Design of a supply chain network for pea-based novel protein foods

This paper presents an operations research technique that can be used for supply chain design and applies it to create a supply network with a goal to manufacture a pea-based NPF as cheaply as possible. The current food production and consumption pattern has a strong impact on the environment and resources and is not sustainable. Meat production in particular is not appealing from an environmental point of view, because of the inefficient conversion of protein in the feed into protein in the slaughtered animal. Novel protein foods (NPFs) are non-meat protein ingredients that are designed to replace meat-based ingredients in meals. The non-meat protein products presently available do not meet the expectations of most consumers and cannot be considered as realistic alternatives to meat (http://www.profetas.nl). They are niche products and are expensive when compared to pork. The prospects for replacing meat-derived ingredients by NPFs are more promising. The partial shift from an animal based diet to a plant, specifically pea-based diet may be feasible only if the price of these products decreases. A supply chain for NPFs can be divided into three major links: primary production (growing and harvesting), ingredient preparation (milling and concentration of pea protein) and product processing (manufacture of the NPF). The pea-based product is designed for the Dutch market. The peas are sourced from several locations around the world such as Canada, Ukraine, France and the Netherlands and are transported by sea, rail, road or barge. This paper presents a study on the optimisation of the supply network for NPFs in the Netherlands using linear programming. It focuses on finding the lowest cost at which NPFs can be manufactured for a specific market demand; while deciding the location of primary production, ingredient processing and product production areas and modes of transportation by minimising the sum of production and transportation costs.