The impact of product deterioration on the (re)design of food supply chain networks: an application to a perishable food supply chain

Zhang, J, Kirst, P, Luo, R, Li, X, de Leeuw, S ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3056-8775 and Claassen, GDH, 2025. The impact of product deterioration on the (re)design of food supply chain networks: an application to a perishable food supply chain. Journal of the Operational Research Society. ISSN 0160-5682

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Abstract

Given the increasing demand for freshness, the need to reduce food waste, and ensure food safety, it is crucial to consider quality deterioration processes in the (re)design of food supply chains (FSCs). Past developments in FSCs focused foremost on efficiency and economic profitability, resulting in large-scale centralized processing facilities. This has become a liability as efficiency in large-scale processing limits product differentiation and flexibility. Decentralized (upstream) pre-processing and improved pre-treatments can affect product deterioration in an early stage, resulting in more diverse and intermediate product flows that can be used in existing and new value chains and provide new markets. To identify the benefits of alternative supply chain structures, we propose a generic model based on mixed-integer linear programming. The modelling structures are applicable to a broad variety of different (food) supply chains. Both strategic network design aspects and gradual quality deterioration processes can be incorporated. We demonstrate the applicability of the model through an existing fruit supply chain in China. The results show that decentralized pre-processing can mitigate quality deterioration processes and enhance the total profit of the chain, reduce the energy use in the supply chain, and have a positive impact on social equity.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Journal of the Operational Research Society
Creators:	Zhang, J., Kirst, P., Luo, R., Li, X., de Leeuw, S. and Claassen, G.D.H.
Publisher:	Informa UK Limited
Date:	30 July 2025
ISSN:	0160-5682
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1080/01605682.2025.2537882 DOI 2487155 Other
Rights:	© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Divisions:	Schools > Nottingham Business School
Record created by:	Laura Borcherds
Date Added:	20 Aug 2025 13:39
Last Modified:	20 Aug 2025 13:39
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/54236

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