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Sustainable Supply and Consumption of Food

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Food".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2022) | Viewed by 2541

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
Interests: development of food provision models for the reduction of consumer food waste; eco-intelligent manufacturing; optical detection of food fouling on surfaces; improved models for industrial food waste management; modelling of energy consumption in industry
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Guest Editor
School of Animal, Rural & Environmental Sciences, Nottingham Trent University, Southwell NG25 0QF, UK
Interests: circular economy for food by-products; consumer nutrition and behaviour; disruptive technology in food supply chains; ecological embeddedness of food production; strategies for sustainable food production and consumption

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The food industry is the largest and most important manufacturing sector. It features the most companies and employees, the most diversity in terms of product range, and the most complex network of different actors in its supply chain. It is also one of the most environmentally damaging sectors, being responsible for 25-30% of global GHG emissions, second only to energy production. It is the largest single cause of biodiversity loss and is the primary reason for land use conversion.

It is therefore extremely important to maintain a focus on the continued development of the food supply sector to support access to safe, affordable, and nutritious food; provide economically secure employment across the globe; and, wherever possible, reduce the associated environmental impacts.

Aside from the scale, diversity, and importance of supply chains, there are very specific challenges that are often not relevant to other industrial sectors. Food is extremely perishable; it has natural seasonal availability but is sometimes subject to unpredictable demand. It is often required to be consistent in quality and taste, should be aesthetically pleasing, and can be subject to strict legislative controls. These requirements create a need for careful control across supply chains and are especially important to consider when making changes to any one supply chain actor. Additionally, food supply chains face challenges such as low levels of automation, a lack of industrialization, poor management infrastructures, the inconsistent and fragmented information available, and food integrity, which all lead to inefficiencies.

In this Special Issue, we seek to address the fundamental challenges for improving sustainability across the food supply chain. Focusing primarily on reducing environmental impacts and supporting resilience, we welcome manuscripts that describe solutions from any stage of the supply chain but particularly welcome research with a focus on more than one stage of the supply chain.

Contributors from a wide range of fields are invited to submit their articles for publication in this Special Issue, including but not limited to agriculture, nutrition, engineering, business, psychology, and computer science.

Dr. Elliot Woolley
Dr. Hana Trollman
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • agriculutral production
  • circular economy
  • consumer behaviour
  • consumer nutrition
  • data-driven models
  • disruptive technology
  • eco-efficiency
  • ecological embeddedness
  • ecology
  • environmental impact
  • food by-products
  • food logistics
  • food manufacturing
  • food supply chain
  • food waste
  • intelligent systems
  • resource efficiency
  • strategy
  • supply chain management
  • sustainable food consumption
  • sustainable food production
  • sustainability
  • waste management

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 2118 KiB  
Article
Postharvest Eucalyptus Leaf Extract Application Extends the Sustainable Supply of Strawberries by Retaining Physicochemical Quality during Cold Storage
by Muhammad Wasim Haider, Muhammad Nafees, Mohammad Valipour, Rashid Iqbal, Sajid Ali, Habat Ullah Asad, Hafiz Nazar Faried, Muhammad Aslam, Javed Iqbal and Muhammad Ayaz Shahzad
Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 14822; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142214822 - 10 Nov 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2065
Abstract
Strawberry is a delicate fruit with a short shelf life after harvest. High metabolic activities and fungal decay deteriorate its quality. In an attempt to extend its shelf life and maintain its quality while retaining its antioxidant potential, the harvested fruits of strawberry [...] Read more.
Strawberry is a delicate fruit with a short shelf life after harvest. High metabolic activities and fungal decay deteriorate its quality. In an attempt to extend its shelf life and maintain its quality while retaining its antioxidant potential, the harvested fruits of strawberry cv. Chandler were dipped in 30% eucalyptus leaf extract (ELE). Weight loss, fungal decay index, percentage of decayed fruits, respiration rate, and electrolyte leakage were all reduced in ELE-treated strawberries. The enzymatic activities of catalase in fruits increased initially until the fifth day of storage but then started to decline during the later period while superoxide dismutase and peroxidase activities continued to rise until the 10th day and then declined. With higher contents of total phenolics, ascorbic acid, total antioxidants, and anthocyanin, the application of ELE maintained the general acceptance, firmness, flavor, and marketable fruit percentage. Titrable acidity (TA) and sugar–acid ratio (SAR) were also significantly affected by ELE application. A declining trend was observed in TA during storage, along with an increase in SAR. The pH and soluble solid contents of strawberry juice were not significantly changed by the application of ELE; however, both attribute scores were greater than those for the control. In conclusion, ELE could be used as an environmentally safe method to postpone senescence and maintain postharvest quality for up to 15 days. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Supply and Consumption of Food)
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