Blockchain enabled food supply chain management: A systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis

With the rapid developments in the field of blockchain technology, the food supply chain has entered the era of blockchain applications for the past few years. Although many publications related to blockchain technology have shown a remarkable impact on the food supply chain, there is no bibliometric report that considers this research trend. The research for this study was carried out from the years 2008 to 2021, with the first paper in this field being published in the year 2016. The research uses multiple databases for data analysis, studying approximately 2637 records to enlighten scholars around the world, and 150 records are finalized for the study. The primary purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic literature review to understand the current research status of blockchain technology in managing and transforming food supply chains and fill the gap. Additionally, bibliometric analysis is utilised with the VOS viewer to visualise, comprehend, and simulate the diverse range of findings in terms of essential authors, authorship pattern, keyword analysis, and blockchain usage pattern in food supply chains. Additionally, the literature also examines the advantages, difficulties and applied blockchain-based models in the food supply chain. The study concludes by outlining research gaps, implications, and future research opportunities. This research will help the students, academicians, and experts to get a complete idea of the development of blockchain in the food supply chain area. The highly cited implementation papers existing in the literature have demonstrated that blockchain could improve transparency, traceability, food safety, and food quality. It is a promising technology to build trust among food supply chain actors. Furthermore, it revealed that blockchain is moving from its nascent stage to maturity stage.