Leveraging core capabilities and environmental dynamism for food traceability and firm performance in a food supply chain: A moderated mediation model

This paper develops a moderated mediation model in which the interactive effects of food traceability and environmental dynamism on firm performance are mediated by the core capabilities(operating capabilities and marketing capabilities)in food supply chain context, by invoking the indirect view of organizational learning theory. Our hypotheses were tested using hierarchical regression and bootstrapping methods with a sample of 216 food manufacturing firms in China, and a survey-based, two-informant design was used to collect data. The results revealed that operating and marketing capabilities fully mediate the food traceability-performance link. In addition, environmental dynamism positively moderates the food traceability-core capabilities link. Moreover, it is found that operating and marketing capabilities transform the interactive impacts of environmental dynamism and food traceability into firm performance. Our study offers a fine-grained picture of the essential food traceability-performance link by revealing for the first time that there is an interactive impacts of food traceability and environmental dynamism on firm performance via core capabilities.

Direct farm, production base, traceability and food safety in China

With the rapid growth of China＇s economy, rising demand for safety food has been accompanied by frequent food safety scandals. Given that China＇s farming is dominated by millions of small-scale farms, ensuring food safety is a major challenge facing the public and private sectors. The direct farm （DF） program, initiated in 2008, represents one of the government＇s major initiatives to modernize the distribution of fresh fruit and vegetables （FFV） and improve food safety. Under the DF program, participating national and international retailers are expected to establish more direct procurement relationships with farm communities. While it is often claimed that greater participation by retailers in the production and post-harvest processing implied the DF program will lead to improved quality, safety and traceability, systematic evidence remains elu- sive as existing studies are largely narrative, based on case studies, or theoretical inference. Little empirical evidence is available for a broader evaluation of the DF program. This paper aims to fill this gap by assessing the overall performance of a single retailer＇s DF experience with respect to the procurement and food safety of FFV. We use data from a survey of production managers of 35 DF production bases （PBs） spread across 11 provinces, 3 cities and 1 autonomous region in China. The results show a mixture of opportunities and challenges. On one hand, the DF program improves production practices and distribution channels of FFV produced on its PBs, thus facilitating the move of China＇s food system towards improved food safety compliance. On the other hand, significant heterogeneity in the traceability of food and the ability of DF to meet higher safety standards is evident both across major product categories and across household-operated vs. firm-operated PBs. The paper concludes with policy implications.

Food Safety Traceability Systems in the Maritime Catering Logistics

This paper aims to explore food safety traceability in the onboard food and beverage operations on cruise ships through a case study approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with galley and foodservice staff. Additionally, a self-administered questionnaire was designed and distributed to logistics managers and employees of three Egyptian cruise companies. Results indicated that cruise ships in this study use paper-based and manually-entered (electronically stored) data traceability systems. Managing food safety by effective product recall, complying with legislation, and improving product quality are among the most important perceived benefits identified by foodservice staff. Maintaining a good reputation, ensuring food safety, reducing foodborne illnesses, suppliers' commitment to quality specifications, and maintaining guest confidence are considered the most important benefits from implementing a food traceability system. The results also depicted that the challenges managers face implementing or improving a food traceability system included high cost, absence of unified traceability standards between cruise companies and food suppliers, shortage of skilled staff, and lack of knowledge and satisfaction with current foodservice operation systems onboard cruise ships. Other findings elucidated that the critical success factors for implementing traceability included strict food traceability legislation, ensuring the adequacy and correctness of traceability information, adopting a food traceability system by the cruise company management, the standardization of food traceability information identification, and technology support for food traceability systems implementation from government. Other factors were reported of less importance. This research concluded the urgent need for more cooperation between cruise companies, food suppliers, and relevant governmental authorities to adopt food traceability systems and the need of authorizing and setting compulsory standards and regulations.

Willingness of farmers to participate in food traceability systems:improving the level of food safety

In order to solve frequently emerging food safety problems and adapt to the developing trends in the international food safety field, the Chinese government is establishing and developing food traceability systems. Whether or not food traceability sys- tems can guarantee food safety is a problem well worth discussing. Hence, we constructed a theoretical model to explore the effect of incentives in a food traceability system in order to improve food safety levels. The following results were obtained： enhancing the ef- fectiveness of a food traceability system, increasing the payment to farmers who supply safe agricultural products and strengthening the penalty for unsafe food supply actions are necessary conditions to improve the level of food safety. How to encourage farmers to use food traceability systems is another problem explored in our investigation. Based on a field survey on the willingness of vegetable growers to participate using a vegetable traceability system in Beijing, the first city in China to develop such a system, we used a de- scriptive statistics and a binary logistic regression model to investigate the factors which dominate the decision on the part of farmers to participate in a food safety system. The results indicate that i： younger farmers are more likely to get involved in a food traceability system than older farmers, ii： income from non-agricultural activities decreases the willingness of farmers to participate, iii： the high- er the cost-benefit ratio of growing vegetables, the more likely for farmers to engage in a food traceability system, iv： farmers with a great concern for food safety information have a high propensity to participate and v： increased penalties against unsafe food supply actions and high-risk expectation are adverse incentives. In contrast, high-price expectation is a positive incentive for farmers to par- ticipate, while agricultural training, government subsidies and being part of an industrial organization will significantly strengthen the confidence of farmers to participate in a food safety system.

Food safety inspection and the adoption of traceability in aquatic wholesale markets: A game-theoretic model and empirical evidence

Supply chain traceability is key to reduce food safety risks,since it allows problems to be traced to their sources. Moreover,it allows regulatory agencies to understand where risk is introduced into the supply chain,and offers a major disincentive for upstream agricultural businesses engaging in economically motivated adulteration. This paper focuses on the aquatic supply chain in China,and seeks to understand the adoption of traceability both through an analytical model,and empirical analysis based on data collected through an extensive (largest ever) field survey of Chinese aquatic wholesale markets. The field survey includes 76 managers and 753 vendors,covering all aquatic wholesale markets in Zhejiang and Hunan provinces. The analytical and empirical results suggest that the adoption of traceability among wholesale market vendors is significantly associated with inspection intensity,their individual history of food safety problems,and their risk awareness. The effect of inspection intensity on traceability adoption is stronger in markets which are privately owned than in markets with state/collective ownership. The analysis offers insights into the current state of traceability in China. More importantly,it suggests several hypothesized factors that might affect the adoption of traceability and could be leveraged by regulatory organizations to improve it.

A Food Traceability Framework Based on Permissioned Blockchain

In recent years,food safety problems have become increasingly serious.The traditional supply chain traceability solution faces some serious problems,such as centralization,data tampering,and high communication costs.To solve these problems,this paper proposes a food traceability framework based on permissioned blockchain.The proposed framework is decentralized,and the supply chain data of the framework cannot be tampered with.The framework divides supply chain entities into five organizations,and each organization deploys its own chaincode onto the blockchain.The chaincode specifies the query permission of each organization,which can effectively protect the user’s sensitive information.The PBFT consensus algorithm adopted by the framework improves the performance of processing transactions.The transactional throughput experiment shows that the proposed framework can achieve a high number of transactions per second.Query efficiency experiment demonstrates that the framework has lower query latency and good user experience.

Government drive,economic induction,and construction of food traceability systems:An empirical study based on supermarket samples from 'first-tier' and 'Olympic' cities in China

Food traceability systems are capable of overcoming or alleviating problems caused by incomplete and asymmetric information on food markets.This study conducts an empirical analysis using 308 supermarket samples from China's Beijing,Guangzhou,and Qingdao to determine the factors that influence supermarket behavior when operating traceability systems.The results show that operating profits(generated from food traceability systems),scale of operation,level of economic development(of a city),and government subsidies will positively affect the decision of supermarkets to use traceability systems.At the same time,government policies promoting food traceability systems should have a long-term role.

Finite State Automaton for Food Traceability

To model the operation of food traceability, features of food supply chain are studied. The aim of the paper is to build an abstract model of food traceability, and to gain better understanding of food traceability and food safety. Based on the analysis of consumers＇ behavior of searching for traceability information, a finite state automaton for food traceability is presented by using automata theory. The states of the food supply chain are represented by a state transition diagram. The automaton in this paper simulates the entire food supply chain and provides a theoretical basis for the behavior description and structural design of a food traceability system.

Application of DNA Fingerprinting Technique in Adulterated Food Identification and Traceability

To further improvc the application of DNA fingerprinting technique in adulterated food identification and traceability, the paper briefly introduced the ap- plication of common DNA fingerprinting techniques, such as species-specific PCR, RAPD, AFLP, ISSR, SSR and SNP in adulterated food identification and traceability.

Study on Causes of Slow Progress in Promoting the Application of Food Traceability System in China

Chinese government has attempted to promote food traceability system with all strength,but the application process of this system is very slow. The reason is that the adopters have a low level of system application,which causes the system to be invalid at the source of traceability. This paper applies literature research method to analyze the influencing factors for slow application process of the food traceability system in China from various angles including manufacturer,technology,consumer and law,and further concludes that the applying intention of manufacturers,cognizing and purchasing intentions of consumers,and legal environment are important factors for slow progress of system application. On the basis of the research conclusions,the paper proposes practical ways for better construction of food traceability system in China.

Traceability: Availability and Efficiency among Food Industries in Ghana

Food traceability systems availability and efficiency was investigated using 74 food businesses along the food chain in Ghana. Questionnaire with closed and open ended questions were given to purposefully sampled staff in key positions in the food businesses to answer on qualification of technical personnel, availability of documentation procedure and how these businesses were controlling traceability systems. Most food businesses were using Higher National Diploma graduates in the technical/supervisory positions. Documentation was poor and although there was awareness on trace- ability across the food businesses, implementation and maintenance was not effective. Only 23.8% manufactur- ing/processing units, 20% hospitals, 16.7% hotels and 14.8% schools could complete traceability test within 4 hours. It was recommended that more short training programmes on quality and safety be designed for workers in the food in- dustry by appropriate institutions while science students from the Senior High Schools are encouraged to enroll on food science and food manufacturing technology programs to improve on the current situation.

A Food Traceability System Based on Blockchain and Radio Frequency Identification Technologies

The frequent occurrence of food safety accidents at the global level has triggered consumer sensitivity. Establishing a food traceability system can effectively guarantee food safety and increase consumer confidence and satisfaction. Existing food traceability systems often ignore environmental factors that affect food quality at all stages of the supply chain, and the authenticity of the information obtained through traceability is difficult to guarantee. In this study, a food supply chain traceability model was established based on blockchain and radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies. The model focused on the traceability of environmental data during the various stages of the food supply chain and combined a centralized database and blockchain for data storage. The lot identification data of the various supply chain stages were stored in a centralized database, while the environmental data were stored in a blockchain. Thereby, the authenticity and accuracy of the traceability data were ensured. The blockchain part of the model has been simulated in the Ethereum test environment, and the experiment has achieved traceability of temperature data.

区块链食品追溯系统对消费者食品安全信任的影响机制

运用信任转移理论和D&M信息系统成功模型,构建基于区块链追溯的食品安全信任模型,深入探讨区块链食品追溯系统对消费者食品安全信任的机制。研究发现,系统质量、信息质量可以显著促进消费者食品安全信任,系统信任和供应商信任在此过程中起到了显著的中介作用,区块链知识在系统信任到食品安全信任转移过程中存在显著的正向调节作用。据此提出通过建设和维护区块链食品追溯系统,收集和分析系统数据,优化系统质量和信息披露,普及区块链知识等措施,增强消费者对食品的信任感,进一步提升食品安全水平。

基于文献计量学分析的全球食品追溯研究进展

食品追溯是确保食品质量与安全的重要手段,本文对2001—2022年科学引文索引数据库收录的食品追溯论文进行计量分析和可视化呈现,以便为国内食品追溯的进一步研究和开发提供参考。结果发现:全球共有80个国家/地区、1 136个研究机构、3 020名作者、255种期刊开展了食品追溯研究,跨国家/地区合作、多学科交叉融合频繁;中国、意大利、美国、西班牙、荷兰等表现出较大的研究体量与较强的合作关系,意大利、美国、荷兰、西班牙食品追溯研究的总体质量较高,研究领域集中在食品科学技术、化学、农业、工程学上,在计算机科学、生态学与环境学、饮食与营养学领域也有较多研究成果。研究热点有食品质量与安全、食品供应链管理、原产地、追溯技术、食品鉴别与认证、支付意愿等。未来学术前沿将围绕基于工业4.0的智能食品追溯系统、以全基因组学和下一代测序技术为代表的食品真实性检测鉴别技术以及食品追溯系统主体参与动力、利益博弈和溢价支付的机制3个方面展开。

论预制菜的安全追溯体系

预制菜行业发展迅速,但与之配套的安全追溯体系却未能及时建立。实践中,预制菜的安全追溯体系面临着主体分工不明确,追溯范围不清晰以及识别技术不统一等问题。为了预制菜行业的可持续发展,实现预制菜去向可追、来源可查、责任可定,有必要建立起预制菜的安全追溯体系。分析了预制菜行业的食品安全问题,总结了现行食品安全追溯体系的现状与不足,并提出了完善预制菜安全追溯体系的路径,指出应在食品安全法律规范的基础上,明确预制菜安全追溯体系的追溯主体、追溯范围和识别技术,以期推动预制菜行业健康发展,使预制菜吃得放心,用得安心。

区块链食品可追溯系统对消费者惠顾意愿的影响研究

区块链能有效解决食品供应链中因信息不对称导致的食品安全问题,但是其相关技术在零售商端口如何应用且发挥作用的研究仍非常有限。因此,立足于零售商视角,基于信任理论,通过三个消费者实验,探究了区块链食品可追溯系统对消费者惠顾意愿的影响。结果表明:消费者更加倾向于惠顾采用区块链食品可追溯系统的零售商店(实验一);零售商信任(能力、善意、正直)在其中发挥中介作用(实验二);该中介作用受到广告诉求的调节,相比利己诉求,利他诉求更能通过区块链系统提升消费者的信任与惠顾意愿(实验三)。因此,食品零售商应积极采用区块链食品可追溯系统并注意配合使用相应的广告策略,政府可通过大力推动区块链食品可追溯系统在零售中的应用来更好地治理食品安全问题。

《中华人民共和国渔业法修订草案(征求意见稿)》对渔获物可追溯制度的构建

近来日本核污染水排放计划及其实施使渔获物可追溯制度举世瞩目,虽然普遍性的国际条约短期内难以达成,但各具特色的国别渔获物可追溯制度竞相出现。《中华人民共和国渔业法修订草案(征求意见稿)》虽然提出“渔获物可追溯制度”,但未明确其定义、范围、违法责任和执行机制。作为渔获物进出口大国,渔获物可追溯制度对于我国打击IUU捕捞、保障渔业对外贸易和食品安全具有重要意义。文章基于我国类似制度安排和实践经验,参考国际上有关制度的相关规定,提出并论证渔获物可追溯制度的实质要素及最优立法模式,以此推进规则的全国统一和国际化进程。

我国冷链食品追溯体系发展现状分析与建议

食品安全追溯体系作为食品安全治理体系的重要组成部分,在传递食品安全信息、缓解食品安全市场信息不对称和增强消费者信心方面起到了重要作用。我国冷链食品追溯体系已初步建立和实施,但在标准体系、追溯能力及追溯技术等方面存在着一些问题。从冷链食品追溯相关政策、标准等方面梳理了我国冷链食品追溯体系现状、存在的问题及面临的挑战,结合我国实际情况提出相应的建议,为我国冷链食品追溯体系建设及监管提供参考依据,以促进我国冷链食品追溯体系的进一步发展和完善。

基于区块链的农产品供应链溯源研究综述

中国的农产品供应链是一个多利益主体共同参与、多阶段多链路、动态可扩展网链的人机复合系统,使得基于区块链的农产品供应链溯源系统面临着链上信息泄露和溯源信息造假的管理实践挑战.本研究结合我国农产品供应链特点,从建设基于区块链的农产品供应链溯源系统的实际需求以及应用实践出发,对区块链技术及应用、区块链中的隐私保护与农产品信息安全、信任传递与融合方法这三个方面对国内外相关研究进行综述,并据此提出我国建设这类溯源系统的两个核心难题--“如何建”和“如何查”.针对这两个难题,从管理科学视角各提出四类关键科学问题,展望未来研究的发展趋势,并从应用实践层面提出基于区块链的农产品供应链溯源系统的发展建议.

代谢组学在谷物食品中的应用研究进展

谷物食品是人类每日能量、蛋白质和膳食纤维摄入的主要来源。随着人们生活水平的不断提升,谷物食品的营养价值、质量安全和食用品质备受关注。谷物代谢组学作为一个新兴且快速发展的“代谢组学”分支,在量化和分析各种代谢产物方面取得了快速发展。本文综述了代谢组学技术的分析流程,以及其在谷物食品成分鉴定、风味物质鉴定、产地溯源、新产品开发等方面的应用,并对代谢组学在谷物食品领域的发展趋势进行了展望,以期为谷物食品深度开发与应用提供参考。