This review presents a systematic literature review of cybersecurity threats affecting digital food systems and supporting infrastructures. Findings show that integrity-related and access-oriented threats, including data manipulation, false data injection, tampering, unauthorized access, and system takeover, are frequently represented. 

Abstract

The reliable operation of food systems underpins public health, societal resilience, and economic stability. As digitalization reshapes food production, processing, distribution, and monitoring, cybersecurity threats are becoming relevant not only to operational continuity but also to food safety. Interconnected sensors, automation systems, data platforms, traceability tools, and networked infrastructures increasingly support food safety functions such as monitoring, process control, documentation, traceability, and data integrity. Yet existing research remains fragmented across technologies, threats, and operational settings, and food safety implications are often addressed only implicitly. This study presents a PRISMA-based systematic literature review of cybersecurity threats affecting digital food systems and supporting infrastructures. Searches in Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed resulted in 42 studies from 2015 onward. Through structured qualitative synthesis, the review identifies dominant threat categories, affected digital system types, and recurring food-safety-relevant impact pathways. It develops an integrated classification framework linking cybersecurity threats, affected systems, food-safety-relevant pathways, and evidence basis.

Findings show that integrity-related and access-oriented threats, including data manipulation, false data injection, tampering, unauthorized access, and system takeover, are frequently represented in the included literature. They are associated with smart farming systems, IoT and sensing devices, communication networks, cloud/software platforms, and industrial control systems. Recurring pathways include process parameter manipulation, monitoring failures, traceability breakdowns, cold-chain disruption, and water or utility integrity issues. By distinguishing explicitly reported food-safety links from function-based interpretations, the framework supports reproducible risk classification and food-safety-oriented cyber risk assessment, resilience planning, and critical infrastructure protection research.

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Food security
PUBLISHED
04 Nov 2026
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