Fruit and vegetables supply chain organization in Spain: effects on quality and food safety

The Spanish fruit and vegetables sector is both diverse and fragmented, comprising many different players whose produce varies according to its geographical origin. However, these players tend to converge in the latter stages of the distribution process of their products. Therefore, for the purpose of analysis it is advisable to group homogeneous products and similar characteristics, which usually belong to particular areas, since the type of supply chain depends on the destination of the goods. In Spain, supply chains are highly adapted to the type of market to which they belong and consequently to the type of retailer at the end of the supply chain. All too often producers commercialize their products in total ignorance of the channel that they will follow to consumers. This hinders the necessary vertical coordination and collaboration within the channel to optimize its function, particularly as regards quality management and sanitary monitoring of the products. The principal scenarios in which Spanish distribution channels play a major role are the EU, domestic and local markets. The typical outlets corresponding to these areas of the retail market would be the Spanish and European mass distribution self-service stores, the small specialized warehouse, and street markets or street vending. Exports via the supply chain to Europe have constituted by far the largest change this sector has undergone. Both the European channels and those which continue to supply domestic markets, which have also undergone significant customization, form the basic structure of the current fruit and vegetables distribution sector in Spain. In essence, this distribution network system is strongly oriented to exports, innovation and the implementation of new technologies. The simplest descriptions of the fruit and vegetables distribution system in Spain describe it as: i) a "long channel” involving numerous intermediaries; and ii) a "short channel" arising from changes in both productive and commercialization stages. In both cases, the effects on quality management can vary greatly, influencing the food safety of the product reaching consumers.Working Paper within the project: “Food safety regulations, market access and international competition, SAFEMED” (nº 219262 FP7-ERANET ARIMNET

Food safety importers’ strategies and typologies of international fresh fruit and vegetables supply chains

Related to growing concerns about food safety, the present heterogeneity of certifications and types of control adopted in international supply chains has been interacting with a number of private level strategies, having supermarket chains and large distributors as main protagonists, such as the strategic selection of target market or the differentiation strategy of B2B ('Business to Business') and B2C ('Business to Consumer'), which are applicable to food safety in the fresh fruit and vegetable distribution channel. In this paper, on the one hand, we describe the types of international supply chains for fresh products, and on the other hand, the strategies related to food safety of importers and distributors in developed countries. This with the aim of determining how these strategies influence and interact with both the health risk and the management and decision processes along the supply chain. Especially, it is shown how the diversity of effects caused by the introduction and development of risk management systems is reflected in the wide range of inter-related responses performed by the different members of the distribution channel. This paper proposes a summary of the more noteworthy ones in a segmented way according to their strategic purposes. As main conclusions of this paper we have that, due to the need and obligation for the distribution channel´s members to meet the quality and safety levels required by the market, the characteristics of the linkages, which were established until now along the supply chain, have been altered towards a search for higher upstream commitments from retailers to producers, and thus, the operator´s response to the new dimension acquired by food safety within the supply chain has led to the staging of new methods and procedures for its management. It can also be observed that the bulk of the literature in the area of food safety in the fresh fruit and vegetables supply chain is about the government and implementation of quality in products, processes, or with specific protocols, being much less present a pragmatic and management approach oriented to executive staff in their various areas of responsibility, as well as empirical fieldworks