Deep Learning‐Based Supply‐Chain Re‐Traceability of Tea Leaves in a Permissioned Blockchain

The global tea industry, renowned for its distinctive flavors and cultural significance, faces significant challenges such as adulteration and quality degradation, which compromise consumer trust and product integrity. High import tariffs and shipping costs further exacerbate these issues by making premium tea leaves and tea-based products expensive, creating a lucrative market for counterfeit and substandard goods. This study presents an advanced blockchain-based solution utilizing Hyperledger Fabric to address these issues by enhancing transparency and security within the tea leaves supply chain. The proposed system employs a permissioned blockchain ledger, which restricts access to certified participants, thus ensuring secure, end-to-end tracking from the plantation to the final retail product. By integrating decentralized storage through IPFS and using a deep learning (DL) model for real-time tea leaf quality assessment, the system mitigates risks of data manipulation and unauthorized access, thereby guaranteeing that only premium quality tea reaches the consumer. The implemented Hyperledger Fabric system meticulously records all pivotal stages of the tea supply chain, including plantation registration, leaf picking, transportation, processing, and retail distribution. The integration of the deep learning model for quality assessment and decentralized storage solutions ensures the authenticity and traceability of tea products. The results demonstrate significant enhancements in data integrity, accountability, and consumer trust, offering a scalable and robust framework adaptable to other agricultural products facing analogous supply chain challenges. This innovative approach not only safeguards the quality of tea leaves but also provides valuable insights into the broader application of blockchain technology in agriculture. The study makes a substantial contribution to the discourse on blockchain applications in sustainable tea supply chain management, offering valuable insights for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and tea producers.