After an E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are urging Americans to use caution while buying produce. According to the CDC, there have been 32 people reported to have E. coli in 11 states; 13 of them were hospitalized.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said Walmart’s Vice President of Food Safety, Frank Yiannas, is to be the new U.S. FDA’s foods and veterinary medicine deputy commissioner, according to an interview with CNBC.

Yiannas was in charge of implementing blockchain solution at Walmart, which allows to see all of Walmart’s produce along with its origin in real time.

“In the future, using the technology we’re requiring, a customer could potentially scan a bag of salad and know with certainty where it came from,” Yianna said in an interview with Supermarket News.

Similar programs have been successfully implemented in other countries. France’s Carrefour uses “Food Trust,” IBM’s blockchain data system, to improve food safety, and the United Kingdom’s Food Standard Agency successfully completed a blockchain trial for tracking beef from slaughterhouse to supermarket.

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