After 3 years and 7 months, FCI closed its operations in 30-June-2011. I am now working for Bayer CropScience. Issues affecting food supply chains remain my passion and I am lucky to be in a company that shares this view.

I truly appreciate your interest in this website and I look forward to maintaining contact through LinkedIn.

My site will remain open and it will serve as an archive of my newsletter, blog and general information. My e-mail will also remain active.

To my clients, friends and readers, thank you for your support.

All the best,

Silvia Estrada-Flores

Food Chain Intelligence (FCI) is a niche consultancy firm that provides expert advice in:

• The supply chain of perishable foods, from gate to plate.
• Technical intelligence on innovation, logistics and value chains in the food industry.
• Operating procedures and plans to achieve a safe, integrated supply chain while minimising environmental impacts.

Silvia Estrada-Flores, Principal Consultant, has strong technical and business qualifications with 17 years of experience in assessing cold chains performance and strategic planning of innovation in food chains.

FCI specialises in projects that require “out-of-the-box” thinking and where traditional supply chain analysis may not deliver a solution.

For example:

-Evaluating the potential benefits of radio frequency identification (RFID)-based traceability on food businesses requires skills in technological forecasting, plus a sound knowledge of food logistics.

-Assessing the potential return-on-investment of a new technology to reuse food waste for bioactive recovery needs an understanding of supply and demand factors that can "make or break" a business venture.

-Reduction strategies of environmental impacts in food chains must consider the impacts on production yield, quality, shelf-life and food safety.

Recent events

Outcomes of the project "Understanding Victoria's Fruit and Vegetable Freight Movements":

Dr Leorey Marquez to present the results of a VEIL-CSIRO-FCI project in the First International Workshop on Food Supply Chain (WFSC): "The Food Journey".June 26 – July 1, 2011. Bertinoro (FC) and Orvieto (TR), Italy.

Dr Silvia Estrada-Flores to present the results of a VEIL-CSIRO-FCI project in the 44th Convention, Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology Incorporated (AIFST). 12th July 2011. Sydney, Australia.

Dr Leorey Marquez to present the results of a VEIL-CSIRO-FCI project in the 19th Triennial Conference of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS2011) .10-15th July 2011. Melbourne, Australia.

Presentations recently delivered by Silvia Estrada-Flores:

Half-day seminar on perishable supply chains in an event sponsored by the Logistics Association of Australia and UNISA. Adelaide, SA, March 24 2011.

"Supply Chain Management Tools for Shelf-life Extension". Food Safety Centre Symposium, organised by the Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research (TIAR), 10-11 February 2011.

Half-day seminar on perishable supply chains in an event sponsored by the Logistics Association of Australia and the University of Western Sydney. May 19, 2010.

Other events:

Silvia participated in the OpenIdeo team "Food Hub", which was a winning concept in the competition "How might we better connect food production and consumption?". Congratulations to Lauren Delaquilla for proposing the winning concept. Also, well done to the rest of the Hub team for their hard work during the 2-day workshop in May 2011.

Food Chain Intelligence releases five reports for the Australian vegetable industry. 07/12/2010.

Dr Mark Tamplin's presentation on New Tools for Oyster Supply Chain Management. Shellfish Futures 2010. St Helens, Sept 10-11.

Silvia Estrada-Flores was interviewed by Australia's Best Food and Drink magazine. Read the interview here.

Food Chain Intelligence closes its doors

Results from the G20 meeting in agriculture

The G20 meeting: what does it mean for food security

Japan and its track record in food safety

About the ABARES’ report “A turning point in agricultural productivity: consideration of the causes”

Scope 3 emissions in the food industry

"Peak phosphate" issue discussed by the Chemical Sciences and Society Summit (CS3)

New reports on food freight released.

Increases in fruit and vegetable prices: Is there really a winner?

Queensland floods. During Jan 10-Jan17, I prepared and distributed information and maps about the effect of QLD floods on supermarket supply chains and food distribution. The information was posted in my blog. Some notes below will still be relevant for some months to come.

Flood assistance for small businesses and primary producers •QLD floods: impacts in food and agriculture • Transport infrastructure affected by floods in QLD • Food safety advice by Safe Food Queensland • QLD floods-Brisbane Markets • QLD floods mapping-Depiction files • Extension of roads closed in QLD • Queensland floods- the problem of food distribution to supermarkets • Supermarkets affected by floods in QLD and Central Brisbane. • Floods in QLD: mapping and simulation. • Australian Food Statistics 2009-10.

From our newsletters...

Are Australian food chains ICT-ready?

Achieving temperature control and energy efficiency in the cold chain

Critical factors for quality maintenance in fruit and vegetables

Mechanical harvesting, RFID-enabled traceability and irradiation in vegetable production

Australian food security in pandemic scenarios, plus dirty evaporators and energy efficiency

The business case for thermographic surveys in cold chain equipment

Experimental results of thermographic surveys in cold stores and reefer containers

The environmental impact of food supply chains.

Co-innovation in the food industry.