Paris, February 4 2020: IBM (NYSE: IBM) and the Avril Group, the French market leader in the vegetable oil and protein industry, as well as the owner of the leading fresh egg and oil brands, Matines and Lesieur, among others, today announced that Avril has joined IBM Food Trust, a blockchain-enabled global ecosystem for the food industry, and which will run on IBM Cloud. Matines differentiates itself with a new and personalized consumer experience. This is thanks to the enhanced information and traceability of 25 references on its ranges of organic, outdoors, free-range red label, soil and standard eggs.

This initiative is part of an effort that began in 2019 to reposition the Matines brand around several new concrete commitments: hens raised without antibiotic treatment (outdoor and standard range), fed with 100% French cereals, and good breeding practices controlled by an independent body.

Advancing traceability also means contributing directly to the Avril Group's approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR), particularly in sectors related to quality livestock (French origin, organic) and the consideration of animal welfare. These standards have already been adopted in more than 1000 farms (including 400 laying hen farms). Avril Group also supports the conversion of dozens of laying hen farms to alternative modes of production (soil, outdoor, organic).

Matines is committed to meeting evolving expectations and concerns by listening to market trends and its consumers. In order to provide its consumers with greater transparency, a QR code printed inside the egg box directs them to a dedicated application where they will be able to access a wide range of data related to the eggs they consume. The information available includes, for example, the farming method, the way the hens are fed, the approach to good farming practices, the date of egg laying, the packing center, the date on which the eggs are received, the date of packaging, and the date of dispatch to the warehouses of the various distributors.

If consumers want to know more, a "Questions?" section allows them to obtain additional information on farming methods, the nutritional qualities of the egg, recipes for cooking based on Matines eggs as well as general information on eggs.

The blockchain records immutable information at each step of the process and provides transparency for consumers about claims of quality of the product they consume.

You can read more about IBM Food Trust here.

About the Avril Group

Founded in 1983 at the initiative of the farming industry to provide long-term outlets for French productions, Avril is the industrial and financial actor of the oils and proteins sectors.
It is present both in France and internationally in sectors as diverse as the human foods, animal nutrition and expertise, renewable energies and chemistry, through a portfolio of strong brands that are leaders in their markets, such as Diester, Oleo100, Sanders, Lesieur, Puget, Costa d’Oro, Matines (major player on the hypermarkets and supermarkets egg market, acclaimed as the reference brand, the best known of French people), Bunica, Taous…
In 36 years, the group has changed in size but its raison d'être has remained the same: to create sustainable value in the oil and protein sectors, thus contributing to a better human foods and to the preservation of the planet.
To fulfil its mission, Avril relies on its industrial activities organized around its plant and animal sectors, and financial activities as an investor which operates through the finance and development company Sofiprotéol.
In 2018, the Avril group achieved a turnover of 6 billion euros. It has 7,490 employees in 22 countries.
For more information: www.groupeavril.com | Twitter: @Avril

About IBM blockchain

IBM is recognized as the leading enterprise blockchain provider. The company's research, technical and business experts have broken barriers in transaction processing speeds, developed the most advanced cryptography to secure transactions, and are contributing millions of lines of open source code to advance blockchain for businesses. IBM is the leader in open-source blockchain solutions built for the enterprise. Since 2016, IBM has worked with hundreds of clients across financial services, supply chain, government, retail, digital rights management and healthcare to implement blockchain applications, and operates a number of networks running live and in production. The cloud-based IBM Blockchain Platform delivers the end-to-end capabilities that clients need to quickly activate and successfully develop, operate, govern and secure their own business networks. IBM is an early member of Hyperledger, an open source collaborative effort created to advance cross-industry blockchain technologies. For more information about IBM Blockchain, visit https://www.ibm.com/blockchain/ or follow us on Twitter at @ibmblockchain.

Contacts: