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Food supply chain transparency and traceability is very important to address the issue regarding quality and safety. In traditional tracing system, with increasing the complexity of supply chain making product recalls difficult to manage and putting human lives at risk. To eliminate such types of risks, blockchain technology gives more efficient and reliable system for food tracing. Recently, there is an exponential rise in adoption of blockchain technology and most disparate IOT (Internet of things) devices in agriculture and food supply chain. It is an evolving technology that comforts the food supply chains by providing transparent data records and manage the food movement in the chain using distributed (P2P) network. That is more secured and there's no need for third party verifications. Our focus in this research will be on the Indian wheat supply chain and issues related to food losses caused by a lack of transparency and traceability. In order to improve the transparency of the wheat supply chain, we created an end-to-end smart wheat supply chain solution that combines blockchain technology, NFC tags, IoTs, and smart contracts. The solution is supported by entity relationship diagrams, information and money flow sequence diagrams, and a blockchain network diagram. We also used a security algorithm and the “NFC-Tag writer by NXP” program to validate and assess our system. This work could serve as a springboard for more in-depth research in this area. Depending on the existing situation in the industry, this research can also advise corporate procedures to deploy blockchain-based applications in the supply chain and logistics industry.

The purpose of this study is to present a conceptual overview of the price transmissions within agri‐food supply chains. Analyzing price transmission in agri‐food supply chains is essential since imperfect price transition may result in market power. This is an important issue that needs attention, given that the structure of agri‐food retail in Europe, USA and Canada is experiencing rapid change towards retail power.

The conceptual overview draws on a review of different approaches in analyzing transmission of prices through an agri‐food supply chain based on supply chain analysis and price transmission studies.

Three key challenges are identified in analyzing price transmission in agri‐food supply chains: structure of the supply chain; factors affecting price transmission; and supply response.

This paper presents a novel concept in analyzing price transmission in agri‐food supply chains using price transmission literature and bi‐directional flows of information and products in agri‐food supply chains

This study evaluated the use of Internet-mediated platforms for food supply chain among Ukrainian farmers due to the war.

The study was an online survey involving 325 Ukrainian farmers. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire.

The result of the study revealed the main effect of Internet-powered media such as social media, mobile applications and dedicated websites on food supply, F(1,308) 5.745, p = 0.004, p2 = 0.036. The result also revealed the interacting effect of supply intention (p = 0.001) and destination of supply (p = 0.001). Further analysis revealed that farmers with profit and charity intentions are likely to use dedicated websites, while those with trade-by-batter intentions are likely to use mobile applications. Also, the supply destination significantly interacted with the use of Internet-powered technologies (p = 0.001). A breakdown of the result showed that supply destinations in Ukraine are likely to be coordinated through dedicated websites, while those for neighbouring countries are likely to be coordinated through social media. Finally, variables from the unified theory of technology acceptance and use of technology, such as effort expectancy (ß = 0.412), performance expectancy (ß = 0.655) and social influence (ß = 0.182), collectively and individually predict the use of Internet-powered communication technologies for food supply among Ukrainian farmers, F(3,308)16.801, p = 0.001, R2 = 0.142.

This study explains how Internet-based media have contributed to the sustenance of agribusiness and food supply chain in challenging times like war.

Information from this study could be useful in understanding the contributing role of digital media in agribusiness and food supply during uncertainties.

Food banks play an increasingly important role in society by mitigating hunger and helping needy people; however, research aimed at improving food bank operations is limited.

This systematic review used Web of Science and Scopus as search engines, which are extensive databases in Operations Research and Management Science. Ninety-five articles regarding food bank operations were deeply analyzed to contribute to this literature review.

Through a systematic literature review, this paper identifies the challenges faced by food banks from an operations management perspective and positions the scientific contributions proposed to address these challenges.

This study makes three main contributions to the current literature. First, this study provides new researchers with an overview of the key features of food bank operations. Second, this study identifies and classifies the proposed optimization models to support food bank managers with decision-making. Finally, this study discusses the challenges of food bank operations and proposes promising future research avenues.

The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) variant of 2019 has taken more than 3.8 million lives according to the World Health Organization. To stop the spread of such a deadly and contagious disease, lockdown of varying nature was imposed worldwide. Lockdown, preventive techniques and observation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) have effectively decreased the spread of contagious diseases but have affected various businesses and industries economically. The food industry has been hit hard by different restriction parameters, due to which a disruption in food supply and demand was observed. Therefore, this study aims to study this disruption in the supply chain of processed food.

A comprehensive review was conducted on PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus to locate articles on processed foods, food delivery and supply chain. The selected articles were evaluated using the context analysis method.

The pandemic situation has increased the consumption and demand for processed food products from retail stores, and decreased the demand for food service products. These circumstances called for technological advancement in the field of food supply from farm to fork. This study reviews research articles, policies and secondary literature. Several advances have been made to deliver safe, nutritious and wholesome food to consumers. Block chain-based food supply chains, value stream mapping, sustainable supply chain domain and online ordering systems via mobile apps have been discussed in correspondence with information and communication technology (ICT) during COVID-19.

This study concludes that the use of advanced software and its adequate knowledge by suppliers, logistics companies and consumers have assisted in handling shocks to the global food system and provided in-time food delivery, traceability, database information and securely processed food to consumers.

This study shows the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on global food systems; disruption in food demand and supply chain is overlooked and changed; use of technological advances in food supply chain to tackle pandemic; online food ordering system gained popularity and improved technically.

1. The review highlights the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on global food systems.

2. The disruption in food demand and supply chain is overlooked and changed.

3. The use of technological advances in the food supply chain to tackle the pandemic.

4. The online food ordering system gained popularity and improved technically.

The review highlights the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on global food systems.

The disruption in food demand and supply chain is overlooked and changed.

The use of technological advances in the food supply chain to tackle the pandemic.

The online food ordering system gained popularity and improved technically.

The purpose of this paper is to model the distribution stage of the public distribution system (PDS) and optimize the inventory policy during this stage of the PDS to address some of the inefficiencies present in the system. This study models this supply chain as a multistage supply chain consisting of storage depots, issue centers, fair price shops and card holders.

A two-stage modeling approach is used to model the distribution stage in the PDS. In the first stage, the authors developed a simulation model for periodic review-based stock policy with appropriate assumptions. This helped minimize the total supply chain cost (TSCC). The TSCC consists of three cost elements, namely, ordering cost, holding cost and shortage cost. These three cost elements, in turn, depend on inventory policy parameters, such as review periods and base stock levels, at various echelons. In the second stage, a Genetic Algorithm based optimization approach was used.

A set of optimal policy parameters was identified. It is observed that base stock levels at issue centers are higher as compared to those in the FPS and the TSCC is less in scenario, when backorder cost is equal to the holding cost.

Present study will be useful to policy makers in improving PDS performance. This optimization of inventory policies helps actors in the PDS supply chain to choose appropriate policy parameters in the present inventory policy so as to reduce the overall distribution cost.

Unlike the previous researchers who examined the PDS from the social security perspective and tried to address specific problems to improve functioning of the PDS, this study looked at the problem as a supply chain-related problem and optimized the inventory parameters in one of the subsets of the PDS supply chain.

Today's environment imposes traceability compliance on food firms. Power within the interorganisational relationships in the food supply chain may hinder the integration necessary for that traceability to be effective. The purpose of the present study is to define the configuration of power in food industry‐distribution relationships from the food industry perspective.

The variables of power configuration considered in this study have been classified as mediated and non‐mediated power sources, in accordance with the criteria used by French and Raven. The Rasch model employed in the treatment of the values given by the food industries to the construct perceived power (mediated and non‐mediated power sources) permit a unidimensional measurement of that construct. Thus, the model estimated using this methodology explains power‐shaping in the food industry‐distribution relationships in the Canary Islands.

The results obtained are mostly based on the distributors' use of mediated power sources; they describe a situation that does not contribute to a high level of commitment in such relationships, since the negative effects of this type of power do not favour the climate required for the implementation of active traceability.

The data applied in this study were gathered prior to the implementation of traceability as a legal requirement, and consequently it would be advisable and useful to conduct a post‐implementation.

The paper adopts a business management approach, aimed at improving relations in the food supply chain. The methodology employed allows food firms to establish suitable chain integration strategies, facilitating the effective implementation of traceability. The paper presents a conceptual framework and analytical methodology which sustain the present study and subsequent work.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the fragility of the complex global food supply chains (GFSCs) which has drastically affected the essential flow of food from the farms and producers to the final consumers. The COVID-19 outbreak has served as a great lesson for the food businesses and companies to re-strategize toward the post-COVID-19 era. This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on food security and global food supply chains using the two countries (Canada and the United States) in North America as the case studies and provides appropriate strategy or framework to build smarter and resilience food supply chains for post-COVID-19 era.

This paper is a general review of the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on food security and disruptions of the GFSCs. This paper conducted a comprehensive literature review to have a complete understanding of the study, identify the research problem and missing gaps in literature and to formulate appropriate research questions. This study uses two countries from North America (Canada and the US) as case studies by analyzing the available open data from Statistics Canada and some recent studies conducted on food insecurity in the US. Finally, based on the findings, a proposed approach or framework was presented.

The findings from this study establishes that COVID-19 pandemic has greater impacts on the food security and GFSC due to disruption of the food supply chain leading to increase food insecurity in Canada and the US. The findings clearly show how the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the GFSC in the following ways – poor economy, shortage of farm worker, limitation to food accessibility, restriction in the transportation of farm commodities, changes in demand of consumers, shutdown of food production facilities, uncertainty of food quality and safety, food trade policies restriction, delays in transportation of food products, etc. The main findings of this study show that food and beverages sector needs to re-strategize, re-shape and re-design their food supply chains with post-COVID-19 resilience approach in mind. As a result, this study presents a proposed approach or framework to build a smarter and resilience GFSCs in the post-COVID-19 era. The findings in this study highlights the way the proposed framework provide solutions to the identified problems created by the COVID-19 pandemic in affecting the GFSC.

The contribution of this study towards the existing body of knowledge in food security and GFSC is in the form of a proposed approach or framework for building smarter and resilience GFSC that would assist the key players in the food industry to respond better and faster to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, including post-COVID-19 era.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a more precise conceptual understanding of the interplay between food product traceability and supply network integration.

A resource‐based network approach was used to create a framework with empirical evidence from a fresh strawberry product case.

A conceptual model describes product traceability as interacting with different organizational and informational resources.

This is a preliminary model that substantiates a cross‐functional approach teamwork‐based to developing product traceability.

The study shows developing food product traceability as a complex undertaking dependent on information connectivity including a technical aspect of supply chain integration, and different forms of knowledge, an organizational aspect of supply chain integration.