Traceability in a food supply chain: Safety and quality perspectives

Application of Blockchain and Internet of Things to Ensure Tamper-Proof Data Availability for Food Safety

Food supply chain plays a vital role in human health and food prices. Food supply chain inefficiencies in terms of unfair competition and lack of regulations directly affect the quality of human life and increase food safety risks. This work merges Hyperledger Fabric, an enterprise-ready blockchain platform with existing conventional infrastructure, to trace a food package from farm to fork using an identity unique for each food package while keeping it uncomplicated. It keeps the records of business transactions that are secured and accessible to stakeholders according to the agreed set of policies and rules without involving any centralized authority. This paper focuses on exploring and building an uncomplicated, low-cost solution to quickly link the existing food industry at different geographical locations in a chain to track and trace the food in the market.

Identification of potential vulnerable points and paths of contamination in the Dutch broiler meat trade network

The poultry meat supply chain is complex and therefore vulnerable to many potential contaminations that may occur. To ensure a safe product for the consumer, an efficient traceability system is required that enables a quick and efficient identification of the potential sources of contamination and proper implementation of mitigation actions. In this study, we explored the use of graph theory to construct a food supply chain network for the broiler meat supply chain in the Netherlands and tested it as a traceability system. To build the graph, we first identified the main actors in the supply chain such as broiler breeder farms, broiler farms, slaughterhouses, processors, and retailers. The capacity data of each supply chain actor, represented by its production or trade volumes, were gathered from various sources. The trade relationships between the supply chain actors were collected and the missing relationships were estimated using the gravity model. Once the network was modeled, we computed degree centrality and betweenness centrality to identify critical nodes in the network. In addition, we computed trade density to get insight into the complexity of sub-networks. We identified the critical nodes at each stage of the Dutch broiler meat supply chain and verified our results with a domain expert of the Dutch poultry industry and literature. The results showed that processors with own slaughtering facility were the most critical points in the broiler meat supply chain.

Blockchain-Based Traceability and Visibility for Agricultural Products: A Decentralized Way of Ensuring Food Safety in India

The globalization of the food supply chain industry has significantly emerged today. Due to this, farm-to-fork food safety and quality certification have become very important. Increasing threats to food security and contamination have led to the enormous need for a revolutionary traceability system, an important mechanism for quality control that ensures sufficient food supply chain product safety. In this work, we proposed a blockchain-based solution that removes the need for a secure centralized structure, intermediaries, and exchanges of information, optimizes performance, and complies with a strong level of safety and integrity. Our approach completely relies on the use of smart contracts to monitor and manage all communications and transactions within the supply chain network among all of the stakeholders. Our approach verifies all of the transactions, which are recorded and stored in a centralized interplanetary file system database. It allows a secure and cost-effective supply chain system for the stakeholders. Thus, our proposed model gives a transparent, accurate, and traceable supply chain system. The proposed solution shows a throughput of 161 transactions per second with a convergence time of 4.82 s, and was found effective in the traceability of the agricultural products.

Using the rapid alert system for food and feed: potential benefits and problems on data interpretation

The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF), where competent authorities in each Member State (MS) submit notifications on the withdrawal of unsafe or illegal products from the market, makes a significant contribution to food safety control in the European Union. The aim of this paper is to frame the potential challenges of interpreting and then acting upon the dataset contained within the RASFF system. As it is largest cause of RASFF notifications, the lens of enquiry used is mycotoxin contamination. The methodological approach is to firstly iteratively review existing literature to frame the problem, and then to interrogate the RASFF system and analyze the data available. Findings are that caution should be exercised in using the RASFF database both as a predictive tool and for trend analysis, because iterative changes in food law impact on the frequency of regulatory sampling associated with border and inland regulatory checks. The study highlights the variability of engagement by MSs with the RASFF database, influencing generalisability of the trends noted. As importing countries raise market standards, there are wider food safety implications for the exporting countries themselves. As this is one of the first studies articulating the complexities and opportunities of using the RASFF database, this research makes a strong contribution to literature.

An integrated fuzzy-ANP and fuzzy-ISM approach using blockchain for sustainable supply chain

Purpose

The main objective of this paper is to justify the implementation of blockchain (BC) over the traditional method deployed in the supply chain (SC) after using the fuzzy–analytic network process (fuzzy-ANP) application. Over the past two decades, the overall product cost is affected by the SC at a global level. Organizations are working on their existing SC for improving their performance. BC technology is a newly emerging technology and magnetizes the attention of researchers and industrialists. This technology is still at the initial stage, and only little investigation is available in the literature and it has not been much investigated by researchers.

Design/methodology/approach

Literature and expert opinion interpretation in BC characteristics are further analyzed and modeled using fuzzy–interpretive structural modeling (fuzzy-ISM), fuzzy-MICMAC and fuzzy-ANP. The combined approach of both fuzzy-ISM and fuzzy-MICMAC is applied to identify the common drivers to integrate the BC technology in the light of efficient supply chain management (SCM).

Findings

Comparative analysis between traditional and BC-based supply chain (BCSC) using fuzzy-ANP is carried out, considering the common driving characteristics. The proposed integrated (combined) approach of fuzzy-ISM, fuzzy-MICMAC and Fuzzy-ANP found that integration of BC with SCM is better prioritized than traditional supply chain management (TSCM). The findings in the article endorse that the TSCM can be made efficient by integrating the BC technology considering five most driving characteristics, namely, data safety and decentralization, accessibility, documentation, data management and quality.

Originality/value

The current proposed research work identifies 12 characteristics after studying numerous literature reviews and having a discussion with SC experts with knowledge of BC. The integrated approach of fuzzy-ISM and fuzzy-MICMAC is implemented here. After that, fuzzy-ANP is used to give ranking among BCSCM and TSCM. The study carried out in this article motivates industries to implement BC in their SC system. It will reduce the transaction cost, documentation work, save time and eliminate human error at the national and international levels. The common characteristics identified in this proposed work would help in managerial decisions for the adoption of BC to ensure that the system becomes more transparent, easily traceable and finally improve the performance.

A Novel Visual Analysis Method of Food Safety Risk Traceability Based on Blockchain

Current food traceability systems have a number of problems, such as data being easily tampered with and a lack of effective methods to intuitively analyze the causes of risks. Therefore, a novel method has been proposed that combines blockchain technology with visualization technology, which uses Hyperledger to build an information storage platform. Features such as distribution and tamper-resistance can guarantee the authenticity and validity of data. A data structure model is designed to implement the data storage of the blockchain. The food safety risks of unqualified detection data can be quantitatively analyzed, and a food safety risk assessment model is established according to failure rate and qualification deviation. Risk analysis used visual techniques, such as heat maps, to show the areas where unqualified products appeared, with a migration map and a force-directed graph used to trace these products. Moreover, the food sampling data were used as the experimental data set to test the validity of the method. Instead of difficult-to-understand and highly specialized food data sets, such as elements in food, food sampling data for the entire year of 2016 was used to analyze the risks of food incidents. A case study using aquatic products as an example was explored, where the results showed the risks intuitively. Furthermore, by analyzing the reasons and traceability processes effectively, it can be proven that the proposed method provides a basis to formulate a regulatory strategy for regions with risks.

Real-Time Monitoring System for Shelf Life Estimation of Fruit and Vegetables

The control of the main environmental factors that influence the quality of perishable products is one of the main challenges of the food industry. Temperature is the main factor affecting quality, but other factors like relative humidity and gas concentrations (mainly C2H4, O2 and CO2) also play an important role in maintaining the postharvest quality of horticultural products. For this reason, monitoring such environmental factors is a key procedure to assure quality throughout shelf life and evaluate losses. Therefore, in order to estimate the quality losses that a perishable product can suffer during storage and transportation, a real-time monitoring system has been developed. This system can be used in all post-harvest steps thanks to its Wi-Fi wireless communication architecture. Several laboratory trials were conducted, using lettuce as a model, to determine quality-rating scales during shelf life under different storage temperature conditions. As a result, a multiple non-linear regression (MNLR) model is proposed relating the temperature and the maximum shelf life. This proposed model would allow to predict the days the commodities will reduce their theoretical shelf-life when an improper temperature during storage or in-transit occurs. The system, developed as a sensor-based tool, has been tested during several land transportation trips around Europe.

Traceability: Perception and attitudes of artisanal cheese producers in Brazil

This study aimed to evaluate the perceptions and attitudes of artisanal cheese producers (n = 40) in Brazil regarding the implementation of traceability. A questionnaire consisting of 16 statements using a 5-point Likert scale was applied, and descriptive statistics and factor analysis were used for data analysis. The implementation of a traceability system can reduce the number of consumer complaints and the loss of products, in addition to increasing supplier control and process safety, thus protecting health and increasing consumer confidence. However, we did not find consensus on the relationship between implementation of a traceability system and rapid recalls in crisis episodes, or on the reduction in recalls and their negative impact on consumers. Because of the costs that drive implementation of this technology, some artisanal cheese producers do not consider a traceability system as a current reality to monitor their production. We concluded that Brazilian artisanal cheese producers have limited awareness of the impact of traceability implementation, which restricts investments in the system.

A Content-Analysis Based Literature Review in Blockchain Adoption within Food Supply Chain

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one out of 10 people get sick from eating contaminated food. Complex food production process and globalization make food supply chain more delicate. Many technologies have been investigated in recent years to address food insecurity and achieve efficiency in dealing with food recalls. One of the most promising technologies is Blockchain, which has already been used successfully in financial aspects, such as bitcoin, and it is attracting interests from food supply chain organizations. As blockchain has characteristics, such as decentralization, security, immutability, smart contract, it is therefore expected to improve sustainable food supply chain management and food traceability. This paper applies a content-analysis based literature review in blockchain adoption within food supply chain. We propose four benefits. Blockchain can help to improve food traceability, information transparency, and recall efficiency; it can also be combined with Internet of things (IoT) to achieve better efficiency. We also propose five potential challenges, including lack of deeper understanding of blockchain, technology difficulties, raw data manipulation, difficulties of getting all stakeholders on board, and the deficiency of regulations.

Multi-criteria food products identification by fuzzy logic methods

The paper deals with the theory of fuzzy sets as applied to food industry products. The fuzzy indicator function is shown as a criterion for determining the properties of the product. We compared the approach of fuzzy and probabilistic classifiers, their fundamental differences and areas of applicability. As an example, a linear fuzzy classifier of the product according to one-dimensional criterion was given and an algorithm for its origination as well as approximation is considered, the latter being sufficient for the food industry for the most common case with one truth interval where the indicator function takes the form of a trapezoid. The results section contains exhaustive, reproducible, sequentially stated examples of fuzzy logic methods application for properties authentication and group affiliation of food products. Exemplified by measurements of the criterion with an error, we gave recommendations for determining the boundaries of interval identification for foods of mixed composition. Harrington’s desirability function is considered as a suitable indicator function of determining deterioration rate of a food product over time. Applying the fuzzy logic framework, identification areas of a product for the safety index by the time interval in which the counterparty selling this product should send it for processing, hedging their possible risks connected with the expiry date expand. In the example of multi-criteria evaluation of a food product consumer attractiveness, Harrington’s desirability function, acting as a quality function, was combined with Weibull probability density function, accounting for the product’s taste properties. The convex combination of these two criteria was assumed to be the decision-making function of the seller, by which identification areas of the food product are established.

Cost-Effective Implementation of a Temperature Traceability System Based on Smart RFID Tags and IoT Services

This paper presents the design and validation of a traceability system, based on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and Internet of Things (IoT) services, intended to address the interconnection and cost-implementation problems typical in traceability systems. The RFID layer integrates temperature sensors into RFID tags, to track and trace food conditions during transportation. The IoT paradigm makes it possible to connect multiple systems to the same platform, addressing interconnection problems between different technology providers. The cost-implementation issues are addressed following the Data as a Service (DaaS) billing scheme, where users pay for the data they consume and not the installed equipment, avoiding the big initial investment that these high-tech solutions commonly require. The developed system is validated in two case scenarios, one carried out in controlled laboratory conditions, monitoring chopped pumpkin. Another case, carried out in a real scenario, monitors oranges sent from Valencia, Spain to Cork, Ireland.

Exploring the relationship between ICT, SCM practices and organizational performance in agri-food supply chain

Purpose

This paper presents the concerns in agri-food supply chain. Further the research investigates the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in agri-food supply chain and determines the impact of supply chain management (SCM) practices on firm performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The theoretical framework was proposed for the study on the basis of existing literature. Data for the study was collected with the help of structured questionnaire from 121 executives and officers of the public food distribution agency. Partial least square (PLS)–structured equation modeling was employed to test the framework and hypotheses.

Findings

The results indicate that ICT and SCM practices (logistics integration and supplier relationships) have a significant relationship. Furthermore, SCM practices (information sharing, supplier relationship and logistics integration) have a significant and positive impact on performance of the organization.

Research limitations/implications

Further research could be carried out to test the moderation effect of SCM practices between ICT and organizational performance (OP). Extending the research study to the companies operating in other sectors can enhance the external validity of the study and improve the accuracy of parameters examined.

Practical implications

This study can be of interest to the agri-food industry as well as other industry practitioners interested in improving the performance of the organization from the view of supply chain.

Originality/value

The outcomes of this study have important implications that translate into a series of recommendations for the management of public food distribution as well as other agri-food-based supply chains.

Supply chain quality management and firm performance in China's food industry—the moderating role of social co-regulation

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between supply chain quality management (SCQM) and firm performance (including quality safety performance and sales performance) leveraging social co-regulation as a moderator.

Design/methodology/approach

Using survey data collected from 203 food manufacturers in China, a series of hierarchical linear modeling analyses were conducted to test hypotheses on the relationships between SCQM and firm performance.

Findings

The findings are threefold. First, all three dimensions of food SCQM practices, i.e., supplier quality management, internal quality management, and customer quality management, have significant positive effects on an enterprise's quality safety performance and sales performance. Second, SCQM practices can also increase sales performance indirectly through quality safety performance as a mediator. Third, while social co-regulation has no significant effect on the relationship between supplier quality management and quality safety performance, it has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between internal quality management and quality safety performance, customer quality management and quality safety performance.

Research limitations/implications

This study not only integrates SCQM with social co-regulation but also explores the regulating effect of social co-regulation through empirical analysis, thereby providing a theoretical base for future research. However, this research is confined to China and so the results are not necessarily generalizable to other countries.

Practical implications

The findings inform managers of the importance in enhancing awareness of food quality and safety as well as in improving their sensitivity to salient quality demands of external stakeholders in order to achieve better SCQM practices. The findings can also inform policymakers of the significance in designing a systematic multi-agent cooperation mechanism for food SCQM as well as to build an effective information sharing mechanism for social co-regulation of food safety.

Originality/value

This study contributes to knowledge by empirically examining the relationships of SCQM practices with firm performance. It also expands the scope of SCQM research by incorporating social co-regulation in the study framework.

Issues surrounding consumer trust and acceptance of existing and emerging food processing technologies

The purpose of food processing today is to make food safer, more nutritious and tastier, and to increase storage life. Consumers have a lack of trust in the way food is produced, formulated and processed, particularly with possible contaminants or chemical residues from production. Food manufacturers are not seen as being highly trusted sources. This may partly result from manufacturers' reluctance to share all information and to protect intellectual property via patents and thus maintain a competitive edge. There is a need to inform the consumer better about what operations the involved ingredients are subjected to and why. Various ways of food processing are reviewed. New food processing technologies face challenges when introduced and factors influencing consumers' and other stakeholders' acceptance should be part of decision-making process when adopting new technologies. Consumers' perception of risks is not the same as the risk assessment made by experts. A few specific cases are being discussed to further highlight the multiplicity of factors that may contribute to the development of a certain consumer perception about a product or a class of products. This is also linked to the emergence of certain terminologies that are associated with an increasingly negative perception of the processing of foods. We recommend more transparency on food formulation and food processing to restore consumer trust, which enables to take the advantage of the benefits different processing methods offer. Food manufacturers must make an effort to let consumers know how their food is being processed within the walls of the factory and highlight the benefits vis-à-vis preparing foods in a domestic environment.

Multi-Chemical Profiling of Strawberry as a Traceability Tool to Investigate the Effect of Cultivar and Cultivation Conditions

The chemical composition of foods is tightly regulated by multiple genotypic and agronomic factors, which can thus serve as potential descriptors for traceability and authentication purposes. In the present work, we performed a multi-chemical characterization of strawberry fruits from five varieties (Aromas, Camarosa, Diamante, Medina, and Ventana) grown in two cultivation systems (open/closed soilless systems) during two consecutive campaigns with different climatic conditions (rainfall and temperature). For this purpose, we analyzed multiple components closely related to the sensory and health characteristics of strawberry, including sugars, organic acids, phenolic compounds, and essential and non-essential mineral elements, and various complementary statistical approaches were applied for selecting chemical descriptors of cultivar and agronomic conditions. Anthocyanins, phenolic acids, sucrose, and malic acid were found to be the most discriminant variables among cultivars, while climatic conditions and the cultivation system were behind changes in polyphenol contents. These results thus demonstrate the utility of combining multi-chemical profiling approaches with advanced chemometric tools in food traceability research.

Authentication of poultry products at the breed level using genetic markers

The Oravka tawny is a Slovak national breed of chicken. This breed has combined utility, which means it is valuable for both its meat and eggs. The Oravka tawny is linked to a specific region, Orava, and therefore these products could be protected by European geographical indication. The labeling and sale of chicken meat by the traditional breed of origin are widely used to promote quality and attract those products in the marketplace. For that use, we created the system and method of authentication that can reliably distinguish between the Oravka tawny, other chicken breeds, and other of Oravka”™s colorful characters. In our research, we analyzed 153 chicken feathers from the Oravka breed as well as from breeds used in the process of breeding the Oravka to their current state. They were divided into nine populations. To separate those populations, we used seven microsatellite markers recommended by FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) and other authors. To create separate clusters of individual breeds, we used DAPC (discriminant analysis of principal components) analysis.

Public health risks related to food safety issues in the food market: a systematic literature review

BACKGROUND

Food safety in the food market is one of the key areas of focus in public health, because it affects people of every age, race, gender, and income level around the world. The local and international food marketing continues to have significant impacts on food safety and health of the public. Food supply chains now cross multiple national borders which increase the internationalization of health risks. This systematic review of literature was, therefore, conducted to identify common public health risks related to food safety issues in the food market.

METHODS

All published and unpublished quantitative, qualitative, and mixed method studies were searched from electronic databases using a three step searching. Analytical framework was developed using the PICo (population, phenomena of interest, and context) method. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using mixed methods appraisal tool (MMAT) version 2018. The included full-text articles were qualitatively analyzed using emergent thematic analysis approach to identify key concepts and coded them into related non-mutually exclusive themes. We then synthesized each theme by comparing the discussion and conclusion of the included articles. Emergent themes were identified based on meticulous and systematic reading. Coding and interpreting the data were refined during analysis.

RESULTS

The analysis of 81 full-text articles resulted in seven common public health risks related with food safety in the food market. Microbial contamination of foods, chemical contamination of foods, food adulteration, misuse of food additives, mislabeling, genetically modified foods (GM foods), and outdated foods or foods past their use-by dates were the identified food safety-related public health risks in the food market.

CONCLUSION

This systematic literature review identified common food safety-related public health risks in the food market. The results imply that the local and international food marketing continues to have significant impacts on health of the public. The food market increases internationalization of health risks as the food supply chains cross multiple national borders. Therefore, effective national risk-based food control systems are essential to protect the health and safety of the public. Countries need also assure the safety and quality of their foods entering international trade and ensure that imported foods conform to national requirements.

Effects of critical fluctuations of storage temperature on the quality of dry dairy product

Whole milk powder (WMP) is a universal raw material component that can overcome the problem of seasonality of raw milk. It can be used to provide high-nutritional products to remote areas experiencing a raw milk shortage. Its long shelf life depends on the conditions of storage and transportation, which are recommended to be carried out in a range from 0 to 10°C. At higher temperatures, the quality of WMP deteriorates because of a substantial increase in the degradation of fat and protein fractions. A range of low negative temperatures for storage have not been systematically investigated. Previous studies have shown that freezing WMP results in protein denaturation, crystallization of lactose, and extraction of free fat, all of which reduce the quality characteristics of the product, including deterioration of solubility, quick rancidification, and microbiological changes. However, these previous studies did not simulate the possible situations of transportation and storage of milk powder at low negative temperatures that occur in practice. Given the volume of transportation, distances and climatic characteristics of transportation routes play an important role in WMP preservation. In this study, we simulated storage and transport of WMP at -20°C. The samples were periodically thawed to 10 and 20°C and examined for physicochemical, functional-technological, thermodynamic, microbiological, and organoleptic parameters. Based on our results, storage of WMP at -20°C for 40 d did not have a significant effect on its qualitative characteristics. We observed some compaction of product structure and clustering or clumping, which was reversible by slight mechanical impact. Artificial contamination of the packaging surface with yeast and molds, followed by thawing of the samples, indicated the absence of the contaminants, which was explained by possible redistribution of moisture in the system.

Conceptual framework for general traceability solution: description and bases

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe a proposed framework for traceability purpose. Hence, the framework provides a formal and structured way of viewing a traceability solution. This structure lays the required bases for a traceability system before starting development and deployment.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper examines several traceability publications, including systems and literature review. The study covers the traceability implementation phase. Therefore, this research approaches the traceability issue from three perspectives (description, engineering and executive one). The separation between aspects is essential when describing and comparing traceability systems. This distinction is also helpful when recommending solution improvements.

Findings

The framework identifies six traceability bases: aims, functions, specifications, data classification, processes and procedures. These can establish a basis for a general purpose tool that can enable users to develop an efficient traceability solution. Thus, the first ontology expresses the framework domain and ensures optimal use of it. The second one represents the bases that can serve as a knowledge base to manage the product data.

Research limitations/implications

The suggested framework tackles the implementation of traceability. Therefore, the design emphasizes the importance of technological concerns. Some studied cases could require more research angles (i.e. economic and legislative). Thus, framework enrichment is essential for further improvements.

Practical implications

The framework helps users to develop a general, interoperable and scalable traceability solution. These are important to promote the generalization of traceability systems.

Originality/value

The framework fulfills a requirement for establishing general traceability foundations. Therefore, the guide independently operates of the product or the industry specificity. Moreover, the bases aim to bridge the gap between solution engineering and traceability requirements.

Establishing authenticity of honey via comprehensive Romanian honey analysis

Assessing the authenticity of honey is a serious problem that has gained much interest internationally because honey has frequently been subject to various fraudulent practices, including mislabelling of botanical and geographical origin and mixing with sugar syrups or honey of lower quality. To protect the health of consumers and avoid competition, which could create an unstable market, consumers, beekeepers and regulatory bodies are interested in having reliable analytical methodologies to detect non-compliant honey. This paper gives an overview of the different approaches used to assess the authenticity of honey, specifically by the application of advanced instrumental techniques, including spectrometric, spectroscopic and chromatographic methods coupled with chemometric interpretation of the data. Recent development in honey analysis and application of the honey authentication process in the Romanian context are highlighted, and future trends in the process of detecting and eliminating fraudulent practices in honey production are discussed.

Consumers' Willingness to Pay for Food with Information on Animal Welfare, Lean Meat Essence Detection, and Traceability

Amid high-profile food scares, health concerns and threats of information imperfection and asymmetry, the Chinese pork industry faces increasing demands from consumers for assurances regarding quality and production methods in both the domestic and export markets. Using a real choice experiment (RCE), 316 consumers in Wuxi, located in China's Jiangsu Province, were randomly surveyed to examine the impact of various factors (e.g., traceability, lean meat essence testing, animal welfare, appearance, and price) on consumers' preference and willingness to pay (WTP) for pork products. A random parameter logit model was estimated, and the results show that having a traceable code is the second important factor after price for consumers, corresponding to a WTP of 4.76 yuan per catty, followed by a bright red appearance, a national stocking density standard of animal welfare, and detected no lean meat essence, corresponding to a WTP of more than 2 yuan per catty. In addition, there is a complementary interrelationship between a traceable code and a bright red appearance, detected no lean meat essence, and a national stocking density standard of animal welfare. The results concerning the latent class model (LCM) indicate that 56.9% of consumers are "quality-focused" consumers who are willing to pay a high price for traceable code, detected no lean meat essence, a national stocking density standard of animal welfare, and bright red appearance attributes. A further 28.1% are "price-sensitive" consumers who pay significant attention to the price, and the price that they pay for each product is meagre. The consumers with "preference combination attributes" attach greater value to interaction attributes, such as a traceable code combined with detected no lean meat essence or a bright red appearance and detected no lean meat essence combined with a national stocking density standard of animal welfare or a bright red appearance, accounting for 15% of consumers. The government should improve the traceability system, increase the intensity of lean meat essence testing, promote the welfare level of pigs, and promote public education and publicity on pork quality and safety attributes. Meanwhile, enterprises can formulate "differentiated" pork products, according to different consumer groups, and appropriately increase prices, according to production costs, in order to meet the requirements for pork quality and safety for consumers.

Patented Innovation and Firm Value in the U.S. Food and Drink Industry: The Economic Importance of High-Quality Product Innovation

We use patent data to study product, process, and marketing innovation in the food and drink industry. From 1994 to 2005, only 61 of 194 U.S. public food and drink manufacturers patented some type of innovation. Furthermore, we find patent ownership is most common to large corporations, and most patented innovations relate to new designs and processes as opposed to new products. According to our empirical panel analysis, however, stock market investors find patent ownership of new product innovations the most valuable, although the intensity of patent ownership is not of utmost importance. Instead, we conclude patent quality is better able to explain variability in the stock market valuation of U.S. food and drink manufacturers. Specifically, a one-percent increase in the quality of patented innovations in food and drink products facilitates a 0.07 % increase in firm value, corresponding to almost $6 million for the mean innovating firm in the U.S. public food and drink industry.

Metal-Organic Frameworks for Food Safety

Food safety is a prevalent concern around the world. As such, detection, removal, and control of risks and hazardous substances present from harvest to consumption will always be necessary. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a class of functional materials, possess unique physical and chemical properties, demonstrating promise in food safety applications. In this review, the synthesis and porosity of MOFs are first introduced by some representative examples that pertain to the field of food safety. Following that, the application of MOFs and MOF-based materials in food safety monitoring, food processing, covering preservation, sanitation, and packaging is overviewed. Future perspectives, as well as potential opportunities and challenges faced by MOFs in this field will also be discussed. This review aims to promote the development and progress of MOF chemistry and application research in the field of food safety, potentially leading to novel solutions.

Climate Change and Economic Resilience through Urban and Cultural Heritage: The Case of Emerging Small Island Developing States Economies

While the topic of climate change is of global importance and has global consequences, the context is far more dangerous for emerging economies, including small island developing states (SIDS) and their coastal cities. The literature supports the need for robustness in infrastructural dimensions of such economies. However, the preparatory economic aspects have been overlooked in favour of post-impact disaster management studies by many countries. The latter studies have also focused upon the need for heavy financial investments without investigating solutions for economic strengthening of those economies including climate change mitigation and affordability. As such, emerging SIDS economies have struggled to meet these obligations from their internal finances that draw predominantly from tax revenue sources and foreign aid thereby often leading to increased debts contributing to economic austerity and decreasing liveability levels when repayment commitments fail. Public-private partnerships (PPP), another sought-after loan strategy, which often attracts foreign direct investment (FDI), can work if PPPs are carefully designed within strict public monitoring criteria. However, their applicability needs to be expanded to include the wider social strata of a city to ensure inclusivity and cohesiveness, and formulated to contribute to a wider urban regeneration agenda. This paper proposes a more inclusive framework bridging governance with drivers for sustainable development, using urban heritage and culture as a strategic thread for debt repayment and economic empowerment through PPP. This paper seeks to inform policymakers on sustainable pathways as it relates to SIDS cultural heritage conservation policies and practices towards better economic resilience in the wake of climate change.

Critical Success Factors of a Drug Traceability System for Creating Value in a Pharmaceutical Supply Chain (PSC)

The general objective of this study was to identify and prioritize the critical success factors required for the adoption of a system to create value for pharmaceutical supply chain stakeholders, and the pharmaceutical supply network as a whole, by using a multi-perspective framework that combines elements of the technology-organization-environment (TOE) contexts for enterprises. The methodology is based on a literature review and expert interviews following the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). This paper identifies and prioritizes 18 critical success factors from three categories: technological, organizational, and environmental. From a practical point of view, this research contributes to the literature by providing expert insight on the topic of drug traceability, especially in terms of how possible values can be captured by companies.

Integrating Whole-Genome Sequencing Data Into Quantitative Risk Assessment of Foodborne Antimicrobial Resistance: A Review of Opportunities and Challenges

Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) will soon replace traditional phenotypic methods for routine testing of foodborne antimicrobial resistance (AMR). WGS is expected to improve AMR surveillance by providing a greater understanding of the transmission of resistant bacteria and AMR genes throughout the food chain, and therefore support risk assessment activities. At this stage, it is unclear how WGS data can be integrated into quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) models and whether their integration will impact final risk estimates or the assessment of risk mitigation measures. This review explores opportunities and challenges of integrating WGS data into QMRA models that follow the Codex Alimentarius Guidelines for Risk Analysis of Foodborne AMR. We describe how WGS offers an opportunity to enhance the next-generation of foodborne AMR QMRA modeling. Instead of considering all hazard strains as equally likely to cause disease, WGS data can improve hazard identification by focusing on those strains of highest public health relevance. WGS results can be used to stratify hazards into strains with similar genetic profiles that are expected to behave similarly, e.g., in terms of growth, survival, virulence or response to antimicrobial treatment. The QMRA input distributions can be tailored to each strain accordingly, making it possible to capture the variability in the strains of interest while decreasing the uncertainty in the model. WGS also allows for a more meaningful approach to explore genetic similarity among bacterial populations found at successive stages of the food chain, improving the estimation of the probability and magnitude of exposure to AMR hazards at point of consumption. WGS therefore has the potential to substantially improve the utility of foodborne AMR QMRA models. However, some degree of uncertainty remains in relation to the thresholds of genetic similarity to be used, as well as the degree of correlation between genotypic and phenotypic profiles. The latter could be improved using a functional approach based on prediction of microbial behavior from a combination of 'omics' techniques (e.g., transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics). We strongly recommend that methodologies to incorporate WGS data in risk assessment be included in any future revision of the Codex Alimentarius Guidelines for Risk Analysis of Foodborne AMR.

Filipe CD, Didar TF. Intelligent Food Packaging: A Review of Smart Sensing Technologies for Monitoring Food Quality

Food safety is a major factor affecting public health and the well-being of society. A possible solution to control food-borne illnesses is through real-time monitoring of the food quality throughout the food supply chain. The development of emerging technologies, such as active and intelligent packaging, has been greatly accelerated in recent years, with a focus on informing consumers about food quality. Advances in the fields of sensors and biosensors has enabled the development of new materials, devices, and multifunctional sensing systems to monitor the quality of food. In this Review, we place the focus on an in-depth summary of the recent technological advances that hold the potential for being incorporated into food packaging to ensure food quality, safety, or monitoring of spoilage. These advanced sensing systems usually target monitoring gas production, humidity, temperature, and microorganisms' growth within packaged food. The implementation of portable and simple-to-use hand-held devices is also discussed in this Review. We highlight the mechanical and optical properties of current materials and systems, along with various limitations associated with each device. The technologies discussed here hold great potential for applications in food packaging and bring us one step closer to enable real-time monitoring of food throughout the supply chain.

The digitisation of food manufacturing to reduce waste - Case study of a ready meal factory

Generation of food waste (FW) continues to be a global challenge and high on the political agenda. One of the main reasons for its generation is the absence of detailed data on the amount, timing and reasons for created waste. This paper discusses the design, the application and investigates the Internet of Things (IoT) based FW monitoring system to capture waste data during manufacturing in real-time and make it available to all the stakeholders in a food supply chain (FSC). A case study of ready-meal factory comprises of design and architecture for tracking FW including both hardware and software, its implementation in the factory and the positive data-driven results achieved. The case study demonstrates the benefits of digital FW tracking system including the FW reduction of 60.7%, better real-time visibility of the FW hotspots, reasons for waste generations, reliable data, operational improvements and employee behavioural transformation. Although the system replaced the paper-based manual system of tracking FW in the factory, it still needed human input to confirm the waste and was prone to human errors. Overall, the implementation of an IoT-based FW tracking system resulted in a reduction of FW and created a positive environmental and financial impact.

IGR Token-Raw Material and Ingredient Certification of Recipe Based Foods Using Smart Contracts

The use of smart contracts and blockchain tokens to implement a consumer trustworthy ingredient certification scheme for commingled foods, i.e., recipe based, food products is described. The proposed framework allows ingredients that carry any desired property (including social or environmental customer perceived value) to be certified by any certification authority, at the moment of harvest or extraction, using the IGR Ethereum token. The mechanism involves the transfer of tokens containing the internet url published at the authority’s web site from the farmer all along the supply chain to the final consumer at each transfer of custody of the ingredient using the Cricital Tracking Event/Key Data Elements (CTE/KDE) philosophy of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT). This allows the end consumer to easily inspect and be assured of the origin of the ingredient by means of a mobile application. A successful code implementation of the framework was deployed, tested and is running as a beta version on the Ethereum live blockchain as the IGR token. The main contribution of the framework is the possibility to ensure the true origin of any instance or lot of ingredient within a recipe to the customer, without harming the food processor legitimate right to protect its recipes and suppliers.

Tracing seafood at high spatial resolution using NGS-generated data and machine learning: Comparing microbiome versus SNPs

Developing reliable tools to trace food origin represents a major goal for producers and control authorities. Here, we test the hypothesis whether NGS-generated data could provide a reliable tool to ensure seafood traceability. As a test case, we used the Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum, a bivalve mollusk of high commercial interest with worldwide distribution, collected in the Venice lagoon sites subjected to prohibition of clam harvesting because of chemical contamination as well as in authorized clam harvesting areas. The results obtained demonstrated that the geographic origin of Manila clam may be more accurately determined basing on microbiome data than single nucleotide polymorphisms. In particular, combining microbiome data with machine-learning techniques, we provide the experimental evidence that it is possible to trace the clam place of origin at high spatial resolution. Considering its low cost and portability, NGS-analysis of microbiome data might represent a cost-effective, high-resolution tool for reliable food traceability.