ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected Food Supply Chains (FSCs), causing impacts that interfere with the normal flow of operations. This paper analyzes the COVID-19 impacts on FSCs and the main strategies to minimize their adverse effects. The research adopts a scoping review to identify impacts and strategies and an empirical study consisting of a survey with professionals operating in Brazilian SCs to discuss and validate the results. Impacts are categorized into final consumer, internal environment, and external environment. The policies are also divided into COVID-19 prevention policies and FSCs operational policies. The survey presents 45 complete responses to identify the major impacts and implementation of mitigation policies in FSCs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The main impacts are increased demand, increased operating costs, and price instability. The main mitigation policies are isolation of employees with suspicious cases (COVID-19 prevention) and strong and focused leadership (Operational policy). The results provide a first validation of the research, and the authors suggest as future research the development of studies deepening other types of supply chains. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
The epidemics and pandemics can severely affect food supply chains, including producers, retailers, wholesalers, and customers. To minimize their impacts, it is fundamental to implement effective policies that ensure continuity in the provision, affordability, and distribution of basic food items. This research identifies the main impacts of pandemics and epidemics on food supply chains and policies that can minimize these impacts. Based on a systematic literature review (SLR), 173 documents are analysed to propose a taxonomy of impacts on four supply chain links: demand-side, supply-side, logistics and infrastructure, and management and operation. The taxonomy presents the main impacts and respective mitigation policies. In addition, the literature review leads to the development of a comprehensive causal loop diagram (CLD) with the identification of main variables and their relationship with food supply chains. Finally, a specific research agenda is proposed by identifying the main research gaps. These findings provide a structured method for evaluating policies that ensure the functioning of food supply chains, particularly in disruptions such as epidemics and pandemics. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.