Could blockchain have solved the mystery of the romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak?
The first food poisoning cases came to light in late March - eight patrons of fast-food restaurants in New Jersey suffered bloody diarrhea and cramps that sent them rushing to hospitals.
More than two months later, one person is dead in California, 75 others have been hospitalized, and federal authorities still don't know where a nasty strain of E. coli bacteria latched onto romaine lettuce from Yuma, Ariz.
Their struggle to trace dozens of supply lines across 32 states, on a paper trail that often may actually be on paper, demonstrates the limits of tracing food by methods rooted in another century.
Food safety advocates and industry insiders say it may be time to borrow the encrypted accounting platform that drives cryptocurrency: blockchain.
"I often describe that as food traceability at the speed of thought -
