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The purpose of this paper is to present a literature review of the fresh produce supply chain management (FSCM). FSCM includes the processes from the production to consumption of fresh produce (fruits, flowers and vegetables).

Literature review is done by systematically collecting the existing literature over a period of 20 years (1989‐2009) and classifying it on the basis of structural attributes such as problem context, methodology and the product under consideration. The literature is also categorized according to the geographic region and year of publication.

There is an increase in interest towards FSCM still there is an absence of a journal with the prime attention towards FSCM. The key finding of this review is that the main interest is towards consumer satisfaction and revenue maximization with post‐harvest waste reduction being a secondary objective. It is revealed from the review that most of the literature is fragmented and is in silos. Lack of demand forecasting, demand and supply mismatch, lesser integrated approach etc are the major causes of concerns.

The authors have taken only the fresh produce (fruits, flowers and vegetables), authors may also look at other perishable items such as milk, meat, etc.

Result shows a product‐problem‐methodology mapping which may serve as a framework for the managers addressing issues in FSCM.

Most of the prior literature reviews are focused on a specific issue such as production planning or inventory management and ignore the broader perspective. There exists a need of having a detailed literature review covering all the operational issues in FSCM. This review fills this gap in the FSCM literature.

The purpose of this paper is to deliver a structured literature review of existing literature on agri-fresh food supply chain quality (AFSCQ) over a period of 23 years (1994 to mid-2016) and provide a platform for practitioners and researchers trying to identify the existing state of work, gaps in current research, and future directions in the field of AFSCQ.

The existing literature is classified on the basis of several classes like number of publications per year, journal-wise publications, studies across various countries, growth of empirical research, data analysis methods or tool used, issues related to supply chain quality as well as performance measurement (with respect to entity of analysis, level of analysis and element of exchange).

Most of the research publications discuss issues in developed countries, while relatively lesser publications are available on issues in developing countries. Hence, larger opportunities in the field of AFSCQ are available in developing countries. Empirical research is also growing in the field of AFSCQ. Largely research publications make use of “case study” research approach and “statistical analysis” as a quantitative tool of research. The literature is also categorized under the various issues of supply chain quality such as sustainability management, information management, logistic management, collaboration and coordination management, strategic management, demand management, inventory management, food safety, performance management, supply chain integration, supplier management, quality management, etc. It was found that in the majority of articles, information management, sustainability management, and logistics management are very critical issues as far as AFSCQ is concerned. Performance measurement of agri-fresh food supply chain is also on a growing stage. It is also an integral part of AFSCQ.

Most of the prior reviews are concentrated on a particular issue as production and distribution planning for agri-foods, temperature monitoring, corporate and consumer social responsibility, traceability system and ignore the wider perception. There exists a necessity of having a detailed review to cover up all the issues in AFSCQ. This review fills this gap in the extant AFSCQ literature.

Research in agri-fresh food supply chain quality (AFSCQ) has been given less consideration in developing countries as compared to developed countries and its role in achieving organizational sustainability has not been researched yet. Thus, this study aims to determine and combine numerous significant factors to establish a framework for managing AFSCQ practices favorable to organizational sustainability in the Indian context.

To accomplish this, all-inclusive framework of AFSCQ has been established through succeeding phases of data collection, analysis using structural equation modelling along with refinement of data. The collection of data for this study was from the Indian food industry, which relates to agri-fresh food products.

The AFSCQ practices are conducive to enrich organizational sustainability, and then enhance economic, social and environmental performance indirectly. The study established relationships among the AFSCQ practices promising to enhance organizational sustainability.

AFSCQ practices have a huge impact on organizational sustainability by means of practices that sum up activities along the whole supply chain. The organizational sustainability consists of economic, social and environmental sustainability.

The purpose of this paper is to study and develop supply chain structure of traditional Indian agri-fresh food supply chain (AFSC). This paper proposes a mathematical model to design a traditional Indian AFSC to minimize total distribution cost and post-harvest losses in the chain.

This paper formulates two mathematical models to structure and represent the flow of products in the existing chain. First, a three-echelon, multi-period, multi-product, mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model is formulated to minimize the total distribution cost incurred in the chain. Further, the developed formulation is extended by considering the perishability of products in the second model.

A real case study problem of Mandsaur district (India) is solved in LINGO 17.0 package to check the validity of the formulated models. The perishable (second) model of AFSC reports better results in terms of costs and post-harvest losses minimization. The results revealed that 92% of the total distribution cost incurred in the transportation of products from farmers to the hubs.

This paper includes implications for redesigning an existing supply chain network by incorporating an appropriate transportation strategy from farmers to hubs to minimize transportation inefficiency and enhance the profitability of farmers.

The formulated AFSC model would help managers and policymakers to identify optimal locations for hubs where required infrastructure would be developed.

According to the author's best knowledge, this paper is the first to design traditional Indian AFSC by considering the perishability of products.

Despite much research on supply chain (SC) integration and the growing emphasis on recent information technology advancements as an enabler of improved performance, there has been limited research focussed specifically on information integration in supply chains (SCs). The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the literature on information integration in the fresh food supply chain (FFSC) from a holistic perspective.

Literature review is done by systematically collecting and analysing the recent literature to identify various participant entities of the FFSC information network and their specific information needs.

The information needs of FFSC entities are diverse but the needs are common across multiple entities.

This study only reviewed the FFSC-related literature; an extended study of the food industry may reveal a more comprehensive view.

These findings are useful for practitioners in understanding the participant entities in the information network and their information needs and for policymakers in formulating FFSC development initiatives.

The authors are not aware of another study that investigates the FFSC in a holistic approach, one that identifies the actors, their interactions and information needs.

The main purpose of this paper is to conduct a review of the literature published on food supply chain management (FSCM) in last one and half decade to find out the ongoing research in the field, identify gaps and develop relevant research questions (RQs) from the perspectives of academicians, researchers, policymakers and corporate for the future research.

In all 281 research articles published on FSCM between the years 2005 and 2020 used for searching online databases such as Emerald, Science Direct (Elsevier), Springer and Wiley online. The methodology of structured review and classification involves various dimensions such as journal, publishing house, country, research design and methods, data analysis tool and multi-criteria decision-making methods.

It is found that the research in the field of FSCM has gained momentum in the last one and half decades. Majority of published articles are related to food supply chain management and food cold chain. Fewer authors have addressed issues and challenges related to food chain in developing country like India and still fewer studies are found on comparison of present food chain management practices adopted by developing countries like India vis-à-vis developed countries. Also it is observed that limited research is reported in food chain logistics system and intelligent tracking system.

This paper is limited to reviewing only those articles which are related to food chain management.

The main objective of this comprehensive review of literature is to present the various perspectives of food chain management and its numerous challenges. This paper attempts to draw the attention of researchers for further research in the FSCM disciplines. The findings provide future research directions, need of sound policymaking and regulatory mechanism to ensure food security to world's second largest populous country.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the meaning and operationalization of food supply chains in the context of the UK and India.

The paper follows the systematic literature review approach. The paper examines 99 articles published in peer-reviewed-journals from 1995 to 2017.

Findings reveal that food supply chain literature is explored along themes of procurement, food processing, innovation, traceability, safety, environment and sustainability, food policy, quality, health, consumer behavior and packaging. Within these themes, the UK researchers have primarily addressed vertical integration, coordination, safety, competitiveness and transparency and information technology. Indian researchers have focused on issues such as consumer perceptions, retail format choice, organic, health and wellness products. An empirical category is the most popular approach. The survey method is the most popular approach followed by the single case studies.

The paper contributes to the body of knowledge by presenting a unified synthesis of articles dealing with the food supply chain in the bilateral context of the UK and India.

The policy makers could use findings for conceptualization of complementarities and possible food supply chain networks.

Food processing activities may have potential to provide sustaining livelihoods to around sixty percent of the Indian population which depends on the agriculture. In the bilateral context, the UK may also get a reliable and cost competitive partner to meet its food import needs. This will help the UK to focus more on its service-led economy which, in turn, may create more jobs.

The paper highlights the contextual issues of both the countries and presents opportunities for future collaboration.

Due to the importance of quality to customers, this study considers criteria of quality and profit and optimizes both in a multi-echelon cold chain of perishable agricultural products whose quality immediately begins to deteriorate after harvest. The two objectives of the proposed cold chain are to maximize profit and quality. Since postharvest quality loss in the supply chain depends on various decisions and factors, in addition to strategic decisions, the authors consider the temperature setting in refrigerated facilities and transportation vehicles due to the unfixed shelf life of the products which is related to the temperature found by Arrhenius formula.

The authors use bi-objective mixed-integer nonlinear programming to design a four-echelon supply chain. The authors integrate the supply chain echelons to detect the sources and factors of quality loss. The four echelons include supply, processing, storage and customer. The decisions, including facility location, assigning nodes of each echelon to corresponding nodes from the adjacent echelon, allocation of vehicles to transport the products from farms to wholesalers, processing selection, and temperature setting in refrigerated facilities, are made in an integrated way. Model verification and validation in the case study are done based on three perishable herbal plants.

The model obtains a 29% profit against a total cost of 71 and 93% of original quality of the crops is maintained, indicating a 7% quality loss. The final quality of 93% is the result of making a US$6m investment in the supply chain, including the procurement of high-quality raw materials; facility establishment; high-speed, high-capacity vehicles; location assignment; processing selection and refrigeration equipment in the storage and transportation systems, helping to maximize both the final quality of the products and the total profit.

The proposed supply chain model should help managers with modeling decisions, especially when it comes to cold chains for agricultural products. The model yields these results – optimal location-allocation decisions for the facilities to minimize distances between the network nodes, which save time and maintain the majority of the products’ original quality; choosing the most appropriate processing method, which reduces the perishability rate; providing high-capacity, high-speed vehicles in the logistics system, which minimizes transportation costs and maximizes the quality; and setting the right temperature in the refrigerated facilities, which mitigates the postharvest decay reaction rate of the products.

Comparison of the results of the present research with those of the traditional chain (obtained through experts) shows that since the designed chain increases the profit as well as the final quality, it has benefits for the main chain stakeholders, which are customers of agricultural products. This study model is expected to have a positive impact on the environment by placing strong emphasis on quality and preventing excessive waste generation and air pollution by imposing a financial penalty on extra demand production.

Since profit and quality of the final product are two important factors in all cultures and communities, the proposed supply chain model can be used in any food industry around the world. Applying the proposed model induces growth in local industries and promotes the culture of prioritizing quality in societies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research on a bi-objective four-echelon (supply, processing, storage and customer) postharvest supply chain for agricultural products including that integrates transportation logistics and considers the deterioration rate of products as a time-dependent variable at different levels of decision-making.

The issue of food security is one of the critical global challenges. The Government and the industries have begun apprehending the importance of green supply chain management (GSCM) implementation in their supply chains. There are various drivers or performance indicators (PIs) of GSCM in the agro-sector. This paper aims to analyse 14 PIs using an interpretive structural modelling (ISM) approach.

In this study, the PIs of GSCM were identified through a literature survey and opinions of field experts. The identified 14 PIs were modelled by applying an ISM methodology for establishing the interrelationship between the PIs and to identify the PIs having high influential power.

The result of the investigation underlined that three PIs, namely, environmental management (PI 1), regulatory pressure (PI 3) and competitive pressure (PI 2) are the significant PIs having high driving power.

The experts’ judgments were used for the development of the structural model, which could be biased influencing the reliability of the model. Also, only 14 significant PIs were considered for the analysis. This research is intended to help the policymakers, managers and supply chain designers in the food industry and in agribusiness in formulating the policies and strategies for achieving food security, conservation of the environmental resources and for improving the financial performance of the industry.

It is pioneering research focusing on the analysis of the PIs towards the implementation of GSCM in the Indian agro-industries context using an ISM approach. This research adds value to the existing knowledge base by identifying the crucial PIs, exploring their mutual relationship and highlighting their level of influence in the case sector.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a literature review of the perishable food supply chain quality (PFSCQ). It includes all the products/process from the farm to folk of perishable food (milk, meat, vegetable, grains and butter).

The methodology of a structured literature review involves selection of a representative sample of articles followed by classification of articles on the basis of research methodology and content of PFSCQ in the paper.

Research toward PFSCQ has risen in last five years. Fewer articles are addressing issues of developing countries then developed countries. Majority of the articles involved multiple as entity of analysis (combination of supplier, distributor, manufacturer, retailer and consumer), information as element of exchange and chain as the level of analysis. A large number of articles involved “agri-food,” “dairy” and “pork” as perishable products. Majority of articles used “case study” methodology. Statistical analysis as a tool for problem solving was used in majority of articles. Performance measurement aspect is also on growth in PFSCQ literature. Information sharing, logistic management, strategic management, demand forecasting and integration among the various stakeholders of PFSCQ are some of the critical issues.

Many literature reviews that aim at critical examination of supply chain literature are reported but none of them focussed exclusively on content of PFSCQ. Another unique feature of this paper is that the sample size of articles with respect to number of papers (481 papers) as well as number of journals (141 journals) is quite large. The paper spans a longer time span of 20 years (1994-2013) as well.