Sustainability assessment with structural equation modeling in fresh food supply chain management

The aim of this study is to determine the dimensions that affect the sustainability performance of the fresh vegetable and fruit supply chain and to determine the performance that occurs along the chain line. In this study conducted for the fresh fruit and vegetable sector, it is desirable to measure each dimension by finding the performance indices of sustainable supply chain management. Dimensions of this study include supply chain management, resource management, food safety, packaging, and waste management. For these five dimensions gathered from the literature and expert opinions, 26 sub-criteria are determined for use in performance evaluation. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) methods are used together to calculate the performance index of each dimension and then to obtain a final fresh vegetable and fruit supply chain performance score. This study has been performed in Turkey. Turkey, between the countries of the world, is located in the top 5 in the fruit and vegetable production. The performance of the five different dimensions is calculated. In this performance assessment, supply chain management dimension is calculated as the highest performance with a score of 91.22%. The lowest performance index score as 66.77% is the waste management dimension. The final sustainable fresh fruit and vegetable supply chain performance score is calculated as 79.96%. In addition to the limited performance evaluation studies in the sustainable supply chain, the fact that this study deals with the food chain, modeling and creating a final performance demonstrates the innovative aspect of the study. Attention is also drawn to the parameters that need to be addressed for more sustainable food.