On the afternoon of May 25, 2019, at Hall C, Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry held a thematic session titled “Introduction to the Te-Food System and Blockchain Technology in Food Traceability.” The session featured guest speaker Dr. Đào Hà Trung – Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City High-Tech Association and Chairman of TE-FOOD International – along with lecturers, graduate students, and more than 200 undergraduate students from the Faculty of Food Technology. The program consisted of three main parts, aiming to help students approach modern 4.0 technologies widely applied in food management and traceability systems.

Overview of the session: “Introduction to the Te-Food system and Blockchain technology in food traceability”

Part 1: Introduction to Blockchain technology in food traceability

When choosing food products, consumers often question their quality and origin: Is the source of the food transparent and reliable? Are domestic and international supply chains truly safe? Do agricultural producers comply with nutritional, quality, and food safety regulations? Is state management stringent enough to control “clean” food sources?

To address these issues, Blockchain technology emerged and has been applied in the food industry, evolving alongside the increasingly strict requirements of the food market and helping prioritize consumer rights.

Dr. Đào Hà Trung sharing insights on Blockchain technology at the session

Since its introduction into the food sector, Blockchain technology has demonstrated outstanding effectiveness. It has helped solve many problems, such as supporting import–export operations, helping businesses and nations protect themselves during trade conflicts, protecting domestic markets, managing imports, supporting the implementation of standards like GlobalGAP and VietGAP, enhancing supply chain management, improving product quality with Industry 4.0 technologies, supporting food safety management, enabling recalls of low-quality products, combating counterfeits and mislabeling, assisting in food rescue campaigns (e.g., sweet potatoes, dragon fruit, watermelon), and helping consumers distinguish Vietnamese goods from foreign products, encouraging the use of locally made products.

Lecturers and students participating in the session

Part 2: Introduction to the Te-Food system – Application in livestock management and emergency disease prevention

Te-Food is known as a farm-to-table food traceability system with the goals of:
– Enhancing the efficiency and transparency of food supply chains;
– Helping exporters meet the requirements of importing countries;
– Building, promoting, and protecting brand identity;
– Preventing and reducing the impact of disease outbreaks and food fraud;
– Increasing consumer trust;
– Supporting state management, balancing supply and demand, and preventing epidemics.

Within this system, each product is assigned a code. When scanned, the code provides access to a full database of product information, from its origin to all interaction records throughout its supply chain journey, thus establishing consumer trust. Te-Food is the only food ecosystem integrated with the supply chains of companies, consumers, and government agencies to improve food safety, eliminate food fraud, and reduce costs for supply chain enterprises.

Part 3: Q&A session

The Q&A segment with the speaker was lively and engaging, with many questions raised to clarify the content Dr. Đào Hà Trung presented earlier. Not only students but also lecturers from the Faculty of Food Technology directly discussed and explored several interesting topics with the speaker. This demonstrated that the session was highly relevant, up-to-date, and attracted significant interest from multiple audiences.

Dr. Đào Hà Trung discussing with lecturers and students

Through the seminar, Dr. Đào Hà Trung presented an optimistic picture: Vietnam’s food market can completely narrow the gap with “demanding” markets such as Europe and the United States if advanced technologies are applied flexibly and effectively in food management and traceability systems.

On this occasion, the Faculty of Food Technology expressed gratitude to Dr. Đào Hà Trung for participating and sharing valuable insights with the faculty and students and hoped to continue collaborating with Te-Food to organize more high-quality programs in the near future.

Ms. Nguyễn Thị Thảo Minh – Deputy Head of the Faculty of Food Technology – presenting flowers and souvenirs to the speaker and guests

Faculty lecturers taking commemorative photos with Dr. Đào Hà Trung

Students of the Faculty of Food Technology taking commemorative photos with Dr. Đào Hà Trung