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Sustainable Food Supply Chains and Service Operations

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2024) | Viewed by 4416

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Technology, 100 Pingleyuan, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100124, China
Interests: supply chain management; finance technology; application of blockchain technology; big data; emergency management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
School of Management, Shijiazhuang Tiedao University, 17 North Second Ring East Road, Shijiazhuang 050043, China
Interests: supply chain management; transportation management; hazardous material transportation management; fuzzy optimization

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Guest Editor
School of Management, Qufu Normal University, 80 Yantai Road, Donggang District, Rizhao 276800, China
Interests: supply chain management; platform supply chain; information sharing; cross border e-commerce; share economy

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Guest Editor
School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Technology, 100 Ping le yuan, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100124, China
Interests: service operations management; blockchain technology and application; service system modeling and design

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable production and distribution are pertinent and timely issues in production economics. They are particularly critical for the food industry, which is still the largest manufacturing sector in many developed and developing countries. The food supply chain is a complex network that spans from the farm to the table, responsible for delivering food products from producers to consumers and involving numerous intermediate steps. Throughout this process, the safety, quality, resilience, sustainability, and traceability of food are of paramount importance.

With evolving consumer demands, advancements in emerging technologies, and the influence of climate change, oil dependency, fair trade, and public health crises, many food supply chain enterprises are undergoing innovative reforms to address evolving needs and challenges. These include digital transformation, sustainability and environmental initiatives, supply chain traceability, multi-channel sales models, personalization, and customization, among others. Consequently, the management of food supply chain service operations faces new challenges and opportunities.

This Special Issue aims to gather significant research on sustainable food supply chains and service operations management in the context of these new dynamics. Its goal is to ensure the high quality and safety of food while enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of the food industry. We look forward to unveiling strong practical and theoretical implications that service operations management in the food supply chain within the context of new technologies, organizations, societies, and environments.

Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Food supply chain sustainability;
  • Food supply chain quality management;
  • Food supply chain risk management;
  • Food supply chain finance;
  • Food supply chain resilience;
  • Food supply chain information flow management;
  • Food supply traceability and transparency;
  • Food waste reduction strategies;
  • Food quality and safety;
  • Food storage and transportation safety management;
  • Digital transformation and the IoT in food supply chain;
  • Emerging markets and international trade on food supply chain;
  • Social and environmental responsibility in food supply chain;
  • Consumer behavior and food service trends;
  • Demand control and food safety measures;
  • Collaborative food supply chain models;
  • Food safety regulations and compliance;
  • Technological innovations in food delivery services;
  • Logistics and operations for sustainable food supply chain management;
  • Packaging and containment of sustainability.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Jian Li
Dr. Hao Hu
Dr. Libin Guo
Dr. Feifei Yang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • food supply chain
  • sustainability
  • service operations
  • food safety
  • social and environmental responsibility

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

27 pages, 2742 KiB  
Article
Agrifood Sustainability Transitions in Firms and Industry: A Bibliographic Analysis of Research Themes
by Nic J. Lees, Sivashankar Sivakumar and Xiaomeng Lucock
Sustainability 2024, 16(16), 7079; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167079 - 18 Aug 2024
Viewed by 2786
Abstract
There is a growing consensus that the modern food system lies at the centre of the great challenges facing humanity and that urgent and profound changes are required in the way that food is produced, processed, distributed and consumed. This review analyses sustainability [...] Read more.
There is a growing consensus that the modern food system lies at the centre of the great challenges facing humanity and that urgent and profound changes are required in the way that food is produced, processed, distributed and consumed. This review analyses sustainability transitions within agrifood systems, focusing on the role of firms and industries as defined by the Sustainable Transitions Research Network (STRN). This paper conducts the first systematic literature review using bibliometric analysis to assess the current state of research on this theme. The findings reveal a significant increase in publications related to firms and industries associated with agrifood sustainability transitions. Furthermore, the focus of current research is geographically concentrated in the European Union. The review identifies four key themes in the literature, based on the co-occurrence of keywords. These are agriculture, innovation, governance, food systems and agroecology. The review identifies an increasing awareness of the role of farmers in driving sustainability transitions at the farm level. Furthermore, there is an increasing awareness of the interrelated characteristics of the agrifood system, which acknowledges the need for sustainable innovations to occur at multiple stages of the agrifood system. The review also shows that there is growing evidence that innovations can occur through disruptive as well as incremental innovation and highlights the importance of governance influencing transitions. The existing literature raises questions about alternative food networks as sustainable innovations, their potential for significant change in the established food system and the validity of their claims regarding food equity and environmental sustainability. A key theme emerging from the literature is an ecological perspective that identifies the complex biological processes and ecosystems that form an integral part of agricultural production. These findings provide a greater understanding of the current literature landscape of agrifood sustainable transitions relating to firms and industries and lay a foundation for future research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Food Supply Chains and Service Operations)
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