Purpose

This paper examines the potential of “biomarkers” to provide immutable identification for food products (chocolate), providing traceability and visibility in the supply chain from retail product back to farm.

Design/methodology/approach

This research uses qualitative data collection, including fieldwork at cocoa farms and chocolate manufacturers in Ecuador and the Netherlands and semi-structured interviews with industry professionals to identify challenges and create a supply chain map from cocoa plant to retailer, validated by area experts. A library of biomarkers is created using DNA collected from fieldwork and the International Cocoa Quarantine Centre, holders of cocoa varieties from known locations around the world. Matching sample biomarkers with those in the library enables identification of origins of cocoa used in a product, even when it comes from multiple different sources and has been processed.

Findings

Supply chain mapping and interviews identify areas of the cocoa supply chain that lack the visibility required for management to guarantee sustainability and quality. A decoupling point, where smaller farms/traders’ goods are combined to create larger economic units, obscures product origins and limits visibility. These factors underpin a potential boundary condition to institutional theory in the industry’s fatalism to environmental and human abuses in the face of rising institutional pressures. Biomarkers reliably identify product origin, including specific farms and (fermentation) processing locations, providing visibility and facilitating control and trust when purchasing cocoa.

Research limitations/implications

The biomarker “meta-barcoding” of cocoa beans used in chocolate manufacturing accurately identifies the farm, production facility or cooperative, where a cocoa product came from. A controlled data set of biomarkers of registered locations is required for audit to link chocolate products to origin.

Practical implications

Where biomarkers can be produced from organic products, they offer a method for closing visibility gaps, enabling responsible sourcing. Labels (QR codes, barcodes, etc.) can be swapped and products tampered with, but biological markers reduce reliance on physical tags, diminishing the potential for fraud. Biomarkers identify product composition, pinpointing specific farm(s) of origin for cocoa in chocolate, allowing targeted audits of suppliers and identifying if cocoa of unknown origin is present. Labour and environmental abuses exist in many supply chains and enabling upstream visibility may help firms address these challenges.

Social implications

By describing a method for firms in cocoa supply chains to scientifically track their cocoa back to the farm level, the research shows that organizations can conduct social audits for child labour and environmental abuses at specific farms proven to be in their supply chains. This provides a method for delivering supply chain visibility (SCV) for firms serious about tackling such problems.

Originality/value

This paper provides one of the very first examples of biomarkers for agricultural SCV. An in-depth study of stakeholders from the cocoa and chocolate industry elucidates problematic areas in cocoa supply chains. Biomarkers provide a unique biological product identifier. Biomarkers can support efforts to address environmental and social sustainability issues such as child labour, modern slavery and deforestation by providing visibility into previously hidden areas of the supply chain.

中文翻译：

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碎巧克力：生物标志物作为提供可可供应链可见性的一种方法

目的

本文研究了“生物标志物”为食品（巧克力）提供不变识别的潜力，在从零售产品到农场的供应链中提供可追溯性和可见性。

设计/方法/方法

本研究使用定性数据收集，包括在厄瓜多尔和荷兰的可可农场和巧克力制造商的实地考察，以及对行业专业人士的半结构化访谈，以确定挑战并创建从可可工厂到零售商的供应链图，并由地区专家验证。生物标志物库是使用从实地工作和国际可可检疫中心收集的 DNA 创建的，这些中心拥有来自世界各地已知地点的可可品种。将样品生物标志物与库中的生物标志物相匹配，可以识别产品中使用的可可的来源，即使它来自多个不同的来源并经过加工。

发现

供应链映射和访谈确定可可供应链中缺乏管理层保证可持续性和质量所需的可见性的区域。一个脱钩点，将较小的农场/贸易商的商品结合起来创建更大的经济单位，模糊了产品来源并限制了可见性。这些因素支撑了制度理论的潜在边界条件，即面对不断上升的制度压力，该行业对环境和人类虐待的宿命论。生物标志物可以可靠地识别产品来源，包括特定农场和（发酵）加工地点，在购买可可时提供可见性并促进控制和信任。

研究限制/影响

巧克力制造中使用的可可豆生物标志物“元条形码”可准确识别可可产品的来源农场、生产设施或合作社。审计需要注册地点的生物标志物的受控数据集，以将巧克力产品与原产地联系起来。

实际影响

在可以从有机产品中生产生物标志物的地方，它们提供了一种缩小可见性差距的方法，从而实现负责任的采购。标签（二维码、条形码等）可以交换和产品篡改，但生物标记减少了对物理标签的依赖，减少了欺诈的可能性。生物标志物可识别产品成分，确定巧克力中可可的具体原产地，允许对供应商进行有针对性的审核，并确定是否存在来源不明的可可。许多供应链中都存在劳工和环境滥用问题，提高上游可见性可能有助于企业应对这些挑战。

社会影响

通过描述可可供应链中的公司科学地将其可可追溯到农场级别的方法，该研究表明，组织可以对已证明在其供应链中的特定农场的童工和环境滥用进行社会审计。这为认真解决此类问题的公司提供了一种提供供应链可见性 (SCV) 的方法。

原创性/价值

本文提供了农业 SCV 生物标志物的最早例子之一。对可可和巧克力行业利益相关者的深入研究阐明了可可供应链中的问题领域。生物标志物提供唯一的生物产品标识符。生物标志物可以通过提供对供应链先前隐藏区域的可见性来支持解决环境和社会可持续性问题的努力，例如童工、现代奴隶制和森林砍伐。