Food Supply Chain Management:
Economic, Social, and Environmental Perspectives
by Madeleine Pullman & Zhaohui Wu
HD9000.5 .P85 2012
New Arrivals, 2nd floor
With the weather that we’ve been having lately, it’s hard not to think if there will be any ramifications to the scorching heat. The crops are obviously needing water, and I came across an article stating that the US Department of Agriculture forecasts the drought will cause food prices to raise in 2013. This week’s featured title touches on this, as well as much more in its detailing of the food chain.
Pullman and Wu, professors from Portland State University and Oregon State Universities, respectively, share their insights into the process of getting the foods that you eat from the fields to your plate. Covering each stage of the supply chain, the authors discuss the each of the links within the major types of food groups, animal protein, commodity crops [corn, soybeans, etc.], and fruits and vegetables. In addition to the actual chains themselves, they also provide background on important considerations with regards to this type of product, such as food safety, regulation, and retail. Overall, the researchers examine the sustaining force of human life in readable [digestible, if you will] chunks and list the sources for further exploration.
Probably omits the scandalous immoral Detour of too much food down a One-Way Dead-End Road. The “Urban Foraging & Gathering” initiative, has seen and sought to reveal and remedy the shameful waste of (for example): 1. bags of 12 apples oranges only one spoiled,2. 36 yogurt or orange juice cartons “still cool,” 3. six rotisserie chickens “still warm,” 4. $102 of assorted cuts of pork, 5. 222 bottles of salad dressing, 5. you name the food-type, it’ll be there. “Is it a crime to reach your sell-by date and be condemned to discard not quick salvation or fulfillment?” Happening right under noses of care-less supermarket chains and sluggish food-pantry movements (both of whom I’ve contacted, but…) Ah well, America cornucopia of plenty hence neglect, a friend from Mauritania shocked at one day’s “pull” said: “In my country, people would fight over this…”