The importance of managing the food supply chain has been growing both industrially and scientifically. This growth is mainly caused by the expanding population and the rising GDP per capita. To deal with this increasing demand, the food chain supplies must ensure that high amounts of quality and varied products are delivered.

Moreover, it is necessary to address the uncertainty in the quality and quantity of raw materials, as well as the uncertainty associated with customer demand, which implies that firms operating in food supply chains must consider not only the costs, but also the risks, and the issues of freshness, sustainability and business ethics. This project proposes a quantitative and innovative approach to the food supply chain management, which includes designing and planning the supply chain taking into account the main indicators of the supply chain. The ultimate goal of this approach is to improve the quality of the decisions made by participants of the food supply chain.

This project is financed by the Portuguese funding agency Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), with INESC TEC as tenderer. The CEGI team includes Bernardo Almada-Lobo (manager), Pedro Amorim and Luís Guimarães. The other partner institutions include the Associação do Instituto Superior Técnico para a Investigação e o Desenvolvimento (IST- ID), the Technische Universität München (Germany) and Carnegie Mellon University (USA).

The INESC TEC researchers mentioned in this article are associated with the following partner institution: FEUP.

Photo credits: Flickr

INESC TEC, december 2013