The food supply chain in South Africa faces significant challenges related to transparency, traceability, and consumer trust. As concerns about food safety, quality, and sustainability grow, there is an increasing need for innovative solutions to address these issues. Blockchain technology has emerged as a promising tool to enhance transparency and accountability across various industries, including the food sector. This study sought to explore the potential of blockchain technology in revolutionizing through promoting transparency that enable the achievement of sustainable food supply chain infrastructure in South Africa. The study found that blockchain technology used in food supply chain creates an immutable and decentralized ledger of transactions that has the capacity to provide real-time, end-to-end visibility of food products from farm to table. This increased transparency can help mitigate risks associated with food fraud, contamination, and inefficiencies in the supply chain. The study found that blockchain technology can be leveraged to enhance supply chain efficiency and trust among stakeholders. This technology used and/or applied in South Africa can reshape the agricultural sector by improving production and distribution processes. Its integration in the food supply chain infrastructure can equally improve data management and increase transparency between farmers and food suppliers.There is need for policy-makers and scholars in the fields of service delivery and food security to conduct more research in blockchain technology and its roles in creating a more transparent, efficient, and trustworthy food supply chain infractructure that address food supply problems in South Africa. The paper adopted a qualitative methodology to collect data, and document and content analysis techniques were used to interpret collected data. 

The article highlights Malaysia’s multicultural history, the advancement of Internet technology, and the worldwide appeal of Chinese food, all of which serve as a good basis for the project. This study focuses on Malaysian Chinese takeout systems. The research’s primary goals include developing new business options for the Chinese food sector, as well as enhancing customer happiness and efficiency of takeout systems. As a result, the project intended to create a Web-based system for managing several tasks associated with meal ordering by users. For the system development, an Object-Oriented System Development (OOSD) methodology was used, mostly with the Java programming language. Model-View-Control (MVC) framework was employed throughout development to improve system administration. Redis and HTTP session technologies were included for user login to increase system security. For database operations, MyBatis and MyBatis Plus were also employed to enhance ease and security. The system adheres to design principles and leverages technologies like ElementUI and jQuery to further fulfill this criterion to provide a user-friendly interface. The results of this study demonstrate significant improvements in the overall efficiency of the takeout process, leading to enhanced user experiences and greater customer satisfaction. In addition to streamlining operations, the system opens new avenues for the Malaysian Chinese food industry to capitalize on the growing demand for online food ordering. This research provides a solid foundation for future innovations in takeout systems and serves as a reference point for enhancing the Chinese gastronomy sector in a rapidly digitizing world.

Food safety in supply chains remains a critical concern due to the complexity of global distribution networks. This study develops a conceptual framework to evaluate how food safety risks influence supply chain performance through predictive analytics. The framework identifies and minimizes food safety risks before they cause serious problems. The study examines the impact of food safety practices, supply chain transparency, and technological integration on adopting predictive analytics. To illustrate the complex dynamics of food safety and supply chain performance, the study presents supply chain transparency, technological integration, and food safety practices and procedures as independent variables and predictive analytics as a mediator. The results show that supply chain managers' capacity to anticipate and control risks related to food safety can be improved by predictive analytics, leading to safer food production and distribution methods. The research recommends that businesses create scalable cloud-based predictive model solutions, combine data sources, and employ cutting-edge AI and machine learning tools. Companies should also note that strong, data-driven approaches to food safety require cooperative data sharing, regulatory compliance, training initiatives and ongoing improvement.

With its inherent characteristics of decentralization, immutability, and transparency, blockchain technology presents a promising opportunity to revolutionize the South African food supply chains. Blockchain technology, with its decentralized, immutable, and secure nature, offers solutions to these challenges by improving traceability and accountability across the supply chain. This study investigates the role of blockchain technology in enhancing transparency in the food supply chain among small and medium enterprises in South Africa. SMEs form a critical part of the country's agri-food sector but face challenges such as food fraud, inefficient inventory management, and lack of transparency, which impact food safety and trust. The research adopts a mixed-method approach, utilizing the Technology-Organization-Environment framework and Institutional Theory to explain blockchain adoption among SMEs. The results demonstrate that blockchain-enabled practices, such as smart contracts, records traceability, production tracking, and distribution monitoring, significantly enhance supply chain transparency. The findings highlight blockchain's potential to increase operational efficiency, regulatory compliance, and stakeholder trust. This research provides valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners, emphasizing the need for regulatory support and strategic investment in blockchain solutions to promote sustainability and competitiveness in the agri-food sector.

Shared education has the potential to foster pluralistic values and improve relations between individuals from diverse ethno-linguistic backgrounds. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of how shared learning experiences can promote pluralism and social equality by examining the pedagogical factors that influence their success. This study focuses on a shared English learning model implemented with 8th-grade Arab and Jewish students in homogenous Israeli cities. This qualitative study, involving observations, interviews, focus groups, and transcript analysis, engaged 42 students, two teachers, and two administrators. The findings suggest that shared education has positive social implications. It facilitated interaction between Arab and Jewish students and challenged negative stereotypes. Notably, the Jewish students’ limited Arabic language proficiency led to complex interactions, stimulating critical thinking about linguistic inequality and increasing motivation to learn Arabic. While shared education improved intergroup relations, it also encountered logistical challenges that necessitated institutional support to optimize its effectiveness.

It is possible to provide green, ecological, and innovative products and services through green and sustainable public procurement. This study analyzes the opportunity offered to public contracting authorities in the Republic of Croatia (RH) in transformation from existing economy to a sustainable one through the inclusion of small and medium sized (SME) companies and inclusion of selection criteria that promote all three sustainable goals. The study employed a qualitative method and empirical analysis of public procurement procedures for eggs in the period from 2013 to 2021 in RH. The product was procured in many social institutions, hospitals, schools, student canteens and by procuring a sustainable product, added value could be created for the entire community. Data from the Electronic Public Procurement Classifieds of the Republic of Croatia (EOJN RH) and Data from the State and European Union (EU) Statistical Office were used. The research showed that sustainable procurement criteria were used for the first time in 2021, and that public contracting authorities put a stronger focus on the environmental pillar of sustainability and less or almost none on the economic and social pillar. The volume of demand and production was also calculated. The study found that the first contractor for sustainable product was SME company, producer of food, who adapted to the green conditions of public procurement in a short period of time. The paper empirically demonstrated that public procurement can be a powerful tool, but it was not used enough in the observed period for the observed products in RH.