The Chinese medicine sector is booming in Hong Kong, which provides tremendous business opportunities to the Hong Kong economy. Taking the manufacture of Chinese medicines as an example, the total annual production amount exceeds HKD 1.5 billion. However, there are many cases related to intention and inadvertent adulteration of herbal materials in the market and there is a lack of transparency in the quality control of the products. This seriously undermines the confidence of consumers and hinders the expansion of Chinese medicines products to the international market.

In order to enhance the quality control of herbal products and promote the development of herbal industry, we have developed an information platform 「HerBChain」 for recording the processes from the growth of herbs to the marketing of the herbal products using Blockchain technology. Blockchain is a transparent, decentralized and distributive immutable ledger for recording messages and transactions. It also has the characteristics of tamper-proof, asymmetric cryptography, smart contract and record time stamp, which enhances its reliability and safety.  
 
「HerBChain」covers different ‘nodes’ including planting base, TCM processing factory, TCM manufacturing factory, distributor, retailer and laboratory or Testing centre.  This makes「HerBChain」a reliable and convenient quality control platform for the herbal industry.

Promote the quality assurance and quality control of the herbal productsReduce the number of adulterated herbal material cases in the marketIncrease the commercial value of the herbal productsStrengthen the customer’s confidenceEnhance trading between the participating parties- Enhance the credibility and reputation of the industryEnhance the international trading of the herbal industry

Stakeholders in herbal industry
Personnel in testing laboratories
Personnel in regulatory agencies
The public

2021

Blockchain, Chinese Medicine

Social Enterprise