Purpose This study systematically maps the intellectual structure and evolution of food supply chain research over three decades (1995–2026), identifying key themes, influential sources, and emerging trends to guide future research directions. Design/methodology/approach A comprehensive bibliometric analysis was conducted on 2,125 documents from 628 sources contributed by 6,903 authors. Four advanced bibliometric techniques were systematically employed: Bradford's Law analysis to identify core publication sources, keyword co-occurrence mapping to reveal thematic clusters, citation network analysis to determine influential works, and temporal trend examination to track research evolution. All analyses were performed using the R-based bibliometrix package (version 4.1.0), ensuring methodological transparency and reproducibility. Findings The analysis reveals a sustained 9.3% annual growth rate in publications and an average of 34.13 citations per document, confirming the field's scholarly impact. Two primary research clusters emerged: a sustainability-oriented cluster focusing on food waste, circular economy, and supply chain resilience; and a technology-oriented cluster emphasizing blockchain, traceability, and food safety. Temporal analysis demonstrates the emergence of digital technologies—particularly blockchain, artificial intelligence, and machine learning—after 2020, alongside heightened attention to COVID-19 impacts and supply chain resilience. Originality/value This is the first comprehensive bibliometric study spanning three decades of food supply chain research. The study makes three distinct contributions: it provides a systematic science map of the field's intellectual structure; generates empirical evidence for the convergence of technology and sustainability paradigms in food supply chain scholarship; and delivers a structured, evidence-based research agenda identifying specific gaps for future inquiry. These contributions offer researchers, practitioners, and policymakers a rigorous foundation for evidence-based decision-making in this critical domain.
This study examines how data-driven decision-making and information systems shape supply chain efficiency, sustainability practices, and technological integration in an urban agriculture enterprise, with a focus on rejection and redistribution procedures as a decision-support mechanism for waste management. The objectives were to assess how real-time monitoring tools, IT-based order-processing platforms, and other information systems support supply chain and sustainability decision-making, and how such systems inform the firm's waste-management strategy. A quantitative approach was adopted, stratifying 100 stakeholders consumers, suppliers, farm operators, and distribution partners using structured questionnaires, with descriptive statistics applied to assess performance across key decision areas. A purposively selected agribusiness enterprise committed to supply chain performance was found to have moderate-to-high efficacy in timely delivery management, real-time monitoring tools, and order-processing IT platforms that collectively support operational decision-making. Sustainability is improved through decisions favouring biodegradable packaging and local, seasonal sourcing. Technological integration, including transparency mechanisms and smart packaging, informs the firm's decision processes, although blockchain adoption remains limited in practice. Effective rejection and redistribution decision processes reduce waste, divert surplus to productive channels, and directly support the company's zero-waste objectives. The findings show that supply chain excellence and environmental responsibility are mutually reinforcing when decision-making is supported by the right information systems: biodegradable packaging, in-house waste-management systems, and selective use of emerging technologies collectively strengthen operational performance. By embedding data-driven decision-support at every stage of its supply chain, the enterprise offers a model for responsible, information-systems-enabled agritech decision-making that balances efficiency, food safety, and long-term environmental sustainability.
Open access
Food Waste Reduction and Sustainability
Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact
Circular economy (CE) has become prevalent worldwide due to its economic and environmental benefits. More and more practitioners have deployed CE in supply chains to improve operational efficiency and sustainability. Thus, the integration of CE and supply chain has developed a new concept: circular supply chain (CSC). In particular, the CE model could remarkably reduce food waste within food supply chains (FSCs) and diminish the environmental impact from FSCs. Such a FSC that adopts CE principle is known as circular food supply chain (CFSC). However, lack of technical support for effective communication is a significant difficulty in developing CFSCs. Blockchain technology (BCT) could be the potential solution to this problem because of its decentralisation, public information sharing, high traceability and transparency, high security etc. Although many researchers have studied CFSCs in recent years, few studies investigate BCT as an impetus for CFSC development. Therefore, this research will fill this gap, focusing on the feasibility of BCT-based CFSCs, how BCT can establish CFSCs, and possible barriers. In addition, a few recommendations on developing BCT-based CFSCs will be provided.
Shahreza Shauqi Ismail, Nura Abubakar Allumi, Yousif Munadhil Ibrahim
Purpose: The aim of this study is to analyze the evolution of research trends in green supply chain management (GSCM) in agriculture, constructing an intellectual framework to improve the efficiency and environmental sustainability of the supply chain with smart agricultural technologies. Design/methodology/approach: The review used the bibliometric approach with two science mapping approaches (i.e., co-citation and co-word analysis) were perfomed to analyze 381 articles published in the Web of Science (WoS) database to investigate past and future research direction in GSCM using the VOSviewer software. Findings: Previous studies mainly focused on CE integration, sustainable agri-food supply chain design, and blockchain in supply chain management, whereas future research is expected to emphasize green logistics, low-carbon supply chains, smart circular systems, and digital innovation in green agri-SCM. Limitations and Research implications: This study is limited to the WoS database and two bibliometric techniques. Future research should validate the identified themes through additional bibliometric and empirical studies. Practical Implications: This study provides practical insights for managers, policymakers, and researchers to support the development of sustainable agricultural supply chains through circular economy, green logistics, and digital technologies. Originality/value: This study provides a comprehensive knowledge map of GSCM in agriculture by identifying past research themes and future research directions through bibliometric analysis
The agriculture sector plays a pivotal role in global economies, and optimizing its perishable food supply chain (PFSC) is vital to ensuring food security and transparency. The purpose of the study is to develop a blockchain-based smart contract to secure and provide transparency about perishable goods in the PFSC while delivering the goods between the stakeholders, such as farmers, mandis, and wholesalers. The study enhances collaboration between stakeholders by implementing smart contracts. The delivery status and the transactions have been safely recorded and verified by the stakeholder in the PFSC to ensure data integrity all the way through. The blockchain application has reduced fraud and streamlined the flow of goods and information. Moreover, this study emphasizes providing farmers with a straightforward route to the market to empower them. The benefits for the stakeholders are optimizing inventory control and developing appropriate decision-making skills. A three-echelon PFSC can become more resilient and is able to meet changing market demands by implementing blockchain-based smart contracts. Finally, the study employs blockchain technology to establish a decentralized and efficient PFSC, confirming a tamper-resistant system and enhancing stakeholder trust and collaboration.
A considerable proportion of perishable goods, including fruits and vegetables, deteriorate prior to reaching customers. Inadequate refrigeration infrastructure, particularly in developing nations with arid climates and markets distant from agricultural sources, accounts for most of these losses. A food cold chain has three primary phases: pre-cooling, cold storage, and refrigerated transportation. All phases of the cold chain rely fundamentally on refrigeration to preserve perishable products at designated temperatures, relative humidity, and CO2 concentrations, thus prolonging their shelf life. Solar-driven or aided refrigeration systems use solar energy to power cooling systems and preserve the food in the cold chain. These systems are especially beneficial in off-grid or developing areas for preserving perishable goods such as fruits, vegetables, and other food items, mitigating postharvest losses that can exceed 30–50% in areas with inconsistent energy supplies. Despite progress in efficiency and scalability, numerous research gaps remain across technological, economic, social, policy, and regional dimensions, including technical aspects, optimization, and integration. There is a need to enhance energy-efficient designs, particularly by managing solar intermittency to address non-uniform cooling, which leads to inconsistent ripening and spoilage, and by integrating sustainable refrigerants to mitigate environmental impact. Further development is necessary for micro-scale, transportable, or decentralized systems designed for small farms, while economic and financing obstacles include high upfront costs and limited financial accessibility. Substantial deficiencies exist in creating affordable models and funding channels for small-scale agriculturalists. Addressing these deficiencies could expedite adoption, thereby reducing global food loss and waste (accounting for 8–10% of GHG emissions) while improving food security. Future research must emphasize multidisciplinary methodologies that amalgamate engineering, economics, and social sciences to provide comprehensive solutions.
Food waste and hunger are still side by side in the world today, and tons of unused food are thrown away, meanwhile, many people do not have access to healthy food reliably. The classic systems of donations still rely on the manual inspection, unstructured communication, and weak logistics that tends to result in delays and spoilage as well as, lack of transparency. In this paper, Donato is an AI-based food donation and redistribution platform that will combine automated freshness prediction, traceability supported by blockchain, and intelligent route optimization. The system uses a trained ResNet50 to classify donated food into freshness categories, keep donation and delivery records on an authorized blockchain to be tracked tamper-proofly and create dynamic delivery plans to increase urgency to minimize spoilage changes. It has been experimentally shown that Donato is better in classification accuracy, trust, because of immutable records, and pickup latency is lower than that of a manual process. These findings indicate the promising opportunities of deep learning, distributed ledger technologies, and optimization of logistics integration to enhance efficiency, safety, and scalability of the redistribution network of food.
In this article, we provide an in-depth analysis of the different causes of food fraud, food safety, and food waste, which are recognized as the main challenges in agri-food supply chains. Leveraging technologies like blockchain- and IoT-enabled traceability systems presents promising solutions to overcome these challenges. Using the PRISMA methodology, we conducted a comprehensive literature review of 41 selected articles to assess the effectiveness of such solutions. The findings reveal that only 48% target primarily improved food safety, while food waste (9%) and food fraud (21%) played a less important role. Only a few papers actively incorporate these attributes into their architectural design and many papers lack practical implementation details, leaving significant gaps in understanding their practical applicability. One finding was that 61% of the proposed solution were build on a public permissionless blockchain (Ethereum) and 39% where build on a permissioned private or consortium blockchain (mainly Hyperledger Fabric and Sawtooth). Critical aspects such as data privacy, confidentiality, final infrastructure governance, or legal frameworks are in most cases missing, e.g., 75% did not discuss the governance of the solution at all. To address the identified limitations, we propose a modular reference architecture that balances transparency and confidentiality through a hybrid blockchain approach. It incorporates a trusted platform layer with secure data storage, publicly verifiable summaries, and role-based access control. The architecture is illustrated through multiple use cases and qualitatively evaluated against characteristics of existing solutions, highlighting its conceptual suitability for regulated agri-food ecosystems.
ABSTRACT The perishable food cold chain is a vital part of the global food system, mainly ensuring the quality of temperature‐sensitive products such as milk, seafood, fruits, and vegetables. However, this system still faces several challenges related to real‐time monitoring, data transparency, and proactive demand planning, which often lead to spoilage, food safety violations, and disruptions. In this work, we propose a comprehensive end‐to‐end system that includes Internet of Things (IoT)‐based environmental sensors, blockchain‐enabled immutable logging, and a hybrid ARIMA–LSTM model for demand forecasting and spoilage risk detection. The system uses ESP32 microcontrollers with DHT11 sensors at key cold‐chain points to collect temperature and humidity data, streamed to Blynk dashboards for real‐time visualization and anomaly alerts. Anomalies and product metadata are permanently recorded through smart contracts on a private Ethereum blockchain, while payloads are stored off‐chain on IPFS for traceability and auditability. Additionally, historical blockchain logs and external sales data are used to train a hybrid ARIMA–LSTM model that predicts future demand and spoilage risks more accurately. Experimental results show that the proposed model achieves a forecasting accuracy of 90% ( R 2 = 0.90), outperforming baseline approaches on multiple metrics including RMSE, MAE, MAPE, and R 2 . The framework is scalable and data‐driven, aiming to improve supply availability and reduce food waste.
Farmers often struggle to access timely and fair credit due to inefficiencies, limited transparency, and inadequate risk assessment in traditional loan systems. This paper presents AgriCredit-360, a blockchain-enabled intelligent loan management scheme designed to improve financial inclusion and promote sustainable agriculture. Leveraging Ethereum's decentralized architecture alongside the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), the proposed framework ensures secure, transparent, and tamperproof loan records while enabling cost-efficient off-chain storage of large agricultural datasets such as satellite imagery, IoT sensor readings, climate trends, and yield forecasts. AI-driven analytics assess farmers' creditworthiness using multi-source data, integrating sustainability metrics to incentivize eco-friendly farming practices. Ethereum-based smart contracts automate loan approval, disbursement, repayment tracking, subsidy allocation, and insurance claim settlement, significantly reducing operational delays, administrative costs, and fraud risks. The hybrid blockchain-IPFS design enhances scalability, supports multi-stakeholder interoperability, and preserves data integrity through cryptographic hashing. By combining blockchain security, decentralized storage, AI-powered decision-making, and sustainability-oriented credit policies, AgriCredit-360 delivers an efficient, transparent, and farmer-centric solution.
Blockchain technology has revolutionized the way digital transactions and data are secured, verified, and stored. As the basis of blockchain lies the consensus algorithm, it is a critical component that determines how transactions are validated and blocks are added to the chain. However, the environmental implications of these algorithms have become a growing concern, particularly with energy-intensive models like proof of work (PoW). This chapter explores the environmental impact of various consensus mechanisms, including PoW, Proof of Stake (PoS), delegated proof of stake (DPoS), and newer eco-friendly alternatives. It analyzes the energy consumption, carbon footprint, and scalability of each approach, with a focus on how emerging consensus models aim to balance security, decentralization, and sustainability. This work evaluates blockchain’s broader environmental footprint across industries, including supply chain, energy, and carbon credits, highlighting both challenges and opportunities.
The global agricultural supply chain that supplies the world's food faces transparency, traceability and security as significant challenges, with trust being the main casualty due to numerous food safety incidents. The blockchain technology is turning out to be a good solution to the problem of supply chain but the numerous platforms available make it difficult for the implementers to choose. This paper offers a detailed comparison of seven most discussed blockchain platforms Ethereum, Solana, Hyperledger Fabric, VeChain, Corda, Zcash and Monero for applications in the agricultural supply chain. The study builds a well-organized evaluation framework dealing with seven parameters such as scalability, privacy features, consensus mechanisms, smart contract capabilities and implementation costs. The results reveal that although many platforms have specific advantages, Solana is the one with the most excellent performance for large volume applications of the agricultural supply chain because of its outstanding throughput (65, 000 TPS), very low transaction costs (~$0.00025) and very short confirmation times. The research points out that the technical capabilities of Solana are very much similar to the requirements of the agricultural food supply chains that aim at being transparent and hence the most convenient combination of performance, cost and functionality for sector wide implementation.
Khoi Minh Nguyen, Lý Thị Trần, Binh-Hau Nguyen, Minh T. Nguyen · 7 authors
Blockchain functions as a “distributed ledger network,” ensuring immutability, transparency, and non-retroactivity of data, making it a key technology for sustainable development. This study explores how blockchain-enabled traceability systems influence consumer perceptions of environmental transparency, trust in technology, and purchase intentions for sustainable food in Vietnam. Using a digital survey of 450 participants and SmartPLS 4.0 with PLS-SEM analysis, findings reveal that both blockchain reviews and traceability systems significantly improve perceptions of transparency (β = 0.292; β = 0.364, p < 0.001) and technological trust (β = 0.268; β = 0.348, p < 0.001). The research bridges the gap between transparency perceptions and purchase behavior in sustainable development and foodservice strategy. It is one of the first studies to examine the combined impact of blockchain reviews and traceability. The article adds to existing literature by expanding understanding of blockchain’s effect, supporting businesses in aligning with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Sorina Geanina Stănescu, Constantin Aurelian Ionescu, Maria Cristina Ștefan, Luiza Ionescu · 6 authors
The agri-food sector is currently undergoing a significant digital transformation, driven by climate change, frequent supply chain disruptions, and increasing demand for transparency and food safety. This article, based on a systematic review of 113 recent studies (in line with the PRISMA guidelines), delves into how emerging digital technologies, particularly blockchain, are reshaping agri-food supply chains towards sustainability, a circular economy, and complete product traceability from production to the final consumer. The paper identifies the main enabling factors, barriers, and implementation models of blockchain and other technologies associated with Industry 4.0 (IoT, artificial intelligence, smart contracts), highlighting their role in increasing the resilience of supply chains, optimising quality control, and sustainable resource management. A key contribution of the study is the introduction of the CTSAF (Converging Technologies for Sustainable Agri-Food Chains) conceptual framework, which provides practical implications for policymakers and organisations, enabling them to make informed decisions. The results also provide valuable insights for future research, supporting the transition to a more transparent, resilient, and sustainable global food system.
Traditional food supply chains are plagued by issues related to transparency, traceability, and food safety, resulting in inefficiencies, delays, and risks of contamination. In Saudi Arabia, operations within many supply chains rely on centralized systems without any possibilities for tracking origins of the product, conditions monitored, or conformity with regulatory guidelines guaranteed. Farm-to-Fork is a blockchainbased food supply chain management platform that seeks to address these problems through the use of Ethereum smart contracts, IoT temperature monitoring, and a decentralized framework mainly in the Saudi Arabian ecosystem. Built incrementally using Agile methodology and tools like Solidity, Truffle, and Web3.js, the platform offers secure, automated, and transparent transactions. Data was collected through interviews and surveys with manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, indicating that $76.7 \%$ of the stakeholder’s experience visibility issues, $66.7 \%$ experience contamination detection issues, and $90 \%$ think blockchain would improve transparency and data security. Farm-to-Fork offers traceability automated temperature validation, and tamper-proof records, significantly improving efficiency, accountability, transparency, and food safety regulation enforcement, the platform offers verifiable, secure, and trustless supply chain processes, an improved standard of food traceability for Saudi Arabia.
William Villegas-Ch, Rommel Gutiérrez, Jaime Govea, Joselin García-Ortiz
The perishability of food products in the supply chain poses a significant challenge in ensuring quality and safety. Inefficient monitoring of temperature, humidity, and storage time results in substantial economic losses and increased health risks. Traditional traceability systems rely on manual audits or essential IoT platforms that lack predictive capabilities, leading to delayed anomaly detection and inefficient intervention. Blockchain-based solutions improve transparency but primarily focus on record verification rather than active anomaly detection and automated decision-making. This study proposes an integrated system combining Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain to optimize food traceability through real-time monitoring, predictive analytics, and secure decentralized record management. The system deploys smart sensors across storage and transportation units to continuously collect environmental data, which is processed by a deep learning model trained to detect deviations with 92.4 % accuracy. Detected anomalies trigger automated responses via smart contracts in a blockchain network, ensuring immediate corrective actions while maintaining immutable audit records. Results demonstrate a 64.3 % reduction in response time, improving reaction efficiency to critical storage failures. Additionally, false positive alerts decreased by 73.1 %, optimizing operational efficiency and minimizing unnecessary interventions. The blockchain implementation reduced storage overhead by 76.9%, ensuring scalability and long-term feasibility. This research establishes a foundation for intelligent, automated food supply chain management, demonstrating that integrating AI, IoT, and blockchain enhances safety, reduces waste, and optimizes logistics. Future work will focus on improvements in large-scale deployment and computational efficiency to refine this innovative approach.
Eka Lia Febrianti, Agus Suryadi, Ilwan Syafrinal, Andhika Andhika
Abstract: The global transition towards sustainable food systems faces significant challenges in vegetarian food supply chains, including transparency issues, distribution inefficiencies, and quality verification problems. This research proposes VegeChain development, a decentralized marketplace ecosystem based on smart contracts designed to transform vegetarian food supply chains and accelerate Meatless, Balanced, Green (MBG) program adoption. Using mixed-method methodology integrating blockchain system design, stakeholder analysis, and economic simulation, this research develops a comprehensive technology framework combining blockchain transparency, smart contract automation, and sustainable tokenomics with novel mathematical models. The system implements dynamic pricing algorithms based on Automated Market Maker (AMM) mechanisms, multi-objective optimization for supply chain efficiency, and reputation-based consensus protocols. Simulation results demonstrate that VegeChain implementation can improve supply chain efficiency by 35%, reduce food waste by 28%, and increase consumer trust by 42% measured through validated stakeholder satisfaction surveys (n=456) using 5-point Likert scales with statistical significance p<0.001. Technical innovations include Byzantine Fault Tolerant consensus with 99.9% reliability, gas optimization achieving 67% cost reduction, and real-time quality verification algorithms with 98.7% accuracy. Keywords: smart contracts; supply chain optimization; automated market makers; blockchain technology; sustainable tokenomics
UmaMaheswari Gurusamy, V Sangeetha, G PraveenKumar, A. Meenakshi
Purpose: This review paper examines the transformative potential of blockchain technology in addressing critical challenges within agricultural supply chains, including traceability, transparency, fraud prevention, and equitable value distribution. It aims to synthesize existing research and real-world applications to highlight how blockchain can create more efficient, sustainable, and fair food systems. Methodology/Approach: The study adopts a systematic literature review methodology, analyzing peer-reviewed articles, industry reports, and case studies from 2008 to 2024. Key frameworks and implementations, such as IBM Food Trust, AgriDigital, and TE-FOOD, are evaluated to identify patterns, benefits, and limitations of blockchain adoption in agriculture. Originality/Relevance: This paper contributes to the growing body of research on blockchain in agriculture by integrating insights from decentralized finance (DeFi), IoT, and AI, offering a holistic view of next-generation supply chains. It addresses gaps in scalability, regulatory challenges, and adoption barriers while proposing future trends like tokenization and predictive analytics. Key Findings: Blockchain enhances traceability, reducing food fraud and enabling rapid contamination tracking (e.g., Walmart’s mango traceability in 2.2 seconds). Smart contracts automate payments and compliance, empowering smallholder farmers with timely compensation. Integration with IoT and AI improves real-time monitoring and demand-supply matching, fostering sustainability. Challenges include scalability limitations, regulatory ambiguities, and the digital divide in rural areas. Theoretical/Methodological Contributions: The paper advances theoretical understanding by linking blockchain to ethical sourcing, sustainability, and farmer empowerment. Methodologically, it provides a framework for evaluating blockchain’s role in multi-stakeholder supply chains, emphasizing hybrid architectures and decentralized verification. The findings underscore blockchain’s potential as a foundational technology for equitable and resilient food systems.