Sustainable Traceability in the Food Supply Chain: The Impact of Consumer Willingness to Pay

Strategies for Traceability to Prevent Unauthorised GMOs (Including NGTs) in the EU: State of the Art and Possible Alternative Approaches

The EU's regulatory framework for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) was developed for "classical" transgenic GMOs, yet advancements in so-called "new genomic techniques (NGTs)" have led to implementation challenges regarding detection and identification. As traceability can complement detection and identification strategies, improvements to the existing traceability strategy for GMOs are investigated in this study. Our results are based on a comprehensive analysis of existing traceability systems for globally traded agricultural products, with a focus on soy. Alternative traceability strategies in other sectors were also analysed. One focus was on traceability strategies for products with characteristics for which there are no analytical verification methods. Examples include imports of "conflict minerals" into the EU. The so-called EU Conflict Minerals Regulation requires importers of certain raw materials to carry out due diligence in the supply chain. Due diligence regulations, such as the EU's Conflict Minerals Regulation, can legally oblige companies to take responsibility for certain risks in their supply chains. They can also require the importer to prove the regional origin of imported goods. The insights from those alternative traceability systems are transferred to products that might contain GMOs. When applied to the issue of GMOs, we propose reversing the burden of proof: All companies importing agricultural commodities must endeavour to identify risks of unauthorised GMOs (including NGTs) in their supply chain and, where appropriate, take measures to minimise the risk to raw material imports. The publication concludes that traceability is a means to an end and serves as a prerequisite for due diligence in order to minimise the risk of GMO contamination in supply chains. The exemplary transfer of due diligence to a company in the food industry illustrates the potential benefits of mandatory due diligence, particularly for stakeholders actively managing non-GMO supply chains.

Blockchain-Based Supply Chain Systems, Interoperability Model in a Pharmaceutical Case Study

The main purpose of supply chain systems based on blockchain technology is to take advantage of technology innovations to ensure that a tracked asset's audit trail is immutable. However, the challenge lies in tracking the asset among different blockchain-based supply chain systems. The model proposed in this paper has been designed to overcome the identified challenges. Specifically, the proposed model enables: (1) the asset to be tracked among different blockchain-based supply-chain systems; (2) the tracked asset's supply chain to be cryptographically verified; (3) a tracked asset to be defined in a standardized format; and (4) a tracked asset to be described with several different standardized formats. Thus, the model provides a great advantage in terms of interoperability between different blockchain-driven supply chains over other models in the literature, which will need to replicate the information in each blockchain platform they operate with, while giving flexibility to the platforms that make use of it and maintain the scalability of those logistic platforms. This work aims to examine the application of the proposed model from an operational point of view, in a scenario within the pharmaceutical sector.

The stakeholder's roles in risk management related to food supply chain recalls: a systematic literature review

Purpose

Food supply chains (FSCs) are becoming increasingly complex and vulnerable to recall risks due to quality failures. Measures for supply chain risk management can minimize these recall risks. However, this responsibility must be shared by all stakeholders in the chain. This study aims to analyze the roles of different stakeholders in managing risks in the events of food recalls.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review was carried out, and 110 articles were explored to identify risk management actions and to link them to the role of stakeholders involved in FSC recall.

Findings

The study found that nine stakeholders were responsible for 25 hazard management actions related to food safety and traceability systems, regulatory and preventive measures, and control and response mechanisms for food recalls in the FSC.

Originality/value

This article contributes to the literature by proposing an explanatory map associating risk management actions to different stakeholders in food recall. The actions were grouped according to whether they were prevention actions to avoid a food recall or contention actions to limit the negative economic effects and maintain the health of the population.

An integrated literature review on sustainable food supply chains: Exploring research themes and future directions

The sustainable food supply chain (SFSC) is a research area of global significance. The increasing number of research articles in SFSC justifies this. With 80% of publications in SFSC coming up in the last 7 years, this field is expanding and diversifying at a rapid rate. The research on sustainable food supply chain (SFSC) covers a wide variety of areas and has a wide range of research themes in FSC. To facilitate the theoretical understanding of SFSC, we have conducted a review of the literature on SFSC. With the aim to define prominent research themes in SFSC, we follow an integrated review approach of structured literature review (SLR), bibliometric analysis, and thematic analysis. Bibliometric analysis was conducted using the vosviewer software version 1.6.16. The thematic analysis identified- "Waste management", "SC sustainability and impact assessment", "Decision support", "Operations management and optimization", "Food quality and safety", "Sustainable business models", "Innovation and technological solution", "SC strategy", and "Social sustainability" as the key emergent themes. We discuss the conceptual and theoretical basis of each of these themes. "SC sustainability and impact assessment" is identified as the most dominant theme in SFSC. Innovation and technological solution is an emerging theme with many new publications related to disruptive technologies coming up. Research in collaboration and decision theory-based approaches is important to enable sustainability in FSC. Quantifying waste streams, identifying hotspots are important future directions of research in SFSCM. Circular economy, AFSC, and the use of advanced technologies to enable circularity and sustainability also have great scope. The review aims to help researchers and academicians understand the boundaries and domain of SFSC and the future scope of these themes about how they can enhance the sustainability in SFSC.

Development of IoT based data-driven agriculture supply chain performance measurement framework

Purpose

Performance measurement (PM) of any supply chain is prerequisite for improving its competitiveness and sustainability. This paper develops a framework for supply chain performance measurement (SCPM) for agriculture supply chain (ASC) based on internet of things (IoT). Moreover, this article explains the role of IoT in data collection and communication (SC visibility) based on the supply chain operation reference (SCOR) model.

Design/methodology/approach

This research identifies various key performance indicators (KPIs) and also their role in SCPM for improving its sustainability by using SCOR. Further, Shannon entropy is utilized for weighing the basic processes of SCPM and by using weights, fuzzy TOPSIS is applied for ranking of identified KPIs at metrics level 2 (deeper level).

Findings

“Flexibility” and “Responsiveness” have been reported as two most important KPIs in IoT based SCPM framework for ASC towards achieving sustainability.

Research limitations/implications

In this research, metrics are explained only at SCOR level 2. But, this research will guide the managers and practitioners of various organizations to set their benchmark for comparing their performance at different levels of business processes. Further, this paper has managerial implications to develop an effective system for PM of IoT based data-driven ASC.

Originality/value

By using IoT based data driven system, this article fills the gap between SCPM by measuring different SC strategies in their performance measurable form of reliable, responsive and asset management etc.

Mapping Sustainable Tomato Supply Chain in Greece: A Framework for Research

Sustainable food supply chains are complex systems involving several stakeholders, processes, flow of goods/materials and information. The value generated in combination with the contradictory agendas among actors makes any groundwork for future research a challenging endeavor. Hence, an end-to-end mapping of the food supply chain under examination is a vital prerequisite for the design of a comprehensive research framework. This study exemplified such a mapping approach in the Greek sustainable tomato supply chain, providing significant insights for an impactful research agenda. Data were obtained from secondary sectoral sources and open interviews with key players across the supply chain—covering all its main stages, i.e., production, packaging, storing, transportation, wholesaling, and retailing. The findings are summarized in three supply chain maps that illustrate the areas concerning sustainability, value chain and stakeholders. These maps synthesize a bigger picture of the supply chain that reveals the complicated interactions among its actors, the hidden bottlenecks in the flow of information and the areas that need deeper exploration. Its fundamental implication is the design of a targeted research framework, underlying the main priorities of the Greek tomato supply chain and eventually the Greek agri-food sector.

Food safety in global supply chains: A literature review

This paper aimed to revisit the literature on food safety in global supply chains and analyze the evolution and contemporary challenges in this research field. It conducted a systematic literature review in two steps based on a selection of 178 articles. It analyzed safety in food supply chains using the Six T's Framework to evaluate food safety management. In the supply chain literature, traceability was the most studied element of the original framework. The research identified studies that have incorporated the topics of "tactics" and "targets" in their analysis of safety in supply chains. This article presented an expanded framework, a tool for categorizing research, and areas for advancement in the identification of quality indicators in global food chains for the current research agenda. The paper contributed theoretically to the discussion of safety elements in food supply chains and incorporated new elements into the originally conceived framework. Thus, it helped to delineate the research field and opened up an agenda for future research.

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.