Food upcycling strategies applied by the listed companies involved in food value chain

The DataSet contains a set of data that informs the analyses conducted for the study of food upcycling strategies applied by the listed companies involved in the food value chain.

This paper aims to discover the main directions of scientific discourse on food upcycling and cross-check it with the perspective of leading food chain companies. Scientific discourse was analyzed using a systematic literature review using defined query and network analysis. Theme time, the perspective of a leading food chain company, was approached through the content analysis of annual reports of listed companies. A replicable analysis approach was developed and demonstrated on two samples of companies listed on two European stock exchanges.

Bibliometric research shows that research on upcycling topics is characterized by a high level of atomization, which may indicate an early sta research stage in this field. Qualitative research on non-financial annual reports published by selected companies has shown that currently, companies do not widely use upcycling in business practice. The authors attribute this state of affairs, among others, to the lack of a uniform reporting standard covering upcycling. Another conclusion from the study is that companies operating in the food value chain closer to the consumer are more likely to initiate activities with the potential for upcycling.