Ethical Supply Chain Management

Ethical supply chain management is among the most neglected areas of our field. One of the issues covered by ethical SCM are animal rights, which are not covered by social supply chain management, a closely related area. An interesting application of ethical SCM comes from KAT, the Association for Controlled Alternative Animal Husbandry, “the inspection body in Germany and neighbouring EU countries for the scrutiny of eggs from alternative forms of hen rearing (free-range, barn and organic rearing)”. The system helps to put visibility into the supply chain. According to KAT, “[v]irtually all eggs offered for sale on the German market in the food retail trade bear the KAT inspection label”. You can, for example, use the code 0-DE-1234567 to test the system and will then be able to see pictures of the farm and also a map. “What is on the egg?” has also been released as a free app for mobile phones.