Annals of Operations Research (2020) 294:697–713 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-018-2948-2 S.I. : BALCOR-2017 Development of a single period inventory planning model for perishable product redistribution Ioannis Mallidis 1 · Dimitrios Vlachos 1 · Volha Yakavenka 1 · Zafeiriou Eleni 2 Published online: 22 June 2018 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Considering that more than 100 million EU citizens face the risk of poverty or social exclu- sion, while at the same time 35% of perishable food in the EU is unnecessarily discarded at supermarkets, the redistribution of the perishable food surpluses could provide an eco- nomically feasible solution towards the confrontation of poverty and the minimization of food waste. Under this context, the purpose of this paper is to propose a novel quantitative decision-making tool that optimizes a retailer’s replenishment policy for perishable prod- ucts while minimizing the amount of perishable items discarded after they approach their expiration dates, through the timely donation of a part of their net stocks. Keywords Inventory planning · Perishable products · Redistribution 1 Introduction In 2014 over 38 million tons of wasted food were discarded in the United States while, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, approximately 13% of American house- holds had difficulty providing enough food for all their members due to a lack of resources (EPA 2016). Recently, the European Commission welcomed the new Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) which mainly focusing on the development of food banks. The FEAD is the successor of the Program for European Aid to the Most Deprived (PEAD) which came to an end in 2013. The main purpose of the FEAD is to support Member States’ social emergency relief schemes, with over e3.8 billion dedicated to their purpose for the 2014–2020 period. In addition, EU countries will be responsible for paying 15% of the costs of their national programmes, with the remaining 85% coming from the Fund (FEBA 2013). On this basis, the donation of food surplus has recently grown significantly in the EU. B Volha Yakavenka olgushaya@gmail.com 1 Laboratory of Statistics and Quantitative Analysis Methods (Logistics and Supply Chain Management) (LASCM), Mechanical Engineering Department, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece 2 Laboratory of Applied Economic Statistics and Informatics, Department of Agricultural Development, Democritus University of Thrace, Thessaloniki, Greece 123