Algorithmic Governance for Food Supply Chain Transparency: an Umbrella Review

Abstract

Fraud in food supply chains is a severe threat to food safety and sustainability. Mitigating it requires effective mechanisms to ensure transparency and traceability along food supply chains with several autonomous and distributed actors. Recent research shows that algorithm governance can be a promising approach in food supply chains to achieve this goal. This study reports findings from an umbrella literature review of empirical research on digital technology for transparency in food supply chains. The findings show challenges in food supply chains, food supply chain management, the need for digital technologies, digital technology and traceability, and the use of blockchain in food supply chains. Based on these findings, we draw implications for research on algorithmic governance: (i) the specific features and configurations of the digital technologies used and how they differ, (ii) the involved actors and how they interact, (iii) the reasons of the benefits and drawbacks of algorithmic governance, (iv) the temporal aspects of data collection and verification, (v) the spatial aspects of data sources and nodes, and (vi) the need for sociotechnical data management.