Development of a single period inventory planning model for perishable product redistribution

Considering that more than 100 million EU citizens face the risk of poverty or social exclusion, while at the same time 35% of perishable food in the EU is unnecessarily discarded at supermarkets, the redistribution of the perishable food surpluses could provide an economically feasible solution towards the confrontation of poverty and the minimization of food waste. Under this context, the purpose of this paper is to propose a novel quantitative decision-making tool that optimizes a retailer's replenishment policy for perishable products while minimizing the amount of perishable items discarded after they approach their expiration dates, through the timely donation of a part of their net stocks.