ABSTRACT
As populations grow, food safety becomes increasingly important, food production becomes more intense and dispersed, consumer preferences change, and international trade opens new opportunities for commerce. This chapter shows how supply chain management contributes to meeting the world's needs for safe food. It defines a food supply chain and how one measure food safety in the context of a supply chain and provides a discussion of the regulatory environment for food production and distribution. More so than for other products, food is subject to considerable governmental control and oversight. The chapter focuses on consumer preferences and how they impact the management of the supply chain and the delivery of safe food. Finally, it presents some of the more technical economic challenges of food supply chain management and discuss the most common strategies for managing safety in light of those challenges.
