Um Welcome everyone. My name is Shane Khan. I am the chief marketing officer and one of the founding members of Sart Global, a food Safety and traceability company. Today. I'm here to speak about interoperability in technology and how it helps traceability.So I'm gonna share my slide and we'll just jump right into the presentation. OK, great. So how interoperability leads to traceability is the discussion point today? Um And here we go. So today we'll talk about interoperability. What it is? What is traceability? How does Blockchain fit into all of that? Um The challenges faced by interoperability and traceability and the rewards of the two in the supply chain? My background is in food and food safety. So many of my examples will stem from that um knowledge base that I have and what is next in the supply chain. So what is interoperability interoperability simply said is the capacity for computer systems to exchange and make use or interpret the information this is achieved when the technical architecture set of standards or protocols or processes within an individual's organization or between businesses can communicate and work together towards a common goal.

What is traceability, traceability is the ability to track the movement of products through a specific stage of a supply chain or throughout the entire life cycle of that product. It gives organizations the ability to trace it backwards through the history of that product, the application or location of specific products. So it is um it regardless of the field we're speaking of, I come from the field of food, but you can talk about computer chips or you can talk about any sort of object like um machine parts or automobile parts or even something that is intangible like the travel industry um where you know, a person wants to travel, what they wanna do.

Um It can apply to all aspects of our um business world as, as you. So um there is internal traceability and external traceability. Um and all of that is part of the supply chain. Um So where does Blockchain fit into this? So you hear about Blockchain all all the time and Blockchain by definition is shared immutable ledgers that record and track assets in any business network. That's the general definition you'll find when you look online. Um But it applies when you include interoperability and you include traceability into it.

What it does is it's, it distributes the shared data from peer to peer. So peer to peer could be um a producer of a particular screw that's used in a particular car and the mechanic or a mechanic who purchased that particular screw to use in his repair shop or it could be um somebody who mills corn or mills flour and then it could be a bakery or a large baking facility like Sarah Lee that could be peer to peer or immutable transactions of different sorts.

So they, what they do is because you have this unblock chain because of the mutable ledger immutable meaning that it cannot be broken in everything in that ledger gets transferred from block to block. It's shared information, it increase increases trust, it ensures the integrity and the security of that information that you're passing on from one peer to the next. Because in the complex world we live in, there are many peers in the supply chain. It automates smart smart contracts which again promotes interaction and ac across the supply chain. Um and permission to permission less option give enterprises users um a lot of flexibility. There's certain things that you want people to be able to access and change. There's certain things you don't want them to touch at all because it is your proprietary information. So let's put it all together. So we're talking interoperability which is systems being able to speak to each other. So it could be an Excel document connected to an er P solution connected to an oracle database. You want all of those systems to communicate to each other. That's a drop. You talk about traceability, you're talking about um input of um ingredients going to production, going through distribution and going through consumption, no sale through the retail chain.

You want that all the pro products in that production of that say Sarah Lee pound cake since we mentioned it, um you want all the ingredients in that captured through interoperability exchange of information and then the traceable collection of data that's passed on through using Blockchain.

So um Blockchain is a tool in the field of food, traceability and food safety and many other things. So, but that is how the three of them connect Blockchain guarantees that the information you're gonna pass on is immutable. So if you look at an example um of something called bill of lading. When you um we have shipping companies, they're shipping things say from China to United States of America, we get millions and millions of um I guess ships like this ships or cartons like this coming across containers. So each container has a bill of lading. It's um so a bill of lading from a shipper could be on the Ethereum and sent to the consignment which could be on hyper ledger for an ocean carrier who is a shipper or a seller. Now, that bill of lading will have information such as shipping information, consigning, information, notification, party, vessel, documents, vessel information, it'll be have container I DS, goods, descriptions, trade terms, signatures, stamps, billing number. All of this is in traditional terms, it's on paper.

So it was handwrit and then hand passed to, you know, the captain of the ship, ok. This is what we're putting on your ship and then when it got to the other side, they passed it over. But now because of traceability, because of Blockchain, because of digitizing the data stream with traceable interoperability and Blockchain, that document can be changed multiple times if for example, the shipment misses its route. Um, they can automatically make adjustments if the notifying party changes.

Um You know, the receiver who was supposed to receive the Sara Lee cakes that came. Um, he quits, he gets fired, he gets sick with COVID. Um, who's taking his position? Oh, this other person in the offices um, update the system immediately. The person on the other end of this relationship is notified. So if the buyer changes, the consignee changes, everything can be updated and it's a lot faster, a lot more efficient, less cost effective. And um generally the better way of doing work in our digital age. So what challenges of inter interoperability, traceability? What are they? Well, there's a lack of map market standards. We're very early on. We hear about Blockchain. It's the keyword. We hear about interoperability, traceability. But what are they? Um, w a lot of people know a lot of people don't know and the governments and the agencies are all trying to sort this out. So it's very early on to the lack of standards. Um, service support for Blockchain users if you ha if you get E Ethereum. Well, what do you do if you get IBM trust, what do you do? Um Will they be able to communicate with each other? Um There's a lot of uncertainty um issues regal. Um you know, about regulation integration issues with legacy systems that a lot of people still have. Um There's a cultural change in management. So we're talking about people, humans. Um I in my field of food come across um farmers and growers and processors who are saying no, we already have a system. Why do we need something new?

Oh, but I don't know how to do this and they're quite honestly just scared of technology. So there's a big cultural change that will take time. There's a lack of clarity on technical architecture. How do we build this? What do we need? Um And like I said, because of the lack of standards, there's you seeing a lot of different streams coming. But I think as the discussion goes on, I think we will standardize this, the lack of talent, not a lot of people know how to work with Blockchain or interoperability and difficulty in quantifying benefits. People are like, OK, fine, I do this. This is gonna cost me another 2030 $50,000 off my bottom line. Um Why, what do I get out of it? So it's all of this is up there and there's security and privacy concerns. People say, well, if I put something in a Blockchain. Um And then do I have control over it? Um I don't want them to know how much I actually paid for this rice because I'm going to charge my buyer something else. So these are all concerns. But the biggest thing that I find is there's a lack of understanding um the benefits of interoperability. The benefits are that um there's more effectiveness in the supply chain management.

There's reduction of operation costs, there's increase in quality and you can go on when it comes to the consumer. There's consumer tested um consumer trust increase, there's product price increase, there's branding and improvement, there's all sorts of things. Um There's enhanced transparency.

Um There's a clear trail, you know, where this particular um you know, notepad came from, you know, where this particular medicine came from, you know, where the hand sanitizer came from because I um I don't know if many of you followed this but hand sanitizer, which you and I were buying by the bottles full we couldn't find and we were ordering them off Amazon and other websites.

There were massive recalls later on in the cycle. Um because a lot of them had um wood, alcohol and other products in it that were making people sick. So if you have transparency, then there is a clear trail as to the product that you want to buy where it comes from. You scan barcodes, you scan the QR codes and you gain control. So the enhanced transparency not only helps you and I the consumer, it also helps the producer who's going to be putting it into the Sara Lee pound cake. Now the hand sanitizer of course, but the vanilla bean or vanilla essence, which can be fraudulent in many parts. Um and the origin and destination of the product, we wanna know if we wanna buy American made, OK, fine. Then we have to be able to scan that tomato or that strawberry or that um T shirt and actually know where it came from and it leads to better security. You're more assured that not only is your information but the money. So the money if you buy on paypal or, and you're like, I don't know. And then you go on to buy something at an international website and you don't know where to go.

But if you know it's secure, then you feel better putting your credit card information in it. So um let's talk about the produce industry. Like I said, that's where my background is. That's where I come from. And so if you talk about the food industry, this is um the arch of it. There's growers, there's warehouses, there's exporters, importers, distributors and retailers. Um it's a very complex food supply chain. Um And so the fresh fruit and vegetable industry is valued at approximately $2 trillion.

It's highly fragmented with more than 200,000 businessmen or business people excuse me in the United States, just alone. We're not even talking about the avocados or the mangoes we're getting for South America. We're just talking about in North America. Uh Many of the s and, and many types are there suppliers, distributors, wholesalers, shippers, importers, workers with food services, food retailers. So you can see the complexity of the entire situation and um and the, the clink in the food produce industry is that it's perishable.

So um an avocado shipped from, say Peru um leaves the port. Um It was supposed to arrive in Miami in two days and it's not there. Well, where is it? That's where interoperability and traceability and Blockchain come into think because the way the market works now is that if there is a recall on that avocado or if there is a recall on that lettuce bag, um the retailer will ask the distributor, where did you get the Romaine lettuce distributor will say I um well, we get romaine lettuce from a lot of players.

Which one do you have? Ok, this one? Ok. Let me find out where John's romaine lettuce comes from, he'll call the exporter or the importer and there might be an in between a middleman between there and every step of this arrow or this chain of command. Um can take a week to two weeks because if you're talking to a guy about avocados in Peru, um you take time distances, you're taking time zones you're taken, um, weekends, you've taken, um, styles of work and he'll look in his books, he'll check with his farm and he'll go to warehouse and then the information is collected, then it has to go back up the thing.

So, uh, if it's done on a piece of paper or if it's done on an Excel sheet that's been sent over in a word document or on an email, it doesn't have it, it might be digitized, but it's not traceable because you can't immediately go to that batch number and click on it and trace it back.

So that that is why traceability and interoperability are so, so, so essential in such a large part of what we're doing in the food industry. So Frank Giannis is the Deputy Commissioner of Food Policy and Response for the USDA. This is one of his sayings. He believes that tech enabled traceability is one of the foundational core elements of the new era of smarter food safety blueprints. So, um this is what our mantra is, is in the food traceability system and this is what we're doing. And um that is the end of my presentation. I have five minutes left. So I don't know how many people are here. I, I think it's a three. So if any of the three of you have questions, um I would love to answer them and I'll just um wait and um and listen um or I'll keep talking Sart is the company that I work for or I run and own. And so this is the work that we do and we're deeply involved with all sorts of food traceability. So we trace seafood, produce protein. Um We also trace um medical cannabis, we say trace silk, um anything that can grow um or it's alive, it can be traced using our software. So, um that is the end of my presentation. I'm going to see if anybody has any questions.

Um I don't know if I can click on poles or Q and A. Let me move my mind people. OK? There's no questions but um but if anybody has any questions I can answer them otherwise. Um Thank you so much for um giving me the opportunity to hear about um interoperability and traceability. And um and I look forward to watching the rest of the conference take care.