Prioritising food loss and waste mitigation strategies in the fruit and vegetable supply chain: A multi-criteria approach

Abstract

Although reducing food loss and waste (FLW) is a global concern, there is a scarcity of literature devoted to the selection of suitable mitigation strategies. Previous studies are more focused on the disposal or valorisation of FLW, rather than on its reduction or prevention, and the effectiveness of the mitigation strategies have hardly been evaluated. Therefore, this study develops and presents an evaluation framework to: (1) identify potential mitigation strategies based on the causes of FLW, (2) select criteria to assess the prevention measures of FLW and (3) evaluate and rank mitigation strategies to fight FLW. Fuzzy Step-Wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) is employed to determine the relative weights of the evaluation criteria and Fuzzy Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment (WASPAS) is implemented to rank the mitigation strategies for FLW. The evaluation framework is further tested in Portugal in the context of the Fruit and Vegetable Supply Chain (FVSC) and a sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess the robustness of the results. Overall, 16 mitigation strategies (related to information, quality, technology or transport and infrastructure) were selected and considered relevant to tackle the causes of FLW in the Portuguese FVSC. The results show that the higher ranked strategies are the ones most transversal to the FVSC, which highlights the role of collaboration, coordination and information sharing between the stakeholders in the prevention and reduction of FLW. Furthermore, ensuring coordination and close collaboration between stakeholders may also help to implement the technology-related mitigation strategies identified. This paper provides researchers, practitioners and policymakers with a comprehensible and structured approach that can be replicated for any region, supply chain or food product in order to prioritise cost effective mitigation strategies for FLW with more significant environmental and social gains.