Combining Blockchain, IPFS and Zero Knowledge Proofs for Improving Traceability in Agriculture Food Supply Chain

Abstract

Ensuring transparency, security, and privacy in agricultural food supply chains is critical for maintaining consumer trust, regulatory compliance, and data integrity. Traditional centralized traceability systems suffer from several limitations, including data tampering risks, single-point failures, and potential privacy leakage. To address these challenges, this research proposes a privacy-preserving blockchain-based traceability framework that integrates the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) with Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs). The framework leverages the Ethereum blockchain for immutable record-keeping, while zk-SNARK-based proofs enable compliance verification without revealing sensitive underlying data. A prototype was implemented using Solidity smart contracts and Python-based zk-SNARK circuits. Experimental evaluation across varying record sizes, from 50 to 200, demonstrates high security and efficiency, achieving 100% success in detecting simulated tampering attempts. Performance metrics indicate a highly scalable system with an average end-to-end latency of approximately 0.33 seconds, rapid proof generation times of approximately 0.0002 seconds, and near-constant verification times averaging 0.027 seconds. Furthermore, the system maintains a consistent simulated transaction cost of 20.40$ per proof, regardless of the total records processed. Overall, the proposed approach provides a robust, scalable, and computationally efficient solution for modern agri- food supply chains, successfully balancing data confidentiality with rigorous cryptographic integrity.