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FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN

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33
Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Food
Supply Chain (FSC) and Human Health
Rahul Mehra1, Dr. Harish Kumar2,
Dr. Naveen Kumar2, Dr. Shiv Kumar3
1
PhD Scholar, Amity Institute of Biotechnology,
Amity University, Rajasthan, Jaipur, India.
2
Assistant Professor, Amity Institute of Biotechnology,
Amity University, Rajasthan, India.
3
Assistant Professor, Department of Food Technology,
Eternal University, Baru Sahib, Himachal Pradesh, India.
E-mail Id: rahulmehranov@gmail.com, harishkanwar3@gmail.com,
nkumar2@jpr.amity.edu, shivk1999@gmail.com

Abstract
COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the whole world population to the core.
Due to dynamically spreading of this virus, the World Health Organisation
(WHO) give the safety measures (travel and gathering restrictions,
broader closing) to wins outbreak. This pandemic disrupts routine lifestyle
of human beings as well as processing, manufacturing sector. Food is the
basic necessity for human survival and this pandemic interrupt the whole
food supply chain (FSC) network. Food supply chain (FSC) is a multiplex
web from farm to fork. This pandemic enormously affects all the food and
agriculture sectors; dairy, agriculture, poultry and other related to food
processing and manufacturing due to shortage of labour, disturbance in
FSC, ban on import and export, lockdown and many more which leads to
food insecurities. Functional foods are the best available option in the
market which have potential towards human health and disease beyond
basic nutrition. These functional foods can be obtained from plant, animal
and fermentation source which exhibits therapeutic application in the
treatment or prevention of numerous disease due to the presence of
naturally bioactive components.

Keywords: COVID-19, Food supply chain, Functional food, Bioactive.

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Introduction
COVID-19 is the official name for the illness caused by the virus SARS
CoV-2, formerly known as ‘Novel Coronavirus’. On March-11, 2020, the
World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 as pandemic
(Strategic preparedness and response plan for the novel coronavirus, 2020;
Aday & Aday, 2020). Due to vigorously spreading of this virus, WHO
give safety measure, response actions across the world. These safety
measures caused; closure of educational institutions, restriction of
gathering, travelling and other (COVID-19 and Food Safety: Guidance for
Food Businesses", 2020). Working from home or flexible working has
become routine practices during the pandemic period, but this scenario is
different in food processing and other manufacturing sectors (Nicola et al.,
2020).

Agricultural practices are the backbones of both developed and under-

developed countries (Praburaj, 2018) and produced food is a basic
necessity for the survival of living beings. Food organisation and
management is directly depending upon; (a) stakeholders (b) supply chain
and (c) consumers (FAO, 2020; Zhong, Xu, & Wang, 2017). This
pandemic tremendously affects the food sector including; dairy, meat,
poultry, agriculture and other related food manufacture due to several
reasons including; labour shortage (farm operations and delayed in
harvesting), disturbance in the food supply chain, panic buying,
purchasing power, lockdown, quarantine and social distancing (people are
stuck in their residence) and many more (Hobbs, 2020; Richards &
Rickard, 2020) which ultimately lead to food insecurities (Gundersen &
Seligman, 2017).

Food supply chain (FSC) is one the noteworthy sector of the economy
(Aday & Aday, 2020) and this chain can be referred to the process begun
from the production of food, processing, distribution and consumption
(Zhong et al., 2017). COVID-19 pandemic negatively affects the whole
FSC from field to consumer (Aday & Aday, 2020). This disruption in FSC
is mainly due to the closure of food manufacturing units, trade policies,
financial pressure, production, processing, demand and distribution (Aday
& Aday, 2020).

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The term functional can be referred to as, whole, enriched or fortifies

which exhibits numerous health benefits beyond basic nutrition (Hasler,
2002). In recent, increased demand of functional foods has been seen
across the world this is might be due to people are more aware regarding
food safety and more conscious about their health (Klopčič, Slokan, &
Erjavec, 2020). The functional food can be obtained from both plant and
animal source which exhibits various therapeutic applications in the
prevention and treatment of various diseases including; cardiovascular
disease (CVD), cancer, scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS), anti-
diabetic, anti-microbial, and other chronic diseases (Brouns & Vermeer,
2000; Csapó, Albert, & Szigeti, 2019). This therapeutic application of
functional food is due to the natural existence of bioactive components
which ultimately enhance our immunity (Hasler, 2002). This article aims
to understand the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the food supply chain
(FSC) and to summarizes the potential of functional food on human health
and disease.

Food supply chain (FSC)

In general, food supply chain (FSC) is the movement of food from farm to
fork, which includes a multiplex web, production of food by producers,
vendors, processing, distribution, retailing and consumed by consumers
(Zhong et al., 2017) as illustrated in (Figure 1). The foremost aim of food
supply chains is to maintain the safety standards, effectiveness, freshness
and delivery of food from farm to consumers. Some food products like
milk and meat are highly perishable with very less shelf-life and required
optimum temperature conditions while transporting. Modern FSC system
continuously working on the techniques like, active and intelligent
packaging, cold chains, radio frequency identification (RFID), biological
packaging which minimizes the risk of deuteriation and maintain the
safety of food products at low cost (Bourlakis & Matopoulos, 2010;
Samal, 2019).

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Figure 1.Food supply chain

Impact of Pandemic on Food Sectors

Food supply chain (FSC) is one the noteworthy sector of the economy.
During the pandemic, each processing and manufacturing sector is
obsessed with its problem and business are on the downswing as the travel
restrict tighten to wins outbreak. Due to the closure of all import and
export of foodstuff being stuck. The dairy sector is most suffered during
the pandemic, i.e., milk and its derived products are highly perishable due
to lockdowns, restrictions on travelling, fewer labours and demand dairy
owners are not able to transport milk at chilling centres and processing
unit, which ultimately lead to the dumping of milk into drains (Bahadur
Poudel et al., 2020). A major issue during this pandemic face by the
agriculture sector is the harvesting of rabi crops like wheat, mustard,
chickpea, barley and others. At the time pandemic; lockdown, social-
distancing there is a shortage of labour due to the migration towards their
native places. These crops are damaged due to delay in harvesting.
Somehow these crops are harvested, then the farmers face issues regarding
storage, transportation and marketing (Bhavani, 2020). Cultivators of fruits
and vegetables on a large scale facing the major issues of shortage of

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labour for harvesting, maintain the quality for long time packaging,
storage, transportation to the wholesale market (Ridley & Devadoss,
2020). Ice-cream and frozen dessert manufacturers are completely stuffed
due to less demand, a refringent condition during transportation and fear or
the misconception that consumption of frozen desserts or ice-creams
makes susceptible to virus because it can contract cold (COVID-19 Impact
| Ice Cream Industry Suffers A Meltdown; Sales Dip 50%", 2020). Similar,
meat industries are also affected due to their products are highly
perishable, and less demand (Marchant-Forde & Boyle, 2020) which bring
a burden on owners to manage space and feed. One of least considered,
and most affected sector during this pandemic is “floriculture” because of
zero movements of people to buy flowers and other ornamental flowers.

Role of functional foods towards human health

Functional foods can be commonly referred as a whole, fortified and
enriched by the bioactive constituents from both plants and animals source
which have potential in the prevention and treatment of numerous disease
beyond nutritional value (Hasler, 2002; Klopčič et al., 2020). Both plants
and animal source exhibits different types of bioactive components
including; garlic (organosulfur compounds), green tea (catechins), spinach,
and collard greens (zeaxanthin/ lutein), tomatoes (lycopene), psyllium
(soluble fiber), cranberry (proanthocyanins), fermented dairy products
(probiotics), grapes(resveratrol), turmeric (curcumin), garlic (allicin),
ginger (gingerol), clove (eugenol) and other phenolic compounds These
bioactive components possess various therapeutic and functional
properties i.e., lower the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), anti-
inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, anti-osteoporotic, anti-proliferative,
supports digestion, immuno-modulatory properties and others as presented
in Figure 2 (Cortés-Rojas, de Souza, & Oliveira, 2014; Csapó et al., 2019;
Eikani, Golmohammad, Mirza, & Rowshanzamir, 2007; Gylling et al.,
2014; Kumar, Choudhary, Kumar, & Seth, 2014; Mayne, Playdon, &
Rock, 2016; Namal Senanayake, 2013; Turkmen, Akal, & Özer, 2019).

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Figure 2.Potential of functional foods in human health and disease

Fruits and vegetable are an excellent source of phenolic compounds,

anthocyanins, flavanols, flavones, flavonoids, flavanones, isoflavones,
catechin, epicatechin (Cassidy et al., 2016; Williamson, 2017), where the
food from the animal source has an abundance of omega-3α-linolenic acid
(ALA), eicosatetraenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA),
conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) (Wang & Boh, 2012; Watson & Preedy,
2013). The consumption of these functional foods enhances our immune
system. Further, a healthy immune system is a perfect antidote in response
to numerous infectious diseases.

Conclusion
During this COVID-19 pandemic, people from both high and low financial
status affected people. Some are restricted to access their favourite
foodstuffs where some others are restricted to food. Keeping the supply
chain active is important for food security. By taking some preventive
measures like E-commerce, social distancing while procuring foodstuffs
and agricultural practices, home delivery, supply chain working smoothly.
The consumption of functional exhibits numerous health potentials
towards human health and disease.

Albert Einstein quoted, “in the midst of every crisis, lies great
opportunity”. Learning from this, we make tomorrow stronger by learning
and adopting new habits. By creating our food systems including; starting
farming in our own homes ends the dependency on other sources up to
some extent. By doing these types of agricultural practices we can

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contribute to the larger goal of ensuring food and nutrition security. This
will also decrease the load on government food agencies and improve our
country's progression towards sustainable development goals.

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