Improving the supply chain and food quality of professionally prepared meals

• Published in: Trends in food science & technology Vol. 29; no. 1; pp. 74 - 79
• Main Authors: Adler-Nissen, Jens, Akkerman, Renzo, Frosch, Stina, Grunow, Martin, Løje, Hanne, Risum, Jørgen, Wang, Yang, Ørnholt-Johansson, Gine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; cost effectiveness; Delivery scheduling; Environmental impact; Food industries; food law; food quality; food service; food supply chain; Foods; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; kitchens; Meals; Melting; professionals; shelf life; supply chain; Supply chains; thawing; Wastes; Europe; Food supply; Quality; Meal
• ISSN: 0924-2244; 1879-3053
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tifs.2012.08.007

An increasing share of the daily meals served in Europe is prepared out-of-home by professionals in foodservice. The quality of such meals is highly debated. This paper presents and discusses obstacles to improving quality in a cost-effective way and suggests solutions: 1) Modularisation of the meal production in order to transfer labour-intensive operations from the kitchens to the industry; 2) Systemic use of a new concept: thawing during distribution, which improves shelf-life and reduces waste; 3) Supply chain modelling to improve delivery schedules and reduce environmental impact. Existing food legislation complies with the suggested approaches. ► We propose to distribute frozen meal components for foodservice in the chill chain. ► This new distribution principle results in a stable sub-zero product temperature. ► A prolonged shelf-life is indicated in theory and from experiments. ► The distribution principle is environmentally friendly due to reduced waste. ► The distribution principle complies with existing legislation on chilled foods.