Beach (CSULB) College of Engineering from 2007 to 2020. Currently, he is a Commissioner on the Los Angeles County Aviation Commission and a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at CSULB. Previously, he was NCR Distinguished Professor and Chairman of the Computer Science and Engineering Department at Wright University in Ohio, a Center Director and Professor at Arizona State University, and a Research Fellow at Imperial College in London. The author of more than 200 articles, Golshani was previously editor in chief and editorial board member of IEEE MultiMedia, IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, and other scholarly publications. He has registered 10 U.S. and two international patents, and has founded several successful startups.  He was the General Chair of the 9th ICDE Conference (Vienna, 1993) and the Program Chair of the 8th ICDE.