The Process of Food Supply Chain - Essay Example

? Food Supply Chain Food supply chain is a complex process where farmer, supplier, producer and also retailers are involved into it. Each ofthe stages of supply chain is very crucial regarding the quality and the hygiene factor of factor as ultimately it determines the human health as well as occurrence different kind of disease. This study is about a detail analysis of each process of the food supply chain and has highlighted the possible hazards involved in the process and also provided possible solutions to assess the problems. Table of Contents Introduction 4 Operations 4 Key processes 6 Problem findings 8 Recommendation 8 Reference 10 Introduction The global food industry relies on the web of intercompany relationship. There is an interaction among the individuals and the institutions involved in the food industry. These are vendors, food packaging providers, co-manufacturers, re-packers, brokers and other suppliers. To become an efficient supplier of a food processing company, an individual or a business needs a substantial amount of investment due to develop the quality maintenance process of food ingredients. By the effective action plans, the prevention of production as well as distribution of contaminated foods can be done which is the key value of supply chain in food industry. To ensure safe production and the distribution of the food product, the companies in the food industry need to engage efficient suppliers who can provide quality ingredients, packaging materials through efficient distribution process and medium that compliment food companies’ key goals. So supply chain process needs to be of high standard and quality because food is the main determinants of peoples’ health and it is the most critical factor, for which this industry is responsible (Ruteri, 2009, p.3). Operations The overall operations of supply chain of food products involve collection, storage, processing and distribution of food commodities. Food supply chain is an interconnection among different organizations, individuals, activities, information, resources and technologies which are involved in the different stages and processes of supply chain like production, collection, storage, processing and distribution. These processes involve different critical disciplines and efficient logistical stages. Quality retention and hygienic factor of foods are maintained in each stage from sourcing of food ingredients to on time delivery to the individual customers (Maurer, 2003). Few important terms are very popular in the area of the food supply chain like “farm to fork” and sometimes “paddock to plate”. These terms are used to mention the length of supply chain process and the two end participants of supply chains are the producer of food ingredients and the final consumers. In-between them there are many people involved in this process. The growers of food ingredients i.e. basically the farmers are responsible for efficient cultivation and production of different crops which is influenced by few more things like the quality of seeds, climate, soil and fertilizers to boost the production level. These cultivated food products are consumed by food production companies as the ingredients for process food products and also directly consumed by individuals in the form of fresh fruit and vegetables. There are suppliers who take the cultivated crops from the growers and supply those to the manufacturers or the producers of processed foods. The quality of the ingredients depends on the storage and the distribution process of the suppliers. This process has not much effect on the quality of the processed food produced by the food production companies as they take shorted foods only from the suppliers (GMA, 2008, p.8). Some producers take damage ingredients from the suppliers in low price in order to reduce the cost of production of processed foods so that they can sale the final product in low prices and can compete in price even with the big companies who believe in the quality sources of ingredients and productions. Up to this stage, there is also an influence of the packaging companies who take responsibility of maintaining the quality of the ingredients by their efficient packaging services. The food producing companies produce different processed foods and ready to eat foods by the quality processing of ingredients. Then again the role of contract packaging companies come that manufacture the packaging materials according the category of the food and provide the packaging services. Next the role of distribution or the transportation companies who only provide transportation of final food products or also provide services for the suppliers of ingredients for the food companies. Once the finished products reach to the retail outlets or the supermarkets from the producer or the wholesaler, the final consumer can get access to the product and also expected a good quality product as these are food product. Products are distributed in small retail shops, grocery shops, departmental stores and supermarkets, hypermarkets also. The large retailers like multinational supermarkets or hypermarkets promote the products to influence the consumers’ buying decision through discounts and different types of offers especially they want to influence the consumers for bulk purchase so that to increase the sales volume. Finally the consumers buy the products for preparation of homemade food or to consume directly the products like ready to eat foods, snacks, beverages, confectionary products etc. Now the supply chain is completed and the phrase “farm to fork” the straightway process of supply chain is completed (Ali & Chandra, 2005, p.2). It is not necessary that the supply chain ends till the product life. Post consumer stages also come under the supply chain. This stage includes the waste disposal and the effective management of uneaten foods. Approximately one fourth of total consumed foods are thrown out as wastage because of consumers buy more perishable foods than they need or in another concept they serve more than they can eat. This stage is more effective in the case fresh food products with a limited quality life. Key processes The important processes or stages of the supply chain are sources of food ingredients and raw material, storage and transportation and food production. The interdependencies among these stages or processes are far complicated and risk involved in reality than theoretical approach. In these stages of supply chain the quality management is involved which is the main factor in each stage of food supply chain processes. Food ingredients: Food supply chain starts with ingredients or the raw materials. For the food production it is the important stages which involve selection of quality raw materials and efficient sources which determine the quality of the desired end products. Suppliers of ingredients are responsible to meet the requirements of the producers of processed foods and also producer of very low life food like fast foods. There are many small suppliers who involves in this process to ensure the availability of required volume. As the quality factor of foods starts with this stages so there needs to trace the source of the food and the quality or the post harvest duration of the food ingredients which determine the quality of raw materials in food industry. Storage and Transport: It is another important stage in food supply chain. The growers or the farmers are the initial transporter of the cultivated crops as for small production they only supply the products to the wholesaler or the supply companies who supply these to the large food processing units. For the fruits the suppliers only involve on the transportation process from the field to the storage houses. The post harvest foods are also sold directly to the individual customers in the vegetable market where these are bought for home processing of foods. The packaging is also involved in this stages and it also very important long distance supply especially for international supply. Food production: The food processing companies are highly involved and responsible for the production of end food product with good quality through some efficient stages of production. In the commercial food production process, multiple of food ingredients or raw materials and other essential components are undergone for the transformation of variety of foods of different recipes i.e. taste and flavored. There are multiple of stages involved in the final food production process and each of these stages is complicated and also quality management is the main factor in these stages. Again packaging is added to the produced food which protects the quality and the hygiene factor of the food. Then efficient transportation helps to make the processed foods available for the final consumer in the retail stores (Georgiadis, Vlachos & Iakovou, 2004, p.335). Problem findings Safety is very important in the production process of food and also in the other stages of the food supply chain. The ultimate goal of a supply chain would be a product which is safe to eat. Only the manufacturers are bound by the law to make this happen. Finding the problems or hazards in food supply process is very essential to assess possible problem before it affects the human life. Generally three different types of problems or hazards arise in the overall food supply chin especially in the production process. These are Chemical, Biological and Physical hazards. Chemical hazards are like cleaning of fluids used in the production process; fertilizers used in cultivation process of ingredients which badly affects the hygiene factor and so the quality of the food. Biological hazards are like food poisoning because of the contamination of different kind bacteria, viral infection etc. Physical hazards are like stones and other non eatable elements present in the food (Tondel, & Woods, 2006, p.24). Recommendation The hazards affect the hygiene factor and quality of the food which cause different kind of disease. To assess this factors the production systems are needs to be describes first according the instruction each stages of production need to be done. Possible risk associated in every stages production and the cause of that need to find out so that these not happen. The quality control need to be efficient to stop the presence of those hazards in the production process. Record keeping of each process needs to be efficiently documented for transparent production process and the quality food production. Reference Ali. N. & Chandra, P. 2005. Supply Chain Management in Food Processing Industry. Retrieve on May 1, 2012. < http://www.iiml.ac.in/events/C15_05_Nawab_Ali.pdf>. Georgiadis, P., Vlachos, D. & Iakovou, E. 2004. A system dynamics modeling framework for the strategic supply chain management of food chains. Retrieve on May 1, 2012. < http://www.cob.unt.edu/slides/Pany/Simulation_paper/Systemdynamic3.pdf>. GMA. 2008. Food Supply Chain handbook. Retrieve on May 1, 2012. < http://www.gmaonline.org/downloads/technical-guidance-and-tools/GMA_SupplyChain2.pdf>. Maurer, H. 2003. Beyond Fresh Food Supply Chain Management. Retrieve on May 1, 2012. < http://www.imcassociation.edu/journals/article_abstract.aspx?aid=165>. Ruteri. J. M. 2009. Supply Chain Management and Challenges Facing the Food Industry Sector in Tanzania. Retrieve on May 1, 2012. < http://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ijbm/article/view/3706>. Tondel, F. & Woods, T. 2006. Supply Chain Management and the Changing Structure of U.S. Organic Produce Markets. Retrieve on May 1, 2012. < http://www.uky.edu/Ag/NewCrops/organic.pdf>. Read More