Food chain management

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Food Chain Management ( FCM ) is a branch of agriculture and food science with a strong influence of economics and planning and optimization includes all processes along the food chain. Furthermore, the FCM places high demands on the logistics in its practical implementation . Food chain management trains specialists ( food chain managers ) who keep an eye on both agricultural production and the industrial processing of food.

Term: Food Chain

The food chain

The term food chain stands in German for the value chain or value chain for food , which covers the entire path from the production of agricultural raw materials and their input sectors to transport and processing for retail to the food on the table of the end consumer . The food industry and its partners have to operate in an increasingly complex environment of legal provisions and specific standards.

Furthermore, the following are used in the same way: food value chain, agribusiness, agriculture and the food industry.

Food chain manager

Food chain managers are experts in the food chain . You overlook the entire route of food from the field and barn to the table at home. It represents a link between the environment and technology.

Food chain management

This type of management arises from the idea of ​​continuous quality assurance in the food chain, not least against the background of the recent food scandals . Here, the FCM represents the combination of different competencies , which closes the gap that previously existed in Germany between agricultural producers of food and the processing companies .

From the area of agriculture comes the content of plant cultivation and animal science as well as agricultural policy . The area of nutrition and hygiene technology contributes, among other things, knowledge from food technology , quality management , microbiology and hygiene . Business management and logistical aspects form a further pillar of the FCM.

Consequently, this is the knowledge to work successfully in an international agricultural and food market . This includes precise knowledge of the food and its production as well as marketing strategies and information for consumers.

Logistics in particular is faced with major challenges in connection with food chain management, since the supply chains often extend over several countries due to advanced globalization and the food therefore has to travel long distances. In addition, the high degree of complexity of the food chains from the manufacturer to the end consumer, due to the large number of people involved, each with specific requirements and needs, makes consistent food safety and complete traceability, e.g. B. of processed beef.

In particular, the traceability of food and feed required by the EU regulation VO (EG) 178/2002 across all stages of production, processing and sales has not yet been fully guaranteed. The implementation of the EC regulation poses major challenges for the food industry. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has management identified in 2008, the food chain as one of its future issues and found it worthy of promotion. Several institutes of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft from various scientific areas are now trying to work together with the food industry to develop solutions to enable food to be traced across the entire food chain. Key technologies for achieving the goals are the so-called RFID and microsystem technology .

Aspects of food chain management

Essential aspects of food chain management are food safety with regard to chemical or microbiological contamination and food quality with regard to origin, texture and taste, but also the traceability of food ("from fork to farm"). The merging of the necessary information flows with the material flow of the food and its primary products is particularly important.

Fraunhofer Food Chain Management Alliance

The alliance

The primary goal of the Fraunhofer Food Chain Management Alliance is to incorporate the latest scientific findings into new products and solutions in the field of FCM through joint project work with external business partners. A total of 11 institutes and facilities of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft are combined in the Food Chain Management platform:

  • Development Center X-ray Technology (EZRT) at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS)
  • Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME)
  • Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems (IPMS)
  • Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques (IPM)
  • Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging (IVV)
  • Branch office for processing machines and packaging technology Dresden
  • Fraunhofer Institute for Optronics, System Technology and Image Exploitation (IOSB)
  • Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology (IGB)
  • Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology (UMSICHT)

In particular, there are new approaches in the field of food safety , microelectronics and logistics that can be easily integrated into the entire food chain and have the highest possible added value at low costs.

The task

Food chain management regards the food chain - from original production through processing and trading to the consumer - as a holistic process. In this context, Allianz sees it as its task to analyze and optimize this process in order to ultimately guarantee consumers of high quality food as efficiently and safely as possible.

The challenge

Food chain management has a not inconsiderable economic importance. In 2006 around 280,000 companies with a sales volume of around € 840 billion (€ 138 billion in Germany) were active in the food industry in the European Union and provided around 4 million jobs. Especially in connection with the ever more frequent food scandals, food chain management is gaining ever greater social importance, which is reflected in the demands of consumers for transparency and sustainability in production.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The partner institutes of the Fraunhofer Food Chain Management Alliance , at fcm.fraunhofer.de, accessed on March 29, 2020

Web links