A conceptual understanding of criminality and integrity challenges in food supply chains

Purpose Business, consumers and governmental organisations are harbouring a growing need to gain an appreciation of behaviours connected to food criminality. In order to acquire a cross-functional understanding of these thematic areas (crime and fraud) the mapping of existing research is needed. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This paper contributes to the process of knowledge understanding, by systematically reviewing literature to provide an analysis of the current body of business knowledge against the thematic criterion of “supply chain food crime” and “supply chain food fraud”. The analysis derives themes from the literature and maps this across the eight pillars underpinning the UK Government paper on food supply chain resilience. Findings A distinct gap lies with the eight pillars of food supply chain resilience, business interest into supply chain criminality and academic research into the field. There are noteworthy gaps when the literature is analysed to that of the UK Government report. Research limitations/implications The limitation of the study was its focus on business-only journals; a plethora of literature resides in the science field (e.g. testing) that has not made its way to business text. Practical implications Drawing inference between business research and the government report, clear identification and tangible research areas can be immediately exploited to align cross-functional thinking. Social implications The gap of consumer is not as yet addressed in this field, this research contributes originally to this gap and the need to address the same for societal benefit. Originality/value The paper concentrates on the metrics know to contribute to “food crime” and “food fraud” and deviating views of academic vs non-academic literature. In conclusion the paper identifies thematic areas for further research and presents a conceptual framework of food supply chain resilience.

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The “horse-meat” scandal: illegal activity in the food supply chain

Supply Chain Management An International Journal ◽

10.1108/scm-08-2019-0292 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Robert Smith ◽

Gerard McElwee

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Supply Chains ◽

Food Supply ◽

Food Industry ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

Business Practices ◽

Food Supply Chain ◽

Food Fraud ◽

Content Type ◽

Horse Meat

Purpose Food supply chain theory and practice generally assumes that the business practices and processes involved are ethical, legal and value-adding when this is not always so, as demonstrated by the ongoing 2013 horse-meat scandal. Although it is ostensibly a UK-based affair, it encompasses the meat processing industry across Europe. This study, thus, aims to examine supply chain criminality and to highlight “scandal scripts” which amplify underlying issues. Design/methodology/approach A systematic review of extant literature on the scandal adds to that body of work, updating the existing narrative to include a detailed analysis of convicted “industry insiders”, highlighting supply chain issues involved in the frauds. Micro-stories of businessmen involved are presented to enable an empirical exploration of their illegal involvement in the meat trade. Using storied data from accounts of the scandal as contemporary examples, emerging themes and issues are outlined through a mixed methods qualitative approach consisting of ethical covert research, using documentary research strategy underpinned by narrative inquiry. Findings Media coverage perpetuated various myths notably that the fraud was carried out by “shadowy”, Eastern European “mafia figures” exploiting the extended food supply chains. The analysis is aided by the use of media hypothesis. Far from being a mafia-inspired fraud, the criminal activity was organised in nature and committed by insider businessmen. The findings demonstrate that supply chains are complex and require an understanding of storied business practices, including the ethical and illegal. Research limitations/implications From an academic perspective, there are implications such as the dearth of academic research and policy-related studies into food fraud possibly because of the difficulty in obtaining data because of access to such enterprises and entrepreneurs necessitating reliance upon documentary sources and investigative journalism. Practical implications There are distinct policy implications, particularly the need to legislate against international criminal conspiracies and everyday ordinary organised food frauds perpetuated. Lax penalties do little to prevent such crimes which need to be taken more seriously by the authorities, and treated as major crime. In formulating food laws, rules and regulations, greater cognisance should be taken to consider how supply chains in the food industry could be better protected from predatory criminal actions. Originality/value This novel qualitative study will enable academics and practitioners to better understand illegal enterprise, food fraud and risk management from both operational and supply chain perspectives and will be useful to investigators by furthering our understanding of entrepreneurial practice and morality in the food industry.

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From food defence to food supply chain integrity

British Food Journal ◽

10.1108/bfj-04-2016-0138 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 119 (1) ◽

pp. 52-66 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Rebecca K. Davidson ◽

Wilson Antunes ◽

Elisabeth H. Madslien ◽

José Belenguer ◽

Marco Gerevini ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Food Safety ◽

Food Supply ◽

Food Industry ◽

Food Contamination ◽

Test Methods ◽

Vital Role ◽

Food Supply Chain ◽

Food Fraud ◽

Content Type

Purpose Consumer confidence in the European food industry has been shaken by a number of recent scandals due to food fraud and accidental contamination, reminding the authors that deliberate incidents can occur. Food defence methods aim to prevent or mitigate deliberate attacks on the food supply chain but are not a legal requirement. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how proactive and reactive food defence practices can help prevent or mitigate malicious attacks on the food chain and also food fraud, food crime and food safety. The authors look at how food defence differs from food safety and how it contributes to food supply chain integrity. Design/methodology/approach Food defence has been the focus of two different EU FP7 security projects, EDEN and SNIFFER. Food industry stakeholders participated in workshops and demonstrations on food defence and relevant technology was tested in different food production scenarios. Findings Food industry end-users reported a lack of knowledge regarding food defence practices. They wished for further guidelines and training on risk assessment as well as access to validated test methods. Novel detection tools and methods showed promise with authentication, identification, measurement, assessment and control at multiple levels of the food supply chain prior to distribution and retail. Practical implications The prevention of a contamination incident, prior to retail, costs less than dealing with a large foodborne disease outbreak. Food defence should therefore be integral to food supply chain integrity and not just an afterthought in the wake of an incident. Originality/value It is argued that food defence practices have a vital role to play across the board in unintentional and intentional food contamination incidents. The application of these methods can help ensure food supply chain integrity.

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Supply chain agility responding to unprecedented changes: empirical evidence from the UK food supply chain during COVID-19 crisis

Supply Chain Management An International Journal ◽

10.1108/scm-09-2020-0470 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Quynh Nhu Do ◽

Nishikant Mishra ◽

Nur Baiti Ingga Wulandhari ◽

Amar Ramudhin ◽

Uthayasankar Sivarajah ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Food Supply ◽

Food Supply Chain ◽

Content Type ◽

Supply Chain Agility ◽

Fresh Vegetables ◽

The Uk ◽

Chain Transformation ◽

Practical Implications

Purpose The COVID-19 outbreak has imposed extensive shocks embracing all stages of the food supply chain (FSC). Although the magnitude is still unfolding, the FSC responds with remarkable speed, to mitigate the disruptive consequences and sustain operations. This paper aims to investigate how operationalising supply chain agility (SCA) practices has occurred amid the COVID-19 crisis and expectations for how those practices could transform the supply chain in the post-COVID-19 era. Design/methodology/approach Following an exploratory case-based design, this paper examines the various agile responses that three supply chains (meat, fresh vegetables and bread) adopted and elaborate using the dynamic capability (DC) theoretical lens. Findings First, the findings demonstrate how, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, each affected case pursued various agile responses through sensing and seizing capabilities. Sensing includes identifying and assessing the relevant opportunities and threats associated with the specific supply chain context. Seizing involves acquiring, combining and modifying the tangible and intangible resources at the firm and supply chain levels. Second, supply chain transformation is likely if firms and their supply chain develop the sustaining capability to ensure that the desirable changes outlast the crisis. Practical implications This study provides an actionable guide for practitioners to develop agile responses to systemic changes in times of crisis and to sustain favourable changes so as to enable their outlasting of the crisis. Originality/value This study provides a novel and unique perspective on the role of SCA in crisis – in this case, the pandemic. This paper synthesises the empirical stories of the agile responses in the FSC and elaborates on the DC framework, to identify theoretical and practical implications. This paper establishes the sustaining capability as the missing DC capability for enabling transformation in the post-COVID-19 era.

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Impact of disruptions in agri-food supply chain due to COVID-19 pandemic: contextualised resilience framework to achieve operational excellence

The International Journal of Logistics Management ◽

10.1108/ijlm-01-2021-0043 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Ruchi Mishra ◽

Rajesh Kumar Singh ◽

Nachiappan Subramanian

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Food Supply ◽

Ground Level ◽

Food Supply Chain ◽

Content Type ◽

Supply Chain Resilience ◽

Resilience Framework ◽

Research Propositions ◽

Lack Of Commitment ◽

Operational Excellence

PurposeThe present study aims to assess the role of supply chain resilience as an operational excellence approach to deal with disruptions caused by coronavirus pandemic in the food supply chain of an agri-food supply firm.Design/methodology/approachThe case study method was used to analyse the disruptions faced by the agricultural food supply chain during the pandemic. The study applies a dynamic capability theory as a foundation to develop a contextualised resilience framework for agri-food supply chain to achieve operational excellence. The case has been analysed by using situation-actor-process (SAP) and learning-action-performance (LAP) framework.FindingsThe SAP aspect of framework points that the flexibility amongst actors for a resilient agriculture supply chain worsened due to the lockdown measures post COVID-19. The LAP aspect of framework suggests how resilience can be built at the supply, demand and logistics end through various proactive and reactive practices such as collaboration, coordination, ICT and ground-level inputs. Lack of commitment and inadequate support from top management towards supply chain resilience are also observed as significant challenges to maintain operational excellence during the pandemic.Research limitations/implicationsOne of the major implications of the study is that a mix of capabilities rather than a single capability can be the most appropriate way for making the supply chain resilient to maintain operational excellence during the pandemic. However, the sources of disruptions need to be duly recognised to derive the best-contextualised resilience framework for agri-food supply chains.Originality/valueThe development of a contextualised research framework as well as research propositions for analysing supply chain resilience are the major contribution of this study.

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Review of the food processing supply chain literature: a UK, India bilateral context

Journal of Advances in Management Research ◽

10.1108/jamr-12-2017-0116 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (4) ◽

pp. 457-479 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Gyan Prakash

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Food Supply ◽

Food Processing ◽

Single Case ◽

The Body ◽

Survey Method ◽

Food Supply Chain ◽

Content Type ◽

Popular Approach ◽

The Uk

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the meaning and operationalization of food supply chains in the context of the UK and India. Design/methodology/approach The paper follows the systematic literature review approach. The paper examines 99 articles published in peer-reviewed-journals from 1995 to 2017. Findings 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. Research limitations/implications 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. Practical implications The policy makers could use findings for conceptualization of complementarities and possible food supply chain networks. Social implications 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. Originality/value The paper highlights the contextual issues of both the countries and presents opportunities for future collaboration.

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Key factors of carbon footprint in the UK food supply chains: a new perspective of life cycle assessment

International Journal of Operations & Production Management ◽

10.1108/ijopm-06-2019-0478 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 40 (7/8) ◽

pp. 945-970

Author(s):

Emmanuel Ferguson Aikins ◽

Usha Ramanathan

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Supply Chain ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Supply Chains ◽

Food Supply ◽

Key Factors ◽

Food Supply Chain ◽

Content Type ◽

Food Supply Chains ◽

The Uk

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically identify key factors of UK food supply chains (SCs) that significantly contribute to CO2 emissions (CO2e) taking into account the life cycle assessment (LCA). The UK food supply chain includes imports from other countries.Design/methodology/approachThis research develops a conceptual framework from extant literature. Secondary data obtained from ONS and FAOSTAT covering from 1990 to 2014 are analysed using Multilinear Regression (MLR) and Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) to identify the factors relating to CO2 emissions significance, and the efficient contributions that are being made to their reduction in the UK food supply chains.FindingsThe study results suggest that Transportation and Sales/Distribution are the two key factors of CO2 emissions in UK food supply chains. This is confirmed by two multivariate methods, MLR and SFA. MLR results show that transportation increases UK CO2 emissions by 10 tonnes of CO2 emissions from one tonne of fruits and vegetables imports from overseas to the UK Sales and Distribution reduces the UK CO2 emissions by 1.3 tonnes of CO2 emissions due to improved, technological operation activities in the UK. In addition, the SFA results confirm that the key factors are sufficient to predict an increase or decrease in CO2 emissions in the UK food supply chains.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has focused on the LCA of the UK food supply chain from limited data. Future studies should consider Sustainability Impact Assessment of the UK food supply chain, identifying the social, economic, regulatory and environmental impacts of the food supply chain using a re-defined LCA (all-inclusive assessment) tool.Practical implicationsThis research suggests that food supply chain professionals should improve efficiency, e.g. the use of solar energy and biogas, and also integrate low-carbon policies and practices in food supply chain operations. Furthermore, governments should encourage policies such as mobility management programmes, urban redevelopment and privatisation to enhance better transportation systems and infrastructure to continuously reduce CO2e from the food trade.Originality/valueAlthough logistics play a major role in CO2 emissions, all logistics CO2 emissions for other countries are not included in the ONS data. This research reveals some important insights into the UK food supply chains. Logistics and other food supply chain processes of importing countries significantly contribute to CO2 emissions which are yet to be considered in the UK food SCs.

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Food supply chain resilience model for critical infrastructure collapses due to natural disasters

British Food Journal ◽

10.1108/bfj-11-2020-1066 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Karen L. Orengo Serra ◽

Maria Sanchez-Jauregui

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Natural Disasters ◽

Natural Disaster ◽

Food Supply ◽

Critical Infrastructure ◽

Food Product ◽

Food Supply Chain ◽

Content Type ◽

Supply Chain Resilience ◽

Transport Flow

PurposeCritical infrastructure (CI) plays an essential role in reading, reacting and responding while dealing with natural disasters. This study address food supply chain resilience by proposing an FSC resilience model that explains the food product and transport flow via production, processing, distribution and retailing in circumstances of (CI) collapses post a natural disaster.Design/methodology/approachA combination of qualitative methods was conducted to obtain a comprehensive overview of the food and beverage sector in Puerto Rico. The full dataset comprised of seven focus groups for a total of 52 participants and 12 in-depth interviews.FindingsFSC resilience is seen in this study through the managerial actions taken by members of the Chain: innovating, transforming, adapting, and flexibilising business models and operations.Originality/valueThis study is the first to address FSC resilience from the perspective of net food importer economy in the context of natural disasters and prolonged Critical infrastructure (CI) breakdown, and the first one in proposing an FSC resilience model that explains the food product and transport flow via production, processing, distribution and retailing in circumstances of CI collapses post a natural disaster.

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