scholarly journals A simulation model to investigate impacts of facilitating quality data within organic fresh food supply chains

Author(s):  
Magdalena Leithner ◽  
Christian Fikar

Abstract Demand for and production of organic fresh food play an increasing role worldwide. As a result, a growing amount of fresh fruits and vegetables has to be transported from predominantly rural production regions to customers mostly located in urban ones. Specific handling and storage conditions need to be respected along the entire supply chain to maintain high quality and product value. To support organic food logistics operations, this work investigates benefits of facilitating real-time product data along delivery and storage processes. By the development of a simulation-based decision support system, sustainable deliveries of organic food from farms to retail stores are investigated. Generic keeping quality models are integrated to observe impacts of varying storage temperatures on food quality and losses over time. Computational experiments study a regional supply chain of organic strawberries in Lower Austria and Vienna. Results indicate that the consideration of shelf life data in supply chain decisions allow one to reduce food losses and further enables shifting surplus inventory to alternative distribution channels.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
İbrahim Kahramanoğlu ◽  
Volkan Okatan ◽  
Chunpeng Wan

Propolis, also called “bee-glue,” is a natural resinous substance produced by honeybees from plant exudates, beeswax, and bee secretions in order to defend the hives. It has numerous phenolic compounds with more than 250 identified chemical compounds in its composition, which are also known to significantly vary according to the plant sources and season. Moreover, it has a long history in the traditional and scientific medicine as having antibacterial, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-infective, and wound healing effects since 300 BC. In addition to its nutritional and health-promoting effects, it has been reported to improve the postharvest storability of fresh fruits, vegetables, and processed food products. Herein, the biochemical composition and the efficacy of propolis in maintaining the postharvest storability of fresh food products were discussed to provide comprehensive guide to farmers and food processing and storage sectors and to scientists. This review paper also highlights the important points to which special attention should be given in further studies in order to be able to use propolis to develop biopreservatives industrially and for quality preservation during storage.


2001 ◽  
Vol 64 (7) ◽  
pp. 1079-1084 ◽  
Author(s):  
LARRY R. BEUCHAT ◽  
JEFFREY M. FARBER ◽  
EDITH H. GARRETT ◽  
LINDA J. HARRIS ◽  
MICKEY E. PARISH ◽  
...  

The efficacy of sanitizers in killing human pathogenic microorganisms on a wide range of whole and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables has been studied extensively. Numerous challenge studies to determine the effects of storage conditions on survival and growth of pathogens on raw produce have also been reported. Results of these studies are often difficult to assess because of the lack of sufficient reporting of methods or, comparatively, because of variations in procedures for preparing and applying inocula to produce, conditions for treatment and storage, and procedures for enumerating pathogens. There is a need for a standard method to accurately determine the presence and populations of pathogenic microorganisms on produce. The adoption of standard, well-characterized reference strains would benefit a comparative assessment of a basic method among laboratories. A single protocol will not be suitable for all fruits and vegetables. Modifications of a basic method will be necessary to achieve maximum recovery of pathogens on various types of produce subjected to different sanitizer or storage treatments. This article discusses parameters that must be considered in the course of developing a basic standard method against which these modifications could be made.


Author(s):  
Y. M. P. Samarasinghe ◽  
B. A. M. S. Kumara ◽  
Asela K. Kulatunga

The necessity for food traceability has been increased over the years with the expansion of food supply chains globally over these years due to stringent of food safety regulations. Enhancing the access to quality food safely is one of the essential requirements of food supply chain traceability. Conversely, significant percentages of postharvest losses available especially in developing countries due to poor supply chain and logistics practices thereby threatening food security. Unless there is a possibility to trace the Supply chain, it is difficult to take remedial actions. When it comes to Sri Lanka, currently it is harder to have the traceability in most of the foods supply chains commonly on most of the elementary supply chains such as fruits and vegetables. This has led to postharvest losses since it is harder to identify when and where damages occur, who are accountable, harvested and transient times, supply demand mismatch too. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the feasibility of tracing of fruit and vegetable supply chain in Sri Lanka and contribute theoretically to facilitate authorities and decision makers for future traceability improvement. Availability of secondary information on fruits and vegetables traceability was examined referring to government agencies. Basic structure of supply chain was identified based on secondary data and a case study was conducted based on supply chains linked to Thambuththegama and Keppetipola Dedicated Economic Centers to gather primary data. To quantify the feasibility of tracing, a feasibility index was developed. Developed index was used to assess the feasibility towards improved traceability of selected chains where it can be applied for other food and non-food supply chains as well. The feasibility index can be used for other fruits and vegetables supply chains too to assess the feasibility prior to implementation of a traceability system. Furthermore, it can be used for non-food supply chains with some modifications. Analysis revealed that poor feasibility of wholesalers compared to farmers and retailers. Product identification technologies, awareness and willingness for traceability improvement were ranged low to fair for all the entity categories. Hence, enhancement of record-keeping and information sharing, adopting product identification and quality measurement technologies, and strengthening of legislation were identified as key improvements for enhanced fruits and vegetable traceability and efficient postharvest management of studied supply chains


2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian N. Swanson

Biomarker measurements now support key decisions throughout the drug development process, from lead optimization to regulatory approvals. They are essential for documenting exposure-response relationships, specificity and potency toward the molecular target, untoward effects, and therapeutic applications. In a broader sense, biomarkers constitute the basis of clinical pathology and laboratory medicine. The utility of biomarkers is limited by their specificity and sensitivity toward the drug or disease process and by their overall variability. Understanding and controlling sources of variability is not only imperative for delivering high-quality assay results, but ultimately for controlling the size and expense of research studies. Variability in biomarker measurements is affected by: biological and environmental factors (e.g., gender, age, posture, diet and biorhythms), sample collection factors (e.g., preservatives, transport and storage conditions, and collection technique), and analytical factors (e.g., purity of reference material, pipetting precision, and antibody specificity). The quality standards for biomarker assays used in support of nonclinical safety studies fall under GLP (FDA) regulations, whereas, those assays used to support human diagnostics and healthcare are established by CLIA (CMS) regulations and accrediting organizations such as the College of American Pathologists. While most research applications of biomarkers are not regulated, biomarker laboratories in all settings are adopting similar laboratory practices in order to deliver high-quality data. Because of the escalation in demand for biomarker measurements, the highly-parallel (multi-plexed) assay platforms that have fueled the rise of genomics will likely evolve into the analytical engines that drive the biomarker laboratories of tomorrow.


2011 ◽  
Vol 204-210 ◽  
pp. 46-53
Author(s):  
Yin Huang ◽  
Xia Miao Li ◽  
Da Peng Liu

Food supply chain is a complex process. The author develops a model that will provide both researchers and practitioners with a means of determining the optimal ordering policy for multi-products in fresh food supply chain. By using computer simulation. this paper conduct for a numerical analysis to the ordering policy of products of a food company in Hubei province to analyze the properties of total cost functions under each of the six different ordering policies and proposes an approximate optimal ordering policy of multiple products. Based on the models and analysis, it is found that agglomeration effect plays an important role in determine ordering policy of multiple products.


2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-126
Author(s):  
Надежда Величко ◽  
Nadezhda Velichko ◽  
Елизавета Рыгалова ◽  
Elizaveta Rygalova ◽  
Лидия Шароглазова ◽  
...  

Every year, hundreds of thousands of tons of fruits and vegetables are supplied to the territory of the Russian Federation by exporting producers from different countries. During transportation and storage, the supplied fruits and vegetables undergo various physical and biochemical changes, leading to weight loss and changes in quality indicators. Loss of moisture during transportation is one of the main causes of damage to fruits and vegetables. The relevance of the research topic is determined by the need to minimize the loss of mass and moisture of exotic fruits during transportation and storage in warehouse conditions.Objective: to establish the rates of loss of 10 samples of exotic fruits. The samples included Thai pineapple, Thai watermelon, guava, cantaloupe melon, carambola, Thai mango, papaya of Holland variety, green papaya, passionflower (passion fruit, pitaya). The fruits were transported by air from Thailand (Bangkok) to Krasnoyarsk. The flight duration was 8 hours, flight altitude – 10,000 m. The storage conditions were as follows: temperature – 5–8°C, humidity – 47%, storage time – 10 days in winter period. The paper presents the results obtained for the dynamics of mass and humidity during transportation by air of samples of exotic fruits and during storage in warehouse conditions. It was established that the loss of mass and moisture of exotic fruits in the process of transportation and storage occurred in all samples. The highest percentage of weight loss was observed in Thai mango and amounted to 2.93%. The greatest loss of moisture during storage in warehouses was observed in Thai watermelon (3.5%), the smallest – in Thai pineapple (0.5%). The largest weight loss was set for guava (4.6%), the smallest – for Thai watermelon (0.5%).


Author(s):  
Gabriel Palma Petrielli ◽  
Franciane Colares Souza Usberti ◽  
Raysa Maduro Alves

Because it is a highly perishable fruit, due to its high metabolic activity and water content, the strawberry has a shelf life limited by weight loss, texture alteration and microbiological deterioration. Such susceptibility to proliferation of microorganisms and the occurrence of postharvest diseases, especially some rot, stimulates the study of alternative sanitizing treatments that aims at the maintenance of fruit quality such as ultraviolet radiation, which it exhibits germicidal properties in the region UV-C (200-280nm). The non-formation of residual toxic compounds on the surface of the product, a low cost and the fact of being odorless are advantages of its use in fruits and vegetables.¹ In the present study the objective was to evaluate the efficacy and effects of UV-C radiation in strawberries by applying 0.0 (T1), 1.25 (T2), 2.50 (T3), 3.75 (T4) and 5.0 (T5) kJ/m² and storage at 5.37 ± 0.74 ºC and 53.38 ± 6.84% RH after irradiation. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized blocks design with three replicates per treatment. In the results, it was not possible to observe some benefits of UV-C in strawberries in relation to their non-use, suggesting it needs further studies with different doses and storage conditions.


New Medit ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marinos Markou ◽  
Andreas Stylianou ◽  
Marianthi Giannakopoulou ◽  
Georgios Adamides

Unfair Trading Practices (UTPs) between businesses in the food supply chain have a significant impact on the various stakeholders involved, and on the environment. So far, no attempt has been made at the Member State level for the identification of UTPs in the food supply chain and their impact on the relevant stakeholders. This study drew on this gap and attempted to identify the UTPs that exist in the Cypriot food supply chain, assess their impact on the involved stakeholders and provide guidelines that will assist the transposition of EU relevant Directive to the national law. To achieve this goal, the study was based on a quantitative survey of a representative sample of businesses using a specific questionnaire. The results showed that particular UTPs do appear in the food supply chain with a different frequency, while the majority of businesses have been victims of UTPs in the last five years. Notably, the estimated cost of UTPs as a percentage of the business annual turnover is considered important ranging from 5.7% for retailers to 31.9% for farmers. Thus, most participants agree that UTPs in the agricultural food sector should be regulated by national legislation. We argue that the national legislation for UTPs should be a mix of policies that integrate private, administrative and judicial methods of monitoring and enforcement. Policy and decision makers should seek to reinforce the role and the bargaining power of small businesses in the food supply chain. This might be accomplished through the development of efficient producers’ organizations, short food supply chains, interbranch organizations and strategic partnerships.


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