Food Waste Causes in Fruit and Vegetables Supply Chains

Fruit and vegetables are a core component of healthy diets, but horticultural production and distribution activities suffer from a high incidence of surplus food and food waste. The intrinsic perishability of products as well recurring pests, diseases and contamination events are since long recognized to be primary reasons for fruit and vegetables wastage, but a more thorough knowledge of causes, including external events and internal strategies and practices, is necessary to design and implement waste reduction strategies. However, literature on waste causes in fruit and vegetables supply chains is rather fragmented. Most existing studies focus on single products, single deterioration mechanisms or single reuse or recycling choices, and hardly ever investigate more than one stage of the fruit and vegetables supply chain. The main objective of the paper is to offer an instrument for identifying in a comprehensive way the possible origin points and root issues behind food waste generation in the stages of fruit and vegetables supply chains. The research is conducted through the application of two methods. A first phase consists in a deep literature review, whose results are summarized in the so-called Causes Framework. This qualitative instrument shows the possible sources of fruit and vegetables surplus and waste, highlighting for each supply chain stage the high-priority causes and for each cause the fundamental root issue. The second research phase is a case study that shows how the Framework can be applied to pinpoint the most significant causes for specific supply chains. The unit of analysis is the supply chain of an Italian PGI pear. Primary information is gathered from 6 enterprises through 7 semi-structured interviews. The most critical causes of surplus and waste generation in the focal supply chain are found as the intersection between interview answers and Framework predictions. The paper integrates sparse pieces of knowledge on the processes of food waste generation in fruit and vegetables supply chains, and offers an instrument that may support private and public decision-makers in the reduction of horticultural waste.