Segmented Encryption: A Quality and Safety Supervisory Model for Herbal Medicine Based on Blockchain Technology

The quality of herbal medicine has an important impact on human health. In this paper, we proposed a blockchain-based herbal quality and safety supervisory model for the current frequent herbal counterfeiting phenomenon. We manage the production, processing, and trading processes of herbal medicines by exploiting the blockchain's immutable and traceable properties. We proposed a segmented encryption method for information to encrypt the private information of enterprises. We use shared cloud storage to reduce waste of local storage space, and we proposed a verifiable random chain cutting mechanism based on the verifiable random function to handle the redundant blocks of the chain. Our article addressed the problem of herbal source falsification. Automated recording of key factors such as soil and temperature that affect the quality of herbal medicines is done from the seedling stage. Our herbal quality and safety supervisory model used blockchain technology to increase control over the production and distribution of herbal products, reduce herbal counterfeiting, and improve the efficiency of the system.