Sustainable Perishable Food Distribution: Fresh Consumption and Waste Justice

Abstract

Food waste poses significant environmental and social challenges, impacting communities and contributing to solid waste accumulation. This research addresses the critical issue of food supply chain management, emphasizing the social sustainability impact of waste justice and fresh food consumption. Our proposed supply chain network design model and multi-objective optimization procedure can generate solutions whose sustainability performance aspects, including profit, greenhouse gas emissions, and fresh consumption of products, can be controlled to align with managerial preferences. Through a food supply chain network case, this research demonstrates the potential of the proposed methods to improve residents’ quality of life and promote sustainable development in the region.