From farm to fork: Examining the differences between local and global food supply chains

Current advances in LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS coupled with chemometrics for integrated food analysis and quality control.

This study examines the cross-jurisdictional legal challenges in addressing cybercrime involving private blockchain technology in the global food supply chain. The research aims to identify cybersecurity risks, evaluate the adequacy of national and international regulations, and analyze mitigation strategies implemented by companies. A qualitative approach with a case study design was used, involving in-depth interviews with company managers, IT security teams, and regulators, as well as observations of blockchain implementation and documentation analysis. The findings indicate that private blockchains, while improving traceability and transparency, remain vulnerable to internal threats, malware, phishing, and system vulnerabilities. Legal challenges include overlapping jurisdictions, regulatory differences, and complex extradition processes, which hinder timely law enforcement. Companies adopt comprehensive mitigation strategies, including role-based access control, secure smart contracts, encryption, and collaboration with international regulators. The study concludes that an integrative approach combining technological safeguards, internal governance, and cross-jurisdictional legal coordination is critical to ensuring data integrity, regulatory compliance, and the resilience of global food supply chains to cyberthreats. This research contributes to understanding the intersection of blockchain technology, cybersecurity, and international law in the context of global trade.

Book review: Beyond global food supply chains: crisis, disruption, regeneration

The global food supply chain is highly susceptible to spoilage and contamination risks, posing severe health hazards to consumers. This creates the need for preservation and safety-monitoring methods to reduce the exposure of both industries and consumers to these risks. Recent innovations using functional materials to construct nano- and microrobots of different shapes and sizes show substantial improvements in optimizing various food processes. Here we review the benefits of applying autonomous functional microrobotics to food science and technology, focusing on applications in food safety control, preservation and processing. We identify current limitations specific to each application and general constraints that must be overcome to transition from proof of concept to real-world implementation in the food industry.

Nanotechnology, a rapidly evolving discipline, shows remarkable promises for revolutionizing a wide range of industries, offering innovative solutions to long-lasting challenges. In the research Within the food sector, packaging and preservation, the application of nanoparticles (NPs) represents a significant breakthrough, enhancing product freshness, safety and reducing waste. Widely studied NPs such as copper oxide (CuO), silver (Ag), magnesium oxide (MgO), titanium dioxide (TiO2), silicon dioxide (SiO2), zinc oxide (ZnO), carbon dots, graphene, chitosan and mesoporous particles have demonstrated remarkable potential in extending product’s freshness and reduce safety risks by inhibiting microbial growth and lowering spoilage in tomato, broccoli, spinach and other green vegetables. This review highlights the utilization of NPs, including Ag, ZnO, TiO2, SiO2, nanoclay and nanochitosan as well as nanoencapsulation techniques, in food systems. Furthermore, it explores how nanotechnology can revolutionize food packaging and preservation by enabling more effective, efficient and environmentally sustainable practices, ultimately contributing to a greener and more secure global food supply chain.

This study presents a bibliometric analysis of research trends and knowledge gaps in the area of food security and international trade. The purpose of this study is to identify the effect of international trade on food security. We conducted a comprehensive review of academic literature published between 2000 and 2022 using the Scopus database. The findings suggest that research on food security and international trade has grown substantially, with a particular focus on issues related to trade liberalization, agricultural productivity, and food aid. However, there are several areas where further research is needed, including the impact of trade agreements on food security, the role of small-scale farmers in global food systems, and the effects of climate change on food security. Furthermore, trade policies also can give negative impact to the domestic production and also can led to disruptions in the global food supply chain, which will affect food prices. This study contributes to a better understanding of the research trends and knowledge gaps in the field of food security and international trade and can inform future research and policy discussions on this important topic. This study adds value to the existing literature by highlighting areas for further research, ultimately contributing to a better understanding of how international trade policies and agreements can impact food security outcomes.

International legal instruments for supporting Ukraine’s food security in the context of armed conflict are critically important for addressing the consequences of war, which threaten both national and global food stability. However, their implementation is hindered by insufficient coordination, limited funding, and environmental challenges, particularly land degradation. The article provides a comprehensive analysis of international legal mechanisms aimed at ensuring Ukraine’s food security, with a focus on ecological land restoration in wartime conditions. The primary sources of regulation include norms of international humanitarian law, notably Article 54 of the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions, UN Security Council Resolution 2417 (2018), and programs by FAO and UNEP that support demining, land reclamation, and humanitarian supplies. Nevertheless, legal gaps in enforcing reparations for environmental damage and restricted access to occupied territories pose obstacles to the effective application of these instruments. Special attention is given to a comparative analysis of international initiatives, such as the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and their impact on stabilizing global food markets. The article separately examines ecological land restoration, particularly through bioremediation and rewilding, which contribute to restoring soil fertility and enhancing resilience to climate change. In Ukraine, contamination of over 174,000 hectares of land with heavy metals and explosives necessitates a systematic approach to reclamation. Proposals are made to improve international and national regulatory frameworks, including the establishment of an international reparations fund, strengthening demining programs, promoting organic farming and rewilding, and reviving initiatives similar to the Black Sea Grain Initiative. The need to align Ukraine’s environmental safety strategy through 2030 with European standards to ensure sustainable agricultural development is emphasized. The study’s conclusions underscore the importance of integrating international legal instruments with practical mechanisms to secure food security and ecological restoration, contributing not only to Ukraine’s recovery but also to global food supply chain stability.

Growing complexity of global food supply chains has escalated the risk of foodborne illness, calling for ever more proactive measures for food safety. Predictive modeling has emerged as a breakthrough approach by enabling early detection of potentially contamination events and guiding effective risk-mitigating interventions. This study proposes a predictive multi-model approach integrating statistical, machine learning, and deep learning methods to strengthen the identification and classification of food safety risks. Founded on microbiological, environmental, and operational data sets, the framework will be designed to be scalable, modular, and adaptable to various food commodities and geographical regions. A case example of Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat meat products demonstrates the increased performance of the ensemble model in accuracy and recall. The findings emphasize the value of predictive analytics to enhance regulatory programs and public health outcomes if applied in a transparent and clearly defined manner. Keywords: Food Safety, Predictive Analytics, Machine Learning, Ensemble Models, Foodborne Pathogens

Ensuring the quality and safety of agricultural and food products is crucial for protecting consumer health, meeting market expectations, and complying with regulatory requirements. Quality and safety parameters are commonly assessed using chemical and microbiological analyses, which are time-consuming, impractical, and involve the use of toxic solvents, often disrupting the material's original structure. An alternative technique, infrared spectroscopy, including near-infrared (NIR), mid-infrared (MIR), and short-wave infrared (SWIR), has emerged as a rapid, powerful, and minimally destructive technique for evaluating the quality and safety of food and agricultural products. This review focuses on discussing MIR spectroscopy, particularly Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) techniques, with emphasis on the attenuated total reflectance (ATR) measurement mode (globar infrared light source is commonly used) and on the use of synchrotron radiation (SR) as an alternative high-brightness light source. Both approaches enable the extraction of detailed spectral data related to molecular and functional attributes concerning quality and safety, thereby facilitating the assessment of crop disorders, food chemical composition, microbial contamination (e.g., mycotoxins, bacteria), and the detection of food adulterants, among several other applications. In combination with advanced chemometric techniques, FTIR spectroscopy, whether employing ATR as a measurement mode or SR as a high-brightness light source, is a powerful analytical tool for classification based on attributes, variety, nutritional and geographical origins, with or without minimal sample preparation, no chemical use, and short analysis time. However, limitations exist regarding calibrations, validations, and accessibility. The objective of this review is to address recent technological advancements and existing constraints of FTIR conducted in ATR mode and using SR as a light source (not necessarily in combination). It defines potential pathways for the comprehensive integration of FTIR and chemometrics for real-time quality and safety monitoring systems into the global food supply chain.

The global food waste crisis and the achievement of the sustainable development goals have increased the demand for innovative food preservation technologies. Liposomes have the ability of controlled release and targeted delivery, which can encapsulate active compounds within phospholipid bilayers, ensuring biocompatibility and stability. This technology has solved the problems of instability, strong irritation, and low utilization rate of bioactive substances, while also catering to consumers' requirements for natural and safe products. This review presents an in-depth analysis of the structure, preparation methods, functional characteristics, stability and release models of liposomes, and comprehensively explores their various applications in food preservation, emphasizing their roles in extending the shelf life and maintaining food quality. Liposomes have shown remarkable potential in reducing food spoilage and nutrient loss by continuously releasing active ingredients and enhancing antioxidant and antibacterial effects. Future liposomes should focus on exploring responsive humidity mechanisms, green sustainable production methods, and personalized adaptive systems. Liposomes were anticipated to emerge as a pivotal technology for mitigating food waste and offering sustainable solutions within the global food supply chain.

Food safety is a fundamental public health issue and a critical component of economic stability and consumer trust. This paper examines the intricate relationship between food microbiology, food safety management systems, and the legal frameworks that govern the global food supply chain. Microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi, represent the most significant cause of foodborne illnesses, with vast economic and human health consequences. This paper details the primary microbial pathogens responsible for foodborne diseases, their transmission routes, and the conditions that facilitate their growth and survival in food products. It explores the evolution of food safety law, from early reactive legislation to modern, preventive frameworks such as the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system, which is fundamentally rooted in microbiological principles. The role of microbiological testing as a verification tool within these systems is discussed, alongside its limitations. Furthermore, the paper addresses emerging challenges, including antimicrobial resistance, climate change, and globalized trade, and how they necessitate an integrated "Farm-to-Fork" approach, reinforced by robust legal standards. The conclusion emphasizes that effective food safety is an inseparable triad of sound microbiology, proactive management systems, and enforceable law, all working in concert to protect public health.

The malicious contamination of food has been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a real and current threat that must be integrated into food safety systems to ensure preparedness for deliberate attacks. Traditional approaches, such as HACCP, effectively address unintentional hazards but remain insufficient against intentional contamination and sabotage. Food defense frameworks such as HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points), VACCP (Vulnerability Assessment and Critical Control Points), and TACCP (Threat Assessment and Critical Control Points) represent complementary methodologies, addressing unintentional, economically motivated, and deliberate threats, respectively. This review critically examines food defense frameworks across the European Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom, as well as standards benchmarked by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), drawing on peer-reviewed and grey literature sources. In the United States, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) mandates the development and periodic reassessment of food defense plans, while the European Union primarily relies on general food law and voluntary certification schemes. The United Kingdom’s PAS 96:2017 standard provides TACCP-based guidance that also acknowledges cybercrime as a deliberate threat. Building on these regulatory and operational gaps, this paper proposes the Cyber-FSMS model, an integrated framework that combines traditional food defense pillars with cyber risk management to address cyber–physical vulnerabilities in increasingly digitalized supply chains. The model introduces six interconnected components (governance, vulnerability assessment, mitigation, monitoring, verification, and recovery) designed to embed cyber-resilience into Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS). Priority actions include regulatory harmonization, practical support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the alignment of cyber-resilience principles with upcoming GFSI benchmarking developments, thereby strengthening the integrity, robustness, and adaptability of global food supply chains.

Foodborne pathogens threaten global public health and food supply chains, demanding rapid, accurate, and nondestructive detection to prevent outbreaks and economic losses. Conventional methods often require destructive sampling or complex preprocessing, underscoring the critical need for innovative solutions. Molecular vibrational spectroscopy, leveraging intrinsic molecular vibrations for label-free analysis, has emerged as a transformative tool to address these challenges while preserving sample integrity. This review explores advances in infrared, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, and terahertz spectroscopies for foodborne pathogen detection. It covers spectral fingerprint mechanisms, signal amplification using plasmonic nanostructures and metamaterials, and matrix interference mitigation strategies. AI-enhanced spectral interpretation, multimodal integration, and field-deployable platforms are highlighted. Molecular vibrational spectroscopy enables rapid, nondestructive, and high-throughput pathogen detection with minimal sample preparation. The combination of multimodal spectroscopy and AI analytics shows strong potential for practical food safety monitoring, with future hybrid systems expected to revolutionize pathogen surveillance across supply chains.

Integrating food loss and waste reduction policies with global dietary shifts: an economic modelling study.

Food fraud poses a significant challenge within the global food supply chain, with apprehensions regarding aspects such as food safety, authenticity, and efficiency. Currently, food fraud prevention is emerging as a unique food research area due to the unpredictability and potential economic gain to fraudsters. However, food fraud incidence/ events are increasing. Due to globalization of production and distribution, modern food fraud events could be massive in scale as they have both regional and global impact. In this minireview, we have described the basic organic food landscape, concept of food fraud, and its types. Emphasis has been given to the various validated methods of identification of food frauds and techniques employed for their detection. Methods such as spectroscopy, chromatography, and DNA -/chemometric -based techniques. Further, the application potential of recently developed AI-based techniques is also briefly discussed. In a separate section, food fraud issues related to herbs and spices have been dealt with a focus on various sensitive detection methods based on DNA technology and illustrated with a subset of specific spices and organic Honey.

Type of the article: Research Article Food security is a major worldwide concern that has received heightened focus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted global food supply chains and agri-food value networks. This paper seeks to determine the threshold at which food security is considered vulnerable to geopolitical shifts. Thus, using a dynamic panel threshold model on a sample of 40 countries, covering both advanced and emerging economies, this paper explores the link between food security – measured by the Global Food Security Index (GFSI) and its four key pillars (affordability, availability, quality and safety, sustainability and adaptation) and geopolitical tensions, represented by the Geopolitical Risk Index (GPRI), over the period from 2012 to 2021. The analysis also accounts for key variables such as agricultural land use, the impact of COVID-19, shares of urban population, price levels, and GDP per capita. The main findings indicate that the inflationary impact of geopolitical risk is statistically significant. A point (threshold value) of 0.022 was identified for geopolitical risk, beyond which global food security is substantially weakened due to increased inflation. The findings reveal that geopolitical risks exacerbate price surges across key commodities, including fertilizers, food, and oil, thereby amplifying inflationary pressures arising from fiscal measures taken in response to geopolitical shocks. Moreover, elevated geopolitical risks heighten uncertainty regarding the inflation outlook, complicating trade-offs between monetary and fiscal policies.Acknowledgment This work was sponsored by the Economic Research Forum (ERF) and has benefited from both financial and intellectual support. The views expressed in this work are entirely those of the author(s) and should not be attributed to ERF, its Board of Trustees, or donors.

The growing pressures on the global food supply chain highlight the challenges faced by maritime ports, which are responsible for 80% of global trade, emphasising the need for sustainable operations across management, economic, and social dimensions. This article analyses the research trends in this area within the Scopus database, which was researched on July 11, 2024. The PRISMA method (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) was applied.Based on the results of the systematic literature review, four main subjects were the focus of the researchers: i) smart port requirements and sustainable performance; ii) the technological innovations driving sustainable supply chain management; iii) circular economy and digital supply chain sustainability; iv) frameworks and models for integrating sustainable digital supply chain. Additionally it opens possibility for future research could cover the gaps identified in this article, such as analyzing the effects of Technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and the Internet of Things on the efficiency and environmental goals of ports, evaluating social sustainability in the supply chain through indicators like child labor, rural poverty traps, and standards of living, and food economy. The findings contribute to the academic understanding of sustainable development in maritime ports, considering the interconnections among business, economic, and social factors, establishing the groundwork for key performance indicators (KPIs) and opening perspectives for practical innovation.

Strategic insights into geosustainable Excellence: Unveiling a Resource-Based dynamic approach in global food supply chains for carbon neutrality and economic performance

Contaminant Prevention Framework of the Global Food Supply Chain: Food Security Solutions for Zero Hunger