154 Int. J. Blockchains and Cryptocurrencies, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2020 Copyright © 2020 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. An overview of food supply chain virtualisation and granular traceability using blockchain technology Jitendra Yadav* and Madhvendra Misra Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad, India Email: jitendrayadav821993@gmail.com Email: madhvendra@iiita.ac.in *Corresponding author Sam Goundar School of Computing, Information and Mathematical Sciences, The University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji Email: sam.goundar@gmail.com Abstract: The integration of sensors and internet to the supply chain has created a new window in the supply chain management called as virtual supply chain which bears the features such as real-time tracking and monitoring of goods flow in the physical supply chain. The food supply chain is one of the delicate supply chains due to perishability, which can be due to various physical and biological factors, also the stringent safety and sustainability requirements of the product. The use of sensors and IT technology enables real-time data collection of the changes that take place in the food supply chain. The paper presents the integration of blockchain to the current virtual supply chain thus eliminating or changing the roles of intermediaries in the virtual supply chain and facilitating transparency, integrity, and authenticity of the data in the food supply chain. Keywords: blockchain; food supply chain; virtual supply chain; sensor; sustainability. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Yadav, J., Misra, M. and Goundar, S. (2020) ‘An overview of food supply chain virtualisation and granular traceability using blockchain technology’, Int. J. Blockchains and Cryptocurrencies, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp.154–178. Biographical notes: Jitendra Yadav is a Research Scholar in Department of Management Studies at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad, India. He received his Master’s in Business Management with specialisation in Marketing from the Babasaheb Bheemrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh India. His research interests include marketing, information technology, operations management, sales promotion, consumer behaviour, information strategy and IT-enabled services, strategic management, blockchain business applications and so on.