Supply Chain of Organic Vegetables: A Case Study of Food Safety Program in Hospital

Abstract

The purpose of this research is 1) to present the organic-vegetable supply chain relationships in Food Safety Program in Hospital and introduce the guideline for development and quality improvement of overall management; and 2) to study the quality indicators of the supply chain management using a qualitative research method. Two hospitals, namely, Chiang Rai Prachanukroh hospital and Lampang hospital, were selected by Purposive Sampling. The data was collected by in-depth interview and participant observation. The study shows that the organic-vegetable supply chain forms a data network and a transport network of agricultural products with spider-web like relationships among hospitals-the major components, agriculturists, public sectors and private sectors. The major elements of a successful operation are operational networking, flexibility of hospitals, quality control, cost management in agriculture, and strength of agriculturists’ networks. The study also suggests that we should include the strengths of the relationships among hospitals, agriculturists, public sectors and private sector as one of the supply-chain quality indicators. The strengths could be measured by a number of relationships and their continuities.