Producers, distributors, and logistics providers must ensure that the perishable food products they produce or distribute are safe for consumers by conducting thorough inspections and transporting them carefully.
This article proposes a multiobjective optimization model to optimize the configuration of acts involved in perishable fruit supply chains (PFSCs).
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1. Deterioration
Perishable produce is temperature sensitive, making them vulnerable to damage during manufacturing, transit, and storage processes. The environmental conditions within their supply chains must be carefully managed to preserve quality, safety, waste reduction, and profits for food companies.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded this problem, leading to limited inventory supplies and higher food prices. E-commerce companies have implemented online presale, express small-batch transportation, and community group purchases to meet consumer needs more efficiently and reduce deterioration rates by decreasing consumption while increasing the turnover of goods.
Furthermore, technology such as MAPs and oxygen scavengers have been utilized to keep perishable foods fresher for longer, improving transparency and customer satisfaction within supply chains.
2. Safety
For best results, fresh produce items must be stored at specific temperatures throughout their supply chains. Failure to do so could result in spoilage, toxic degradation, microbial growth, discoloration, and decreased economic value – potentially serious problems!
Produce suppliers need the appropriate technology and equipment to address this challenge. Hiring the proper transportation company and tracking equipment can reduce waste caused by improper shipping and temperature controls; and help produce business owners forecast sales more accurately so they don’t stockpile goods that end up unsold, risking valuable inventory space.
3. Reliability
Dependency on perishable food supply chains relies on how effectively processes operate, from manufacturing through shipping and handling and minimizing failure risks through various measures like employing expert engineering knowledge.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted supply chain vulnerabilities. To protect quality, cost, and delivery without compromise, full consideration must be given to every aspect of supply chains, including technologies like RFID, IoT, and blockchain are integrated into them as part of the solution process.
These technologies can improve traceability and transparency in produce supply chains, especially when dealing with perishable goods. Furthermore, these solutions reduce food and financial waste. Validity evaluation remains essential but more challenging.
4. Transportation
Perishable produce supply chains involve raw materials, processing, packaging, shipping, and selling. Time-sensitive transportation processes and cold storage facilities on both ends are necessary in this chain.
The first step of this process involves harvesting, transporting, and storing yields within the produce industry. Next comes processing them into food ingredients and products via manufacturing or value addition processes – commonly called manufacturing or value addition stages.
As the next step of product delivery, preparing and transporting products requires cleaning trucks and trailers between deliveries; otherwise, odors from previous shipments could affect new shipments, spoiling produce products. Therefore, an automated system with temperature tracking capabilities is crucial to track each shipment from its inception through supply chains.