Impact of product perishability on agri-food supply chains design

The agri-food sector is the largest manufacturing sector in Europe. It employs more than four million people and produces a revenue of more than one trillion euro [1] . Up to 88 million tons of food are wasted every year in Europe, which accounts for 20% of production [2] . Therefore, the economic and environmental sustainability of European countries is, to some extent, linked to the sustainability of agri-food supply chains (AFSC), which means that any improvement in the economic and environmental efficiency of AFSCs will positively impact Europeans' lives. Bearing this objective in mind, researchers have proposed mathematical programming models (MPM) to solve agri-food Perishability of agri-food products impacts the economic, environmental, and social aspects of agri-food supply chains (AFSCs). Product perishability is, usually, considered in tactical and operational decisions, but not in strategic ones, such as the design of the AFSC. The contribution of this paper is that it investigates the impact of product perishability on an AFSC design. To do so, first, a novel mixed-integer linear programming model is proposed to design entire AFSCs with multiple-products, which considers capacity, planting, harvesting, transporting and perishability constraints for a multiple-period horizon. A set of scenarios is generated by varying products' shelf life and analysed. The results show that product perishability is relevant when designing AFSCs, especially for products with a short shelf life. The results show that an AFSC's economic performance improves when product perishability is considered. The model can also help in determining the investment needed extend products shelf life while remaining profitable. Other uses could include tactical planning for chains already in place. (c) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The agri-food sector is the largest manufacturing sector in Europe, employing over four million people and generating revenue exceeding one trillion euro. However, up to 88 million tons of food are wasted annually in Europe, which highlights the importance of sustainability in agri-food supply chains. Product perishability has a significant impact on supply chain design and economic performance, especially for products with short shelf lives.