Differences between local and global food supply chains

Food moves systematically from the producer to the consumer through different
intermediaries, encountering issues such as biological and chemical contamination, and
food fraud along the way. These issues vary in magnitude and frequency depending on
the nature of the food supply chain, being local food supply chains perceived as
performing better than global food supply chains. Hence, a review was conducted
within the FoodSafeR project providing an overview of determinants in both, local and
global food supply chains. An analysis was conducted using a drivers' approach to
examine the drivers contributing to the emergence of food safety risk. This included a
qualitative review of scientific and grey literature focussing on eight determinants: food
security, food safety, technology, environmental protection, economic growth,
sustainability, traceability, and data management. The goal was to identify distinctions
between local and global food chains. Performance of each determinant was
qualitatively assessed based on comprehensive information found in the literature,
revealing that products in local food chains were perceived more sustainable and
environmentally friendlier than products in global food chains. In contrast, global food
supply chains were considered to provide greater food security, enhanced safety
measures, adoption of advanced technology, significant contributions to economic
growth, higher levels of traceability, and integration of more sophisticated data
management systems throughout their supply chain compared to local food supply
chains. The evidence suggests that local food supply chains encounter greater
challenges, mainly regarding traceability and data management, than global food supply
chains. Therefore, further research on the needs of local food supply chains could be
pivotal to provide evidence-based support in optimising their supply chain processes
e.g. via harmonised data structures or software systems tailored to the needs of local
food supply chains.