Challenges and Practices in Perishable Food Supply Chain Management in Remote Indigenous Communities: A Scoping Review and Conceptual Framework for Enhancing Food Access

TL;DR

This paper reviews challenges in delivering fresh food to remote Indigenous communities and proposes a framework to improve food access and health equity.

Contribution

The paper introduces a multi-scalar conceptual framework linking PFSCM practices to food access dimensions in remote Indigenous communities.

Findings

PFSCM challenges exist across all supply chain levels in remote Indigenous communities.

Five categories of practices were identified to address PFSCM challenges.

A conceptual framework links PFSCM practices to food access dimensions like affordability and quality.

Abstract

Remote Indigenous communities experience persistent inequities in access to fresh and nutritious foods due to the fragility of perishable food supply chains (PFSCs). Disruptions across procurement, transportation, storage, retail, and limited local production restrict access to perishable foods, contributing to food insecurity and diet-related health risks. This scoping literature review synthesizes evidence from 84 peer-reviewed, grey, and unpublished sources across fourteen countries to map PFSC management (PFSCM) challenges affecting food access in remote Indigenous communities worldwide and to synthesize reported practices implemented to address these challenges. PFSCM challenges were identified across all supply chain levels, and five categories of reported practices emerged: PFSC redesign strategies, forecasting and decision-support models, technological innovations, collaboration and coordination mechanisms, and targeted investments. These findings informed the development of a multi-scalar conceptual framework comprising seven interconnected PFSCM clusters that organize how reported practices are associated with multiple food access dimensions, including quantity, affordability, quality, safety, variety, and cultural acceptability. This review contributes an integrative, system-oriented synthesis of PFSCM research and provides a conceptual basis to support future scholarly inquiry, comparative inquiry, and policy-relevant discussion of food access and health equity in remote Indigenous communities.

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