FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN

As we have already seen food system is an interconnected food network system so it's difficult to understand when discussing food production in a particular place.

Food processing is an important element of food production. It is a huge and complex food system.

The journey from the farm to the table is a balanced supply and demand through three geographical factors: environmental, economic and demographic (which refers to people).

In order to understand what we're going to implement in this module, take a look at this map:

Due to the high degree of interconnectedness, this map of the food system is also called the food network because there are connections between all the different drivers that form the food system.

Each of them can influence the others in a symbiotic way. This means that if one little thing changes, then the whole system can be broken. There are many external factors that affect the diet.

If we take one example from the food system - such as food production - we have seen that it is affected by funding, governance, regulatory requirements, climate, technology, land and water shortages, production constraints, pests and diseases, agricultural knowledge, pollution and biodiversity. 

These changes as you can imagine could lead to shortages or surpluses in different countries. For example, a political issue such as a disruption to international trade could slow food transport enough to halt existing supply chains and potentially cause food shortages.

Consumers are also part of this chain and one of the major drivers.

Think about these:

-We have developed that the majority of wasted or spoiled food is the one that could be found in cunsomers' hands, meaning after food is sold out to costomers.

-Our food choices are affected by a lot of factors related to food system, such as organoleptic characteristics, price, promotion and marketing operations.

-Our food choices can affect the food system as its aim is to cover consumers needs.

In this module, we'll examine some factors in order to spread more awareness on how to make informed food choices but also on what we can do so as to achieve food safety and less wasted food.