The role of supply chains for the sustainability transformation of global food systems: a large‐scale, systematic review of food cold chains

Global food systems need an urgent transformation to be compatible with sustainable development. While much of the recent academic discussion has focused on food production and consumption, food supply chains have received considerably less attention. Here, we conduct a large-scale, systematic liter...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Trotter, PA, Becker, T, Renaldi, R, Wang, X, Khosla, R, Walther, G
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2023
_version_ 1824459301222088704
author Trotter, PA
Becker, T
Renaldi, R
Wang, X
Khosla, R
Walther, G
author_facet Trotter, PA
Becker, T
Renaldi, R
Wang, X
Khosla, R
Walther, G
author_sort Trotter, PA
collection OXFORD
description Global food systems need an urgent transformation to be compatible with sustainable development. While much of the recent academic discussion has focused on food production and consumption, food supply chains have received considerably less attention. Here, we conduct a large-scale, systematic literature review of 48,014 academic articles to assess the links between the food cold chain literature and sustainable development. We find a multitude of deep links between food cooling and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but also identify underexplored areas of sustainable food cooling research regarding its (1) goals, (2) analytical depth, and (3) context specificity: There is a limited understanding how several relevant synergies between SDGs can be captured, how to best design sustainable food cold chains across multiple value chain stages, and how to scale sustainable cold chains in low-income and lower-middle-income country contexts. We recommend to explicitly consider the salient interconnections between SDGs, increase the analytical depth by deploying more system-level approaches across entire value chains, and focus on localized solutions in contexts where food supply chains are most underdeveloped.
first_indexed 2025-02-19T04:39:36Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:7004ded7-2ecc-481a-bae2-90f06dc14d85
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2025-02-19T04:39:36Z
publishDate 2023
publisher Wiley
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:7004ded7-2ecc-481a-bae2-90f06dc14d852025-02-17T13:17:26ZThe role of supply chains for the sustainability transformation of global food systems: a large‐scale, systematic review of food cold chainsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:7004ded7-2ecc-481a-bae2-90f06dc14d85EnglishSymplectic ElementsWiley2023Trotter, PABecker, TRenaldi, RWang, XKhosla, RWalther, GGlobal food systems need an urgent transformation to be compatible with sustainable development. While much of the recent academic discussion has focused on food production and consumption, food supply chains have received considerably less attention. Here, we conduct a large-scale, systematic literature review of 48,014 academic articles to assess the links between the food cold chain literature and sustainable development. We find a multitude of deep links between food cooling and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but also identify underexplored areas of sustainable food cooling research regarding its (1) goals, (2) analytical depth, and (3) context specificity: There is a limited understanding how several relevant synergies between SDGs can be captured, how to best design sustainable food cold chains across multiple value chain stages, and how to scale sustainable cold chains in low-income and lower-middle-income country contexts. We recommend to explicitly consider the salient interconnections between SDGs, increase the analytical depth by deploying more system-level approaches across entire value chains, and focus on localized solutions in contexts where food supply chains are most underdeveloped.
spellingShingle Trotter, PA
Becker, T
Renaldi, R
Wang, X
Khosla, R
Walther, G
The role of supply chains for the sustainability transformation of global food systems: a large‐scale, systematic review of food cold chains
title The role of supply chains for the sustainability transformation of global food systems: a large‐scale, systematic review of food cold chains
title_full The role of supply chains for the sustainability transformation of global food systems: a large‐scale, systematic review of food cold chains
title_fullStr The role of supply chains for the sustainability transformation of global food systems: a large‐scale, systematic review of food cold chains
title_full_unstemmed The role of supply chains for the sustainability transformation of global food systems: a large‐scale, systematic review of food cold chains
title_short The role of supply chains for the sustainability transformation of global food systems: a large‐scale, systematic review of food cold chains
title_sort role of supply chains for the sustainability transformation of global food systems a large scale systematic review of food cold chains
work_keys_str_mv AT trotterpa theroleofsupplychainsforthesustainabilitytransformationofglobalfoodsystemsalargescalesystematicreviewoffoodcoldchains
AT beckert theroleofsupplychainsforthesustainabilitytransformationofglobalfoodsystemsalargescalesystematicreviewoffoodcoldchains
AT renaldir theroleofsupplychainsforthesustainabilitytransformationofglobalfoodsystemsalargescalesystematicreviewoffoodcoldchains
AT wangx theroleofsupplychainsforthesustainabilitytransformationofglobalfoodsystemsalargescalesystematicreviewoffoodcoldchains
AT khoslar theroleofsupplychainsforthesustainabilitytransformationofglobalfoodsystemsalargescalesystematicreviewoffoodcoldchains
AT waltherg theroleofsupplychainsforthesustainabilitytransformationofglobalfoodsystemsalargescalesystematicreviewoffoodcoldchains
AT trotterpa roleofsupplychainsforthesustainabilitytransformationofglobalfoodsystemsalargescalesystematicreviewoffoodcoldchains
AT beckert roleofsupplychainsforthesustainabilitytransformationofglobalfoodsystemsalargescalesystematicreviewoffoodcoldchains
AT renaldir roleofsupplychainsforthesustainabilitytransformationofglobalfoodsystemsalargescalesystematicreviewoffoodcoldchains
AT wangx roleofsupplychainsforthesustainabilitytransformationofglobalfoodsystemsalargescalesystematicreviewoffoodcoldchains
AT khoslar roleofsupplychainsforthesustainabilitytransformationofglobalfoodsystemsalargescalesystematicreviewoffoodcoldchains
AT waltherg roleofsupplychainsforthesustainabilitytransformationofglobalfoodsystemsalargescalesystematicreviewoffoodcoldchains