No abstract

This thesis aimed to develop an integrated framework to minimize food losses in the fresh food supply chain by identifying the key factors that contribute to the loss, determining quality losses during transportation and storage, developing a quality degradation model, and formulating an optimization model. The study revealed that losses mostly occurred at the farm level due to picking practices and preharvest conditions, emphasizing the need for proper training and education for workers on harvesting and handling fresh produce. Developed quality prediction and optimization models showed promising results and should help stakeholders towards sustainable and efficient fresh food supply chain.