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A group of leading companies across the global food supply chain today announced a major blockchain collaboration with IBM intended to further strengthen consumer confidence in the global food system. The consortium includes Dole, Driscoll’s, Golden State Foods, Kroger, McCormick and Company, McLane Company, Nestlé, Tyson Foods, Unilever, and Walmart, who will work with IBM to identify new areas where the global supply chain can benefit from blockchain. Every year, one-in-ten people fall ill – and 400,000 die – due to contaminated food according to the World Health Organization. Many of the critical issues impacting food safety such as cross-contamination, the spread of food-borne illness, unnecessary waste and the economic burden of recalls are magnified by lack of access to information and traceability. It can take weeks to identify the precise point of contamination, causing further illness, lost revenue and wasted product. For example, it took more than two months to identify the farm source of contamination in a recent incidence of salmonella in papayas according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Marie Wieck, general manager, IBM Blockchain “Unlike any technology before it, blockchain is transforming the way like-minded organizations come together and enabling a new level of trust based on a single view of the truth “Marie Wieck, general manager, IBM Blockchain Blockchain is ideally suited to help address these challenges because it establishes a trusted environment for all transactions. In 400-500 words, make an argument FOR or AGAINST this technological innovation.