Saporare relies on Mangrovia for blockchain traceability

PRESS RELEASE

Mangrovia Blockchain Solutions and Saporare Italian Food Boutique initiate a collaboration with the aim of protecting and transmitting the values of Italian gastronomic culture around the world.

The idea comes from the desire to enhance and give due recognition to the Made in Italy tradition, nowadays often a victim of counterfeiting, with phenomena such as “Italian Sounding” (use of words, images, color combinations, geographical references to promote and market products that are actually not Made in Italy) now dangerously common especially in the United States, Canada and Australia.

Thus an e-commerce platform was born, bringing together small local businesses and various collaborators in each country with the aim of tracking products from the earliest stages of production and guiding consumers to discover the tradition, nuances and uses of each food.

The fundamental innovation component is the blockchain: this technology, thanks to its specific properties, guarantees transparency, immutability and security, making the tracking of the supply chain efficient, verified and certain. 

These features are at the base of Saporare’s project: thanks to the creation of a link between label, blockchain and product authenticity, and by means of RFID tags, NFC chips and a simple QR code, anyone will be able to view on their device all the information related to the food, accompanied by a neat and meticulous storytelling that will enhance the quality and the Italian spirit of the food with a simple, modern and captivating message.

All this is made possible through a web app developed by Mangrovia and “S|Trace Track your Business”, dedicated to the service of traceability, in particular for the food sector but which is also gaining considerable interest in the industrial sector.

The Managing Director of Mangrovia blockchain solutions Daniele Morisco declares: 

“The Italian agrifood standard of excellence is constantly under the threat of counterfeiting. We are particularly proud of this project with Saporare that sees us involved in a path of innovation and exceptional growth where blockchain technology is the centerpiece, guaranteeing security and transparency.

Thanks to tailor-made solutions from Mangrovia, the innovation brought by blockchain is accessible to every company, regardless of sector, size or complexity of processes, so that the technology can become a key tool to protect and grow the Made in Italy market.”

Maria Vellani, COO and co-founder of the initiative states:

“We are very pleased with the interest that this project is arousing, it is dynamic and constantly evolving, thanks also to the excellent collaborative relationship that has arisen between the figures on the team. Saporare is unique both for the type of markets and products and for the way in which they are offered, especially the S|Trace webapp. Several prestigious suppliers have understood the uniqueness of the project and are taking part in it. Those who become aware of it for the first time often define it as ambitious and original, especially thanks to elements of concern for social and environmental issues that have yet to be discovered.” 

Soon, pollen and a PDO honey from Lunigiana, which is often the subject of counterfeiting and consequently the victim of damage to the identity and reputation of brands and problems related to security, will be registered and certified on the blockchain through the webapp S|Trace. In the world, the value of fake Made in Italy agri-food has risen to over 100 billion euros with a record increase of 70% over the last decade. This was revealed by Coldiretti on the occasion of the introduction of the rules on the obligation to indicate the origin of all foods on the label (law n.12 of February 11, 2019).

The blockchain platform of Saporare and Mangrovia

The platform is aimed primarily at the final consumer through retail distribution, but also includes an area dedicated to customers in the Horeca sector from a B2B perspective. The geographical area of reference will initially be Europe, with subsequent expansion to the USA, Canada, England, Japan and the United Arab Emirates. 

The distinctive feature of the offer is also the green logistics: soon, each customer will be free to choose between the “prime” shipping, which is faster but more expensive and more impactful at environmental level, and the “slow” shipping, which is cheaper and socially and environmentally sustainable, not to mention a packaging with low environmental impact.

Angelomario Moratti, Executive Chairman of Mangrovia Blockchain Solutions, states:

“Inefficiencies, waste and counterfeiting are just some of the problems that Mangrovia offers to solve through the implementation of distributed ledger technology (DLT). The application sectors involved are many and diverse: Energy, Supply Chain, Fintech. The solution proposed with Saporare represents a kind of Trust-as-a-service for participants in the ecosystem.”

The technology developed by Mangrovia is represented by an open and distributed ledger that tracks transactions between two or more actors in an efficient, verifiable, permanent and transparent way. All the information collected is then processed by associating to the label a QR Code connected to a descriptive link of the lot and the storytelling of the product/producer.

Francesco Colli, CEO and co-founder of the Saporare project, adds:

“We manage to protect and describe the best of Italian food and wine products through a single tool. A software, built ad hoc for us by Mangrovia, extremely flexible, simple to use and with a potential yet to be explored, even in areas other than food. A mix of product certification and marketing 4.0. Particularly fascinating is the contrast between the best of the ancient Italian agri food tradition combined with the most innovative technology of the moment.” 

The blockchain, introduced as a non-partisan actor, ultimately raises the level of security. In this context, the web, in addition to acting as a connecting platform, becomes a platform of integrated services usable from stationary and mobile devices, accessible to anyone and totally transparent and reliable. 

Christmas 2020 is the right opportunity to support small local producers and artisans, letting them tell their story and their values. What tool if not the blockchain can act as a shared log, passed from hand to hand from the farmer to the recipient of the gift?