Purpose The purpose of this paper is to gain a general holistic view of implications of the growing and highly relevant customer segment of elder consumers for the food demand chain (food retail, production, logistics, and business informatics) in Germany. Design/methodology/approach This paper takes a holistic demand-chain approach that is based on interviews with 36 German food consumers aged 65-87 and with 50 experts from manufacturing, trade, logistics, and business informatics as well as a survey with 1,288 consumers above 64 years of age and 682 consumers below 65 years of age. Findings Physical, statistical, psychological, social, and behavioural characteristics of elder German consumers may influence location, services, and layout of food retail, food variety, sizes, packaging, and labelling, food production, transportation, and storage volumes and capacities, as well as facility location, route, and inventory planning. The social function of grocery shopping especially for single consumers, intergenerational products and services, home-delivery services especially to rural areas, as well as decentralisation and regionalisation are expected to gain importance. Logistics and industry 4.0 can facilitate the efficient and effective supply of food. Originality/value This research is the first to investigate the needs and wants of elder German food consumers and their implications for the German food demand chain in a more holistic demand-chain approach.

Based on the well-investigated OnVu™ TTI kinetics, models were developed to adjust the label to different food products and predict the discolouration process under dynamic temperature conditions. After the successful validation under laboratory conditions, the applicability of the time temperature indicator (TTI) as shelf life indicator was tested in a national poultry chain. The TTI accurately reflected the temperature fluctuations occurring under real chain conditions. Shelf life predictions based on the discolouration of the TTIs were in accordance with the microbial shelf life of the product. The models were integrated in an online software tool to check for the compliance of the cold chain and predict the remaining shelf life of the product. The implementation of TTI and the software result in a valuable tool to support the decision-making process in the cold chain. The application of flexible shelf life enables the reduction of food waste in the meat supply chain.

Special Time Temperature Indicators (TTI) are able to display temperature histories by colors, so that the TTIs are able to provide information of the freshness of specific products. To use TTIs in different steps of the supply chain the following requirements need to be fulfilled: Kinetic models to predict the response of the TTIs as a function of time and temperature have to be available as well as warning and action control ranges at different handover points and the ability to translate the response of the TTIs into management and product information. For an economical use of TTIs, software solutions should be available to support the participants within the supply chain with management and product information. This information results from mathematical models that use the responses of the TTIs as input and it results from knowledge what is stored in databases. The objective of this study was to develop an internet based software solution that uses a TTI kinetic model as a practical tool to use TTIs in dedicated meat supply chains. In this study the OnVu TM TTI was used and a validated model to predict the response of the TTI as a function of time and temperature and that also shows a correlation to the kinematics of the spoilage of meat. By using the model within the internet based software with an interface to the response of the TTIs, the remaining shelf life of dedicated products could be easily measured at each point within the supply chain. Within this study the implementation within a poultry supply chain was investigated.