**1. Introduction**

In the context of the global economy, food is key to consumer confidence, global peace, and personal sustenance. Maintaining the movement of food through the global supply chain is essential for sustaining life. There is an overwhelming global response to the COVID-19 virus with Food and Beverage Sector sustainability a key challenge. As the Food and Beverages Manufacturing sector provides the essential service of food, a significant portion of businesses remained open in South Africa (SA) during the lockdown period with the exception of the alcohol manufacturers and distributors. However, there are disruptions to the global and local supply chain impacting the production of food. The COVID-19 response time and the knowledge base for preparing the sector in SA is fundamental.

The COVID-19 challenge faced by the Food and Beverages Manufacturing sector includes operations, safety, supply chain, training, emergency responses, awareness, incident management, recreating business models, digitalization, and other unanticipated impacts. Further to this, COVID-19 has changed consumer behavior to food. There are significant global and South Africa (SA)-specific impacts anticipated, with Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMME)'s expected to be significantly impacted. Thus, the short term and long-term impacts of COVID-19 on the South African Food and

Beverages Manufacturing sector has to be determined to expedite recovery and to develop measures for readiness should another such disruption occur.

The SARS COVID-19 is categorized as a global pandemic [1], with almost 865,000 global deaths and 26 million infections, as of 3 September 2020 [2]. COVID-19 transmission occurs via contact and proximity, is carried on surfaces for up to nine days, and is destroyed via limited protocols such as alcohol, UV light, and 0.5% sodium hypochlorite [3].

The Food and Beverages Manufacturing sector is in urgent need of an understanding the virus, from an operations perspective. The Food and Beverages Manufacturing sector has to institute health and safety protocols to respond to employee safety. Key additional considerations for the sector relates to operational constraints. The need to restructure operations so as to produce the relevant food products in a safe, financial, and environmentally sustainable manner. *Sustainability* **2020**, *12*, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 23 Food and Beverages Manufacturing sector has to be determined to expedite recovery and to develop measures for readiness should another such disruption occur. The SARS COVID-19 is categorized as a global pandemic [1], with almost 865,000 global deaths and 26 million infections, as of 3 September 2020 [2]. COVID-19 transmission occurs via contact and

The research team seeks to also identify catapult opportunities via this study. This research seeks to address the following questions: proximity, is carried on surfaces for up to nine days, and is destroyed via limited protocols such as alcohol, UV light, and 0.5% sodium hypochlorite [3]. The Food and Beverages Manufacturing sector is in urgent need of an understanding the virus,


The high-level methodology of this study is mixed methods and includes a global peer reviewed literature search, a white paper search, compilation of benefit determination in SA, and an instrument to evaluate relevance and benefit in the SA Food and Beverages Manufacturing context. This research commences with a global scan of current knowledge, albeit not limited to peer reviewed publications. The objective is to rapidly gather relevant contextualized information. The research team build a South African (SA) data collection and response protocol based on this initial data collection cycle. The key knowledge themes are developed as the qualitative data is collected. • What is the global best practice in planning and responding to pandemics such as COVID-19? • What are the impacts, both short term and long term, on the South African Food and Beverages Manufacturing sector? • What are the recovery/mitigation measures required? The high-level methodology of this study is mixed methods and includes a global peer reviewed literature search, a white paper search, compilation of benefit determination in SA, and an instrument to evaluate relevance and benefit in the SA Food and Beverages Manufacturing context. This research commences with a global scan of current knowledge, albeit not limited to peer reviewed publications.

The objective is to rapidly gather relevant contextualized information. The research team build a

### *1.1. Impact of COVID-19 on the Food and Beverages Manufacturing Sector Globally and in South Africa* South African (SA) data collection and response protocol based on this initial data collection cycle. The key knowledge themes are developed as the qualitative data is collected.

The research team adopt a multi-tier literature review approach that includes peer reviewed journals and conference papers together with a review of white papers from globally recognized entities. A Scopus search is conducted to commence publications analysis. Figure 1 illustrates the countries with the highest number of peer-reviewed COVID-19 publications, specific to the Food and Beverages Manufacturing sector. A total of 482 publications are identified, screened, and reviewed as a basis for this paper. In addition, a global best practice search is also conducted in order to find further papers on Food and Beverages Manufacturing and COVID-19. *1.1. Impact of COVID-19 on the Food and Beverages Manufacturing Sector Globally and in South Africa*  The research team adopt a multi-tier literature review approach that includes peer reviewed journals and conference papers together with a review of white papers from globally recognized entities. A Scopus search is conducted to commence publications analysis. Figure 1 illustrates the countries with the highest number of peer-reviewed COVID-19 publications, specific to the Food and Beverages Manufacturing sector. A total of 482 publications are identified, screened, and reviewed as a basis for this paper. In addition, a global best practice search is also conducted in order to find further papers on Food and Beverages Manufacturing and COVID-19.

**Figure 1.** Number of publications per country. **Figure 1.** Number of publications per country.

It is projected that the South African food and non-alcoholic beverages manufacturing is going through a moderate decline of flow of income (−10% to −30%), whereas the alcoholic beverages will experience a bigger impact at −60% [4]. Further, Anderson et al. [5] argue the potential for significant interruption in the activities of the Food and Beverages Manufacturing sector cannot be ignored.

The varying levels of lockdown initiated in various countries globally, social distancing requirements and health concerns, have seen a shift in consumer behavior to home cooked meals rather than eating out [6]. Beef, which is used extensively in restaurants and fast food services, has experienced a significant decline in demand. Since the start of lockdown, an increased demand of snacks and baking goods was observed globally, as people were eating more during the day [7]. In Italy and China, changes in food patterns were observed with greater demand for staple, non-perishable foods and a reduction in demand for fresh fruit and demand [8]. This could lead to wastage due to limited shelf life and loss of income to farmers. Further, the high value commodities processing plants are labor intensive and maintaining of social distancing is difficult. The closure of restaurants, coffees shops, and farm-holiday stays resulted in a 10% reduction in milk consumption, a significant impact to the dairy industry [8]. In the international sphere the confectionary, snacks, other food products, baking, and grain mill industries have experienced an increase in demand of products and have been forced to operate on online platforms to meet the demand. However, the baking industry might experience challenges as lockdown continues. The executive director for the SA Baking Chamber reported that Tiger Brands closed one of their biggest firms during lockdown, but indicated that the supply of food remains stable. The company's profits have fallen by 75% (R359.6 million in 2020 vs. R1.4 billion in 2019) during the same time last year due to COVID-19 [9]. Demand for baked food could prove a challenge for food producers, especially producers of soft luxuries, as consumption is a function of income as well as certainty of income. The latter is a result of other people's financial status as they have lost their jobs and therefore do not have spending power. South Africa's alcoholic beverage industry has been hit hard by COVID-19 lockdown regulations, as the sale and export of alcohol is prohibited under the disaster regulations governing the national lockdown in South Africa [10]. Reports show that an estimated 117,600 jobs have been lost throughout the alcohol industry, 13% of the craft beer sector is in the process of shutting up shop, and the wine industry is in severe distress [11].

The suppliers of the Food and Beverages Manufacturers have also been impacted by COVID-19, influencing manufacturing operations. High value commodities of fresh fruit, vegetable, and fish are affected by the potential shortage of migrant seasonal labor for fruit picking, harvesting, etc. [8,12]. According to FAO [13], the fishing industry in many countries is considered critical for food production and supply; however, due to COVID-19, the fishing industry is facing two main problems of disrupted supply chain and declining markets, resulting in disruptions in transportation, trade, and labor. Disruptions in these lead to delayed stock and lower supplies, access, and consumption of these food [13]. Fish farmers who cannot sell the fish must now keep larger volumes of fish that need to be fed, increasing costs and risks [14]. The production of aquaculture may also be affected by the ability to purchase feed and seed due to cargo restrictions and prioritization [14]. Health safety measures of physical distancing and face masks can make fishing difficulty even to the point of reducing or stopping it [14]. If a crew member has the virus, it can easily spread to other members, and medical assistance may not be easily accessible due to being out at sea [13]. The reduced staff may result in a decline of Fisheries Monitoring and Control as observed during the 2013–2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa [14]. This results in an increase in illicit activities and in a less responsible level of managing, monitoring, and controlling of fishing operations. The staple commodities of wheat, maize, corn, and soybean are capital intensive farming and could be affected by value chain disruptions due the requirements of various and large amounts of inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, diesel, etc. [15]. This does not have a short-term impact but a long-term impact of food growth and availability for the following seasons/years. Restriction of movement and closure of markets have a significant impact on small holder producers, who do not have the finance and resources of larger producers [12]. A prolonged disruption could affect the ability to resume production [8].
