News

As the world's human population grows and climate change impacts food security, digital technologies are becoming increasingly critical for ensuring transparency, resilience, and fairness across the food system.

However, technology and digitalisation are often expensive and can be out of reach for small-scale farms and businesses. So, how can we ensure these technologies are available to all stakeholders, and the associated food is affordable for all consumers?

Here are four ways that technology can increase food system transparency, resilience and fairness (FAO report: Five ways science, technology and innovation are helping to transform the world's agrifood systems): 

1. Track food supply chains and collect secure data
2. Increase access to information and enable communication between stakeholders and with consumers
3. Monitor and predict changes to reduce and prevent risk
4. Connect small-scale producers and increase access to networks and services.

Read EIT-Food's blog on how can digital technologies increase food system transparency, resilience, and fairness?

This report draws from a depth of data and in person interviews that will allow readers to more fully understand how the pandemic impacted global supply chains, how different companies reacted and the lasting changes that will be with us for years to come. It also analyzes other ways in which supply chains were disrupted and how the impact of these events was compounded by the pandemic

Key Points:

1. More organizations than ever are now using technology to assist with supply chain management and mapping: More than half (55.6%) of organizations are now using technology to help analyse and report on supply chain disruptions.
2. The number of supply chain disruptions organizations encountered in 2020 was higher than
   any other year in the report’s history.
3. COVID-related disruptions were more likely to occur beyond tier 1.
4. Solving the logistics puzzle has been a key challenge to organizations during 2020 – and is set
   to continue into 2021.                                                                                                                 
5. Senior management are now more engaged with supply chain issues.
6. Organizations are now more likely to interrogate the BC arrangements of critical suppliers.
7. More due diligence should be carried out pre-contract.

Read full report.

Michel Neilsen, professor of analytical chemistry at Wageningen University & Research, was recently interviewed about an EU-funded project to develop smartphone-based food screening capabilities.

The FoodSmartphone project aims to develop smartphone-based (bio)analytical sensing and diagnostics tools for simplified on-site rapid pre-screening of food. The three-year project is scheduled to wrap up in December.

Nielsen explains that the project works to develop a device that can be attached or connected to a shopper's smartphone to test for allergens, pesticides, and whether the product is organic. The team hopes to empower shoppers to test food at the shelf.

The interview was recently published by Horizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine from the European Commission, and can be read here.