Potential Adoption of Blockchain in Food Cold Supply Chain: A Bibliometric Study and Future Research Agenda

Abstract

The food cold chain represents a crucial aspect of the highly sensitive food industry. Insufficient supervision can give rise to a range of adverse consequences, including contamination, fraud, and food waste. In line with technological advancement, the implementation of cold chains is becoming increasingly integrated with digital solutions, with blockchain technology representing a notable example. However, some bibliometric analyses have not focused on the cold supply chain, limiting their scope to the supply chain in general. Consequently, further studies are required to gain a more comprehensive understanding of this complex and evolving field. The objective of this analysis is to provide a bibliometric examination of the potential implementation of blockchain technology in the context of food cold chains. This will facilitate the identification of the most recent developments, prevailing trends, and research gaps that require further investigation. This research uses the combination of PRISMA and bibliometric analysis method through Biblioshiny and Vosviewer using 201 scientific articles. The results show that this topic has an annual growth of 96.77%, and there are 3 interesting research clusters, namely 1) blockchain technology transformation in improving traceability and reducing food waste, 2) blockchain technology in improving the competitiveness of cold supply chain companies, and 3) blockchain that can improve food safety, leading to increased consumer confidence. Based on the major themes obtained and strategic diagram, there are various future research opportunities, including capability freight transportation, deteoritation, food contamination, storage and transportation, carbon emissions, competitiveness, delphi analysis, agricultural products and sales.