Wisconsin cheesemaker to pilot new system for verifying tank trailer cleans

Now the group has a patent pending for its product aptly named Vessey (vessel + see) that is ready for real-world testing. “It’s a disruptor technology because it’s eliminating blind spots that currently exist in the food-grade market with relation to visibility—and not being able to verify critical events in a tank during its lifetime,” Johnson said.

Vessey is built as a standalone app accessible via the QR code—which is tied to the trailer’s vehicle identification number (VIN)—a computer or device, so anyone can input data. Blockchain, a string of unalterable records linked by multiple servers, connects and secures the operating system, ensuring all stakeholders only access relevant data. “Everything is GPS-verified based on location, and each stakeholder’s unique credentials.”

In practice, a shipper, for example, would scan the trailer’s QR code when it arrives at the loading facility. The first information they would see includes a trailer’s various certificates, with expiration dates, and insurance, followed by prior products, where it was cleaned, who approved the wash, and the seals. If the facility accepted the trailer, it would then add new seals or products to the chain.

“Importantly, this product allows for each stakeholder to see what they should see, and no more,” Johnson emphasized.

Pilot testing

Johnson and Wills connected through WDATCP officials, who knew both were going down similarly innovative paths with digital records. “It was nice to hear somebody was on the same wavelength,” Wills said. “And I knew their reputation but didn’t know they were into this aspect of the business, so it’s been interesting to share ideas.”

Wills, who also owns Clock Shadow Creamery, has run Cedar Grove for 34 years. The factory, which opened in 1878, produces 12,000 lbs. of organic and conventional cheeses each day that are shipped across the country. Cedar Grove also picks up milk from 28 local farms using four company-owned tank wagons (three are Freightliners with chassis-mounted Walker tanks) ships whey—a byproduct of the cheesemaking process—with contract carriers, and has its own grade-A wash facility, making the operation an ideal test case.

Cedar Grove currently uses QR codes on its cheese packaging to make information available to customers, including the vat that produced the cheese, batch size, and the origin of the component ingredients. “At this point, we have tracking going back to the bulk tanks in our factory,” Wills said. “But our milk pick-up system still is mostly manual. We have records but they’re all paper records. So, for us, the appeal of this project is being able to integrate our electronic system all the way back to the farm level.”

The pilot will include local dairy farmers and contract carriers. The objective is to “firm up” the blockchain system’s environment before approaching major producers and shippers, third-party tank washes, and finally carriers who own the trailers that will be catalogued, and thus would have the great access. “If there’s anyone in the industry who needs to see how this works, it’s the carriers,” Johnson said.

WDATCP is expected to help fund the pilot through its Wisconsin Dairy Processor grant program. “That program is only available to dairy processors, which is one of the reasons we hooked up with Bob,” explained Jared Wallace, chief innovation officer at Liquid Freight. “He’s innovative, and our contact at WDATCP thought … partnering with Cedar Grove Cheese would be a way to push Vessey forward.”

Collective benefits

Regulatory authorities like WDATCP, USDA, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are promoting the use of blockchain technology to advance food safety, and Vessey is a tool that allows for non-fragmented digitization of essential records. Auditors also would be able to use Vessey to verify data more quickly with one platform. “They’re excited about it,” Johnson said. “[WDATCP] has been looking at ways to get funding for this because they also want digitization of records, and so they really want to go this direction.”

Regulators aren’t the only stakeholders who would benefit, he maintained.

Shippers could use Vessey to trace the origin of a product in the event of a recall, or to avoid contaminating a product with allergens. Insurers could use it to verify shippers and carriers have the correct amount of insurance for a food-grade vessel; tank washes could make sure they’re only cleaning the products they say the can clean, so as not to jeopardize their Kosher status, for instance; and tank owners would receive credit for carrying out good food-safety practices.

“Unless you’re skirting the system, or trying to keep blind spots hidden, you should be excited about this because you get credit for the honest work you’re doing,” Johnson said.

Future deployment

Vessey could help set an industry standard for digital wash certificates in the future, Johnson speculated. And tank manufacturers could etch the QR codes into the trailers for further supply chain security. In anticipation of bringing Vessey to market, Johnson locked up getvessy.com and is mapping out a way to pay for its development. Carriers likely would pay a fee to register vessels, shippers or tank wash operators would pay to digitally record the affixed seals to clean or loaded trailers, and auditors would pay to run checks.

“We’re hoping that, in five years, every person involved in a tank’s journey is logging its life events,” Johnson said.

In the meantime, he’s eager to spread the good word. Johnson, who also is the president of the International Milk Haulers Association, planned to speak on the subject at the 38th National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments this week in Indianapolis, Indiana; and take the idea to the Juice Products Association and Cargill’s certification board, along with talking to food-grade tank washes and carriers.

“It’s something that needs to happen for the industry,” he said.

Wills, for one, agrees. “It’s going to have to become the industry standard at some point for this whole thing to reach its full potential,” he said.

“But we’re just trying to take baby steps here.”