“Highvalue.Coffee Project” and the Growing Importance of Coffee Traceability

Nowadays, traceability is the main issue in many businesses, particularly for coffee. The advantages of keeping it at a high degree are that it provides a guarantee for consumers, provides increased power in the value chain, helps quality monitoring, and, last but not least, can be used a marketing...

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Main Author: Massimiliano Fabian
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-08-01
Series:Proceedings
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/89/1/1
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author Massimiliano Fabian
author_facet Massimiliano Fabian
author_sort Massimiliano Fabian
collection DOAJ
description Nowadays, traceability is the main issue in many businesses, particularly for coffee. The advantages of keeping it at a high degree are that it provides a guarantee for consumers, provides increased power in the value chain, helps quality monitoring, and, last but not least, can be used a marketing tool. In the coffee business, it means verifying the history and the area of origin of green coffee beans (now moving to geolocation) and being able to identify them throughout all the logistic supply chain up to the last customer; to help this, we conceived an innovative service model of traceability and integration through a technique that recognizes the connection between genetic characteristics of coffee varieties and chemical and sensory analysis results, shared on a dedicated platform and linked to a QR code. By linking shipping documents with the results of chemical, genetic, and sensory analysis, users can verify the compliance of all declared data with the quality of the product received. Genetic analysis is based on DNA fingerprinting, detecting the presence of short and repetitive sequences (microsatellites) and characteristics of beans’ genetic code; thanks to a rich Coffea Arabica library that was built, DNA analysis identifies different varieties of green coffee beans which are also linked to the production countries. Chemical–physical analyses consist precisely of the determination of moisture, caffeine, 5-hydroxytrypdamides, and OTA, and sensory analyses are performed through the SCA cupping protocol. Gathered using a blockchain system, all the documents are available in sample cards to guarantee the transparency to both buyer and seller, from bean to cup.
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spelling doaj.art-9a53ea6a6e614f84b0181dc8f71834d22023-09-27T13:41:34ZengMDPI AGProceedings2504-39002023-08-01891110.3390/ICC2023-14833“Highvalue.Coffee Project” and the Growing Importance of Coffee TraceabilityMassimiliano Fabian0Demus S.p.A., via Caboto, 31, 34147 Trieste, ItalyNowadays, traceability is the main issue in many businesses, particularly for coffee. The advantages of keeping it at a high degree are that it provides a guarantee for consumers, provides increased power in the value chain, helps quality monitoring, and, last but not least, can be used a marketing tool. In the coffee business, it means verifying the history and the area of origin of green coffee beans (now moving to geolocation) and being able to identify them throughout all the logistic supply chain up to the last customer; to help this, we conceived an innovative service model of traceability and integration through a technique that recognizes the connection between genetic characteristics of coffee varieties and chemical and sensory analysis results, shared on a dedicated platform and linked to a QR code. By linking shipping documents with the results of chemical, genetic, and sensory analysis, users can verify the compliance of all declared data with the quality of the product received. Genetic analysis is based on DNA fingerprinting, detecting the presence of short and repetitive sequences (microsatellites) and characteristics of beans’ genetic code; thanks to a rich Coffea Arabica library that was built, DNA analysis identifies different varieties of green coffee beans which are also linked to the production countries. Chemical–physical analyses consist precisely of the determination of moisture, caffeine, 5-hydroxytrypdamides, and OTA, and sensory analyses are performed through the SCA cupping protocol. Gathered using a blockchain system, all the documents are available in sample cards to guarantee the transparency to both buyer and seller, from bean to cup.https://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/89/1/1traceabilitysustainabilityDNA fingerprintingblockchain systemchemical–physical analysissensory analysis
spellingShingle Massimiliano Fabian
“Highvalue.Coffee Project” and the Growing Importance of Coffee Traceability
Proceedings
traceability
sustainability
DNA fingerprinting
blockchain system
chemical–physical analysis
sensory analysis
title “Highvalue.Coffee Project” and the Growing Importance of Coffee Traceability
title_full “Highvalue.Coffee Project” and the Growing Importance of Coffee Traceability
title_fullStr “Highvalue.Coffee Project” and the Growing Importance of Coffee Traceability
title_full_unstemmed “Highvalue.Coffee Project” and the Growing Importance of Coffee Traceability
title_short “Highvalue.Coffee Project” and the Growing Importance of Coffee Traceability
title_sort highvalue coffee project and the growing importance of coffee traceability
topic traceability
sustainability
DNA fingerprinting
blockchain system
chemical–physical analysis
sensory analysis
url https://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/89/1/1
work_keys_str_mv AT massimilianofabian highvaluecoffeeprojectandthegrowingimportanceofcoffeetraceability