Phytochemical Analysis of high value botanicals: Exploring Blockchain Technology to Investigate Quality, Sustainability and Safety Along Various Value

这个项目建立在先前在姜黄价值链上所做的工作的基础上，这些工作突出了与劣质产品相关的风险，并在更广泛的范围内对民族植物学产业产生了影响。其目的是确保优质、安全和有效的食品和草药的可持续供应、生产、制造和分配。民族植物产品越来越受欢迎，对质量更好、可持续和有效的产品的需求也在增加。同样，区块链系统虽然仍是新兴技术，但正在变得更加广泛，它们在食品、医药和天然产品行业的价值链中的应用是一个未被探索和有前途的研究和创新领域1。此外，有必要加强民族植物学部门的管理、质量控制和生态实践2。例如，最近的文献中报道了掺假或受污染的姜黄样品，这些样品对公共健康构成潜在威胁，并可能对消费者的生活产生负面影响。此外，区块链技术与便携式植物化学技术(近红外和拉曼光谱)结合使用时，提供了一个独特的机会，可以深入了解价值链上出现质量和可持续性问题的点。区块链技术与评估姜黄(例如姜黄素)等植物质量标志的分析技术相结合，可能会导致研究赋予消费者权力，并保护公众免受劣质草药产品的潜在伤害。除此之外，它还可以更早地发现问题，并沿着价值链传播减少危害的相关信息。此外，区块链技术在天然产品价值链中的应用目前有限，因此该项目旨在作为一项试点研究，建立将植物化学与这些新兴技术(区块链)相结合所需的概念验证和协议，以促进更可持续的行业实践。在该项目中，有两种主要的植物化学方法可以在现场和实验室进行质量生化标记的分析。以姜黄为例，可以使用便携式工具(如近红外光谱和拉曼光谱SCOP设备)在田间对植物进行测试，然后可以使用实验室中已建立的药典方法和工具进一步验证和验证结果。将植物化学数据重新纳入区块链系统的主要方法依赖于基于互联网的无线工具，例如与手持近红外设备等分析设备连接的物联网设备(物联网设备和区块链技术已经由不同的小组建立)。因此，这些不同工具的组合将允许来自工厂的化学数据在价值链上的各个步骤通过互联网高效地上传回区块链。项目伙伴将便利进入其外地场地，特别是在印度，并协助生产初级材料。他们将为当地的联系和获取样本提供便利。作为博士课程的一部分，Pukka将为学生提供在Pukka工作三个月的机会，以全面了解作为我们可持续商业模式一部分的质量和供应链流程。通过成为质量团队的一员，学生将获得在获得认证的B公司和全球道德企业工作的经验。他们在布里斯托尔附近的凯恩沙姆的办公室容纳了Pukka的大部分员工，包括财务、商业和草药研究、质量和开发，该学生将在整个业务团队中获得入职机会。

This project builds upon previous work done on turmeric value-chain that highlight risks associated with poor-quality products, and on a broader scale the resulting implications this has on the ethnobotanical industry. The aim is to contribute towards guaranteeing the sustainable supply, production, manufacturing and distribution of good quality, safe and effective foods and herbal medicines.Ethnobotanical products are increasing in popularity and so too is the demand for better quality, sustainable and effective products. Similarly, blockchain systems whilst still nascent technology are becoming more wide-spread and their application into the value-chains of the food, medicine and natural products industry represents an underexplored and promising area of research and innovation1. Moreover, there is a need for greater regulation, quality control and ecological practices in the ethnobotanical sector2. For example, adulterated or contaminated Turmeric samples that are a potential risk to public health and which can negatively affect consumers' lives have been reported in the literature recently3. Also, the blockchain technology when used alongside portable phytochemistry techniques (NIR & Raman Spectroscopy) offer a unique opportunity to gather insight into the points along the value-chain where quality and sustainability issues arise. It may be that blockchain technology when integrated with analytical techniques that assess quality markers of plants such as Turmeric (e.g. curcuminoids) will result in research that empowers consumers and safeguards the public from potential harms arising from poor-quality herbal products. As well as this it allows for the earlier detection of issues and a dissemination of relevant harm-reduction information along the value-chain. Further, the application of blockchain technology in the context of natural product value-chains is currently limited, this project therefore aims to act as a pilot study establishing proof-of-concepts and the protocols required to conjoin phytochemistry with these emergent technologies (the blockchain) to promote more sustainable industry practices.There are two main phytochemical methods to pilot in this project for the analysis of biochemical markers of quality in the field and also the laboratory. In the case of Turmeric, the plant can be tested in the field using portable tools such as Near Infrared Spectroscopy and Raman Spectroscop devices, of which the results can then be further validated and verified with established pharmacopeial methods and tools such as HPLC in the laboratory.The main method for incorporating the phytochemistry data back into the blockchain system is dependent upon internet based wireless tools, such as an IoT device being connected with the analytical equipment e.g. the handheld NIR device (the IoT devices and blockchain technologies are already established by various groups). The combination of these different tools will therefore allow the chemistry data from the plants to be uploaded back into the blockchain via the internet in an efficient way at various steps along the value-chain. The project partner will facilitate access to their field sites especially in India and to the production of the materia prima. They will facilitate both the local contacts and access to samples. As part of the PhD Pukka will provide the student an opportunity to work at Pukka for three months to fully understand the quality and supply chain processes as part of our sustainable business model. The student will gain experience of working within a certified B Corporation and global ethical business by being a fully integrated member of the Quality Team. Their offices at Keynsham near Bristol house the majority of the Pukka staff including finance, commercial and herbal research, quality and development, and the student will have inductions with teams across the business.