maltlinked

maltlinked is a digital platform designed to provide end-to-end traceability for malt products used in brewing and other culinary contexts. The service was launched in 2021 by MaltLink Ltd., a company based in Glasgow, Scotland, with the aim of improving supply‑chain transparency and compliance with food‑safety regulations. By leveraging blockchain technology, maltlinked records information about the origin of barley, the conditions of malting, and the handling processes in a tamper‑evident ledger.

The core infrastructure of maltlinked consists of a permissioned distributed ledger, secure API endpoints, and a browser‑based dashboard. Sensors installed in kilns and storage facilities capture temperature, humidity, and moisture data, which are hashed and transmitted to the ledger. Each malt batch is assigned a unique identifier that links physiological data with certification documents such as quality grades and organic status. Brewers can download the full audit trail for a given lot, and regulatory bodies can inspect the chain of custody.

Major breweries in the United Kingdom, Norway, and the United States have integrated maltlinked into their quality‑management systems, citing a reduction in recall costs and an increase in consumer confidence. The platform also offers an optional “malt events” sub‑module that aggregates weather and crop‑yield data to forecast potential supply shocks.

Criticism of maltlinked focuses on the cost of sensor deployment in smaller farms and concerns about privacy, as some argue that detailed agronomic data could be misused. In response, the developers have introduced tiered service levels that allow smaller producers to opt for a simplified data schema.

maltlinked continues to evolve with updates that expand cross‑chain interoperability, making it easier to synchronize malt data with broader supply‑chain solutions.