Environmental impacts of animal-based food supply chains with market characteristics

Quantifying and describing production waste in two urban healthcare centres with differing foodservice models

AIM

To quantify, describe, and compare production waste and food packaging waste in two healthcare centres with different foodservice models.

METHODS

In this observational study, all food wasted during production and all food packaging was measured by weight and cost over a 7-day period for two hospitals: Hospital A (800 beds, cook-on demand fresh, a la carte menu room service model) and Hospital B (60 beds, traditional cook chill retherm model with weekly cyclical menu and set meal times). Comparisons between sites were made per patient overnight bed day, as an indicator of hospital activity. The average daily waste was calculated, and costed by multiplying cost (AU$) food item/ kilogram by measured weight; to derive the cost of food waste per kilogram. Food waste by weight and cost per overnight bed day was used as a measure to compare the hospitals.

RESULTS

Over 7 days, Hospital A wasted 916.4 kg (AU$6937.22) and Hospital B wasted 69.7 kg (AU$417.10) of food. Most food wasted at both hospitals was edible (78.6% Hospital A and 93.5% Hospital B) and trayline contributed more food waste than bulk production. At both hospitals, plant-based foods comprised the greatest proportion of edible food waste by weight, but not by cost. When accounting for hospital activity, food waste was lower at Hospital A than at Hospital B (0.15 kg of food per overnight bed day and 0.30 kg, respectively). Hospital A generated 199.5 kg (0.03 kg per overnight bed day) of packaging waste compared to 32.2 kg (0.14 kg per overnight bed day) at Hospital B.

CONCLUSION

Findings suggest that food waste is costly, that food waste differs between hospitals with different foodservice models, and that overnight bed days is a useful metric for making comparisons. A cook-fresh, on-demand room service foodservice model resulted in less food and packaging waste.

Sustainability in Global Agri-Food Supply Chains: Insights from a Comprehensive Literature Review and the ABCDE Framework

The sustainability of global agricultural produce supply chains is crucial for ensuring global food security, fostering environmental protection, and advancing socio-economic development. This study integrates bibliometric analysis, knowledge mapping, and the ABCDE framework to conduct a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative analysis of 742 relevant articles from the Web of Science core database spanning January 2009 to July 2023. Initially, bibliometric analysis and knowledge mapping reveal the annual progression of research on the sustainability of global agricultural produce supply chains, the collaborative networks among research institutions and authors, and the geographic distribution of research activities worldwide, successfully pinpointing the current research focal points. Subsequently, the ABCDE framework, constructed from the quantitative findings, helps us identify and comprehend the antecedents, barriers and challenges, impacts, and driving forces affecting the sustainability of these supply chains. The study identifies globalization and technological advancement as the primary forces shaping the sustainability of agricultural produce supply chains, despite them also posing challenges such as resource constraints and environmental pressures. Moreover, the application of innovative technologies, the optimization of organizational models, and active stakeholder engagement are key to propelling supply chains toward more sustainable development, exerting a profound impact on society, the environment, and the economy. In conclusion, this study suggests future research directions. The integrated methodology presented offers new perspectives and deep insights into the complexities of sustainable global agricultural produce supply chains, demonstrating its potential to foster knowledge innovation and practical applications, providing valuable insights for academic research and policy formulation in this domain.

Intermodal travel planning and decision support integrated with transportation and energy systems

The fast urbanization in China makes it all the more important to find sustainable solutions that are both comprehensive and energy-efficient. Because of its important role in lowering logistical expenses and pollutant emissions, intermodal transport is generally seen as an effective method of coordinating transportation operations, helping to address the growing economic and environmental issues. Considering the characteristics of a growing city, this article lays out a multi-criteria method for selecting which new initiatives for China's public transportation system should be prioritized. "Electric municipality bus," "light rail system," and "modernization to the current fleet and optimization" are the three enhancement initiatives that are outlined. Using transportation-related economic, social, and environmental sub-criteria, this research applies TOPSIS, an analytic hierarchy method and fuzzy approach for order preference by resemblance to ideal circumstance application, to prioritize transportation projects. The study aims to improve city life in Chongqing, China, by identifying the most environmentally friendly development projects. Applying the analytical hierarchy method (AHP), the relative importance of several sustainability criteria was established for use in making strategic decisions. The alternative projects for the given city have been ranked using the fuzzy TOPSIS approach. However, the investigated results show the supportive response of hybrid to environmental sustainability and vice versa for non-hybrid vehicles. However, the energy consumption in public transport remains a leading hurdle in sustainability across the three modes of transport: taxis, rail transit and buses. Finally, computer trains in public transport also surprisingly deal with environmental sustainability to keep the current & forthcoming generation from ecological harm. However, theoretical and empirical policy suggestions have been proposed to become clean & green shortly.

Investigation of industry 4.0 technologies mediating effect on the supply chain performance and supply chain management practices

The aim of the present article purposefully explores how industry 4.0 may alter conventional methods of administration by performance of supply chain. Nowadays, the business activities/processes have been raised and all are directly associated with industrial revolution. Industry 4.0 acts as a go-between for improved supply chain efficiency and more traditional forms of logistics management. Discovering the transformative effects of industry 4.0 on supply chain management by reading on, however, SCM practices, this study considers the questioner-based data from September 2021 to March 2022 for China economy. Interestingly, the findings of structural equation model (SEM) describe the supportive response of revolution (the fourth industrial revolution) to supply chain management in the previously described field. The consequences of this research argue that the supportive role of technological progress in industrial revolution brings efficient supply chain management. Moreover, the performance indicators under the supply chain work well due to significant progress in industry 4.0. In concluding remarks, such types of advanced technologies serve as an intermediate between the management and practices of supply chain. However, the results provide light on the basic principles behind the success. In addition, these technologies make it possible to significantly improve the performance by allowing process unification, mechanization, and automation and introducing innovative analytic capabilities and supply chain operations including procurement, production, and inventory management, and marketing may work together more efficiently. Some of these processes include marketing, inventory management, and procurement. These improvements are attainable through the implementation of innovative scientific capabilities.

From concept to reality: leveraging green innovation and supply chain management for sustainable corporate performance

The aim of this study is to examine the potential effects that Industry 4.0, often known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and its accompanying technology improvements may have on SCMP and SC performance. Industry 4.0 impacts both the methods and productivity of supply chain management. Therefore, this study conceptualizes and develops an operational framework backed by SEM to examine the impact of Industry 4.0 on S.C. performance. This study employs a structural equation model (SEM) to estimate variables in India between September 2021 and March 2022 owing to the many advantages of the SEM over other estimators. The research shows that by implementing Industry 4.0-enabled technologies, businesses can improve SCM performance significantly through a holistic strategy that emphasizes supply chain integration, information sharing, and transparency. First, the results indicate that the supply chain management practices influence the Industry 4.0 technologies adoption. Second, the results revealed that Industry 4.0 technologies significantly positively affect supply chain performance measures. Finally, Industry 4.0 technologies mediated the relations between supply chain management practices and supply chain performance measures. Moreover, these technologies allow for huge performance improvements within individual supply chain processes such as procurement, production, inventory management and retailing by enabling process integration, digitization and automation, and bringing about novel analytical capabilities.

Macroeconomic determinants and their impact on environmental sustainability: the role of cultural and creative product prices

China has to deal with the twin challenges of economic structural reform and carbon emission reduction against global warming. While investing in and constructing new infrastructure is great for the economy, it has also added to the carbon emissions of major cities. The product design industry has recently become increasingly interested in creating and pricing cultural and creative goods in specific provinces. Thanks to the burgeoning global cultural and creative sector, a new platform has opened up for the evolution and modernization of China's ancient cultural practices. Cultural creativity has broken the rigid design and production pattern of traditional products from a business point of view, increasing their economic advantages and competition. Also, this study examines ICT's main and moderate effect on carbon emissions in the 27 provinces of China's economy from 2003 to 2019 using panel estimators. The estimated outcomes show the positive contribution to environmental damages by physical capital, tourism, cultural product prices, innovative, creative prices, and trade openness, while ICT significantly reduces emissions. Besides the moderate role of the digital economy on physical capital, tourism, CP, ICP, and tourism significantly reduce CO2 emissions. However, the granger causality outcomes also show a robust analysis. Furthermore, this study also proposes some interesting policies to obtain environmental sustainability.

Food Systems Transformation for Child Health and Well-Being: The Essential Role of Dairy

Malnutrition, in all its forms, during the critical stages of child growth and development can have lifelong impacts on health and well-being. While most forms of malnutrition can be prevented with simple dietary interventions, both undernutrition and overnutrition remain persistent and burdensome challenges for large portions of the global population, especially for young children who are dependent on others for nourishment. In addition to dietary factors, children's health also faces the growing challenges of climate change, environmental degradation, pollution, and infectious disease. Food production and consumption practices both sit at the nexus of these issues, and both must be significantly transformed if we are to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Food sources (i.e., animal-source foods vs. plant-source foods), food production practices, the effects of food processing, the impacts of a more globalized food system, and food loss and waste have all been receiving growing attention in health and sustainability research and policy discussions. Much of this work points to recommendations to reduce resource-intensive animal-source foods, heavily processed foods, and foods associated with excessive waste and pollution, while simultaneously increasing plant-source options. However, some of these recommendations require a little more nuance when considered in the context of issues such as global child health. All types of foods can play significant roles in providing essential nutrition for children across the globe, and for improving the well-being and livelihoods of their families and communities. Dairy foods provide a prime example of this need for nuance, as both dairy production practices and consumption patterns vary greatly throughout the world, as do their impacts on child health and food system sustainability. The objective of this narrative review is to highlight the role of dairy in supporting child health in the context of food system sustainability. When considering child health within this context it is recommended to take a holistic approach that considers all four domains of sustainability (health, economics, society, and the environment) to better weigh trade-offs, optimize outcomes, and avoid unintended consequences. To ensure that children have access to nutritious and safe foods within sustainable food systems, special consideration of their needs must be included within the broader food systems transformation narrative.