Innovative Agrifood Supply Chain in the Post-COVID 19 Era

The world is changing rapidly in the age of Coronavirus [1]. The long period of deprivation, economic austerity and anxiety that is foreseen will usher new consumer attitudes and behaviors, which will change the nature of today’s capitalism. There are signs of a growing anti-consuming movement at present [2], with five types of anti-consumerists: life-simplifiers, degrowth activists, climate activists, food-choosers, and conservation activists. Citizens will reexamine what they eat, how much they eat, and how all this is influenced by class issues and inequality. They will reexamine their eating habits and emerge from this terrible period with a new, more equitable form of food consumption [3]. Consequently, the agrifood supply chain network will have to change dramatically to adjust to the new attitudes, perceptions, and preferences of consumers in the post-COVID-19 era. Innovation will play a vital role in modernizing the agrifood supply chain to meet the new challenges of the upcoming new global economy [4]. The process “from farm to fork”, the holistic approach to the production and consumption of food, will become a key factor in the sustainability and progress of the food industry. This Special Issue is focused on 11 selected topics from different parts of the agrifood supply chain in view of the post-COVID-19 era, expanding from the innovative scientific insights and technological advances of natural resources, organic pollutants’ identification, new food product development, traceability, and packaging, and chain management, to consumer’s attitudes, and eating motivations, aiming to tackle the changes that are foreseen for the global economy and society.

Nature-based solutions (NbSs) encompass a broad range of practices that can be introduced in the agri-food supply chain and address multiple environmental challenges in the post-COVID-19 era, while providing economic and societal benefits [5]. The study of Takavakoglou et al. explores the potential role of constructed wetlands, revealing application opportunities in different segments of the supply chain, identifying linkages with societal challenges and EU policies, and discussing their potential limitations, as well as the future challenges and perspectives [6]. The pandemic opened an opportunity for the reformation of economies and the transition towards a greener model of development.

The ecosystems and public health of the agrifood supply chain are increasingly affected by the presence of pesticides and pharmaceuticals, which will become a major concern in the post COVID-19 era due to the increase in global public attention to health issues [7]. This condition is of major importance in regions with fish farms in their aquatic environment. The study of Martinaiou et al. developed a solid-phase extraction method to optimize and validate the analysis of 7 pesticides and 25 pharmaceuticals in seawater using LC-HR-LTQ/Orbitrap-MS [8]. The method was then successfully applied in seawater samples collected from an aquaculture farm to evaluate its validity. At the same time, passive sampling was conducted as an alternative screening technique, showing the presence of contaminants that were not detected with spot sampling.

The post COVID-19 customers are seeking quality, innovative, healthy foods with natural ingredients to protect themselves, the environment and provide sustainability to local economies [4,9]. The study of Karantonis et al. developed a series of functional baked goods, such as whole-meal sliced bread, chocolate cookies and breadsticks, which are rich in natural enrichment source of omega-3 fatty acids and fiber [10]. The source is the flaxseed (Linum usitatissimu) added to the foods. The final products were tested as sources of omega-3 fatty acids in terms of α-linolenic acid, as well as for their in vitro antithrombotic/anti-inflammatory affects. The results showed high omega-3 fatty acids concentrations (>0.6 g per 100 g of product) in all products, exerting higher in vitro antithrombotic/anti-inflammatory activity, which was in a different grade compared to the conventional products. In the same research field of healthy foods, the study of Papagianni et al. examined the benefits of novel functional cookies enriched with olive paste [11]. The production of these cookies and their antioxidant activities was reported earlier by the same authors [12]. Olive paste exerts bioactivity due to its richness in bioactive components, such as oleic acid and polyphenols. This interventional human study investigated whether the fortifications of cookies with olive paste and herbs may affect postprandial lipemia, oxidative stress, and other biomarkers in healthy volunteers [11]. Total plasma antioxidant capacity according to FRAP, ABTS, and resistance to copper-induced plasma oxidation, serum lipids, glucose, uric acid, and antithrombotic activity in platelet-rich plasma were determined at each timepoint 0.5 h, 1.5 h and 3 h after eating cookie meal alone compared with enhanced with 20% olive paste. There was a significant decrease in triglycerides’ concentration in the last 1.5 h of the intervention as compared to the control group (p < 0.05). A tendency towards a decrease in glucose levels and an increase in the plasma antioxidant capacity was observed at 0.5 h and 1.5 h, respectively, in the intervention compared to the control group. The remaining biomarkers did not show statistically significant differences (p > 0.05).

Moving from the innovative food products to innovative packaging, the study of Tsironi et al. proposes an alternative form of food preservation and packaging for minced lamp meat, with the fewest possible preservatives and additives, as well as an extended shelf life [13]. Whey protein isolate (WPI) films, alone and with incorporated essential oils (WPI + EO) at different concentrations, were prepared and then examined for their possible delaying effect on the deterioration of minced lamb meat. The essential oils, as natural antimicrobials, were oils of ginger (Zingiber Officinale Roscoe) and rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.). the results showed that films with 1% EO significantly improved the microbiological qualities of meat. Regarding physicochemical properties, the same pattern was observed for pH, while the oxidation degree was significantly reduced. Finally, color attribute measurements recorded fluctuations between samples; however, overall, no considerable discoloration was observed. Within the subject of packaging, the important issue examining societies’ moving towards sustainable habits, questioning their actions and considering their impact on the environment, is evaluated [14]. Macena et al. examine, via an online questionnaire, the habits of Portuguese citizens concerning plastic food packaging, sustainability and recycling, as well as the knowledge effects of plastic materials or their residues on the environment, and focuses on aspects related to sustainability [15]. The participants tend to think about the negative impact of plastic packages on the environment; 39% sometimes do not buy plastic; and 30% try to look for alternatives, 81% support the avoidance of plastic utensils and reductions in the use of plastic bags, most participants have a good knowledge of recycling and strongly agree with the use of recycled materials, and 87% of respondents practice the separation of different types of waste for recycling.

Food traceability is another research area of major concern in the post-COVID-19 period since it tackles the selected concerns of “new” consumers [16]. It is an essential tool for both industry and consumers to confirm the characteristics of leading food products’ industries to ensure the traceability of their merchandise. Dima et al. carried out an online market research survey to determine the significant concerns of the Greek customers regarding eating pork and pork products, their opinion on related traceability information, and their preferences regarding how they would like to receive this information [17]. Consumers expressed high interest in the expiry date of the meat (87.9%), followed by the means and conditions of transport of the meat products (79%), as well as a preference to buy traceable compared with untraceable pork (79%), and their belief that the quality and safety of pork products would be improved with traceability (70.1%), signifying the importance of traceability for consumers.

In the coming period, alternative solutions to feeding the growing world population with less stress on the planet will be investigated, contributing to the preservation of the environment, such as edible insects (EIs) [18]. Guine et al., using a questionnaire survey, explored the level of information that people in a traditionally non-insect-eating country have about the sustainability issues related to EIs, and some possible factors that could motivate their consumption [19]. It was found that the highest motivators to consume EIs are their contribution to preserving the environment and natural resources, followed by their being a more sustainable option (for 64.7% and 53.4% of participants, respectively).

Traditional foods (TFs) can also play a major role as the food of choice for the “new” consumers, the “anti-consumers” in the coming post-COVID-19 period worldwide [20]. Consumers’ trust in TFs after COVID-19 was studied by Skalkos et al. [21], using the variables of safety, healthiness, sustainability, authenticity and taste, assessing consumers’ confidence and satisfaction with the TFs, their raw materials, and the technologies used for their production. The results show that the participants trust Greek TFs because they “strongly agree”, by an average of 20%, and “agree”, by an average of 50%, that they are safe, healthy, sustainable, authentic and tasty. Furthermore, the second study of Skalkos et al. examined the consumers’ perception of the traceability of TFs in the post-COVID-19 era. [22]. Traceability was tested using variables related to the package, product, quality, process, and personal information of these foods. The results show that the participants consider traceability regarding questions on package information to be “quite important” and “very important” by an average of 68%, on food information by 64%, on quality information by 69%, on production process information by 78%, and on personal information by 65%.

In the last part of this Special Issue, a measurement instrument model for sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) critical factors, practices and performance is developed and validated in the food industry by Mastos et al. [23]. SSCM is one of the key sustainability concepts, and received significant attention in the last two decades [24]. It involves the management of material, information, and capital flows, as well as the cooperation among all companies in the supply chain. The validity of the proposed instrument was confirmed through an e-mail questionnaire answered by 423 Greek food companies. The extracted SSCM critical factors were “firm-level sustainability critical factors” and “supply chain sustainability critical factors”. The extracted SSCM practices were “supply chain collaboration” and “supply chain strategic orientation”. The extracted SSCM performance factors were “economic performance”, “social performance” and “environmental performance”. The three developed constructs constitute a measurement instrument that can be used both by practitioners who desire to implement SSCM and researchers who can apply the proposed scales in other research projects, or use them as assessment tools.