In the article, most important food supply chains and their characteristics, with emphasis on trade streams, are elaborated and the assessment of risks, as perceived by interviewed supply chain operators, is presented. Business risks were identified by stakeholders of different small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in fruit and vegetable, meat and cereal sector, aiming towards explanation of threat and assessment of its potential damage for the company, when (if) it occurs. Identifi cation of main transaction risk was followed by assessment of their potential damage to the business. Small and medium enterprises, which create the majority of turn over in the agri-food sector, are reluctant to take up existing business to business (B2B) e-commerce technologies into their food supply of selling. The crucial barrier to adoption is that trust between companies is not mediated appropriately by existing e-commerce technology. Risk assessment of the analyzed supply chains indicates that from a cross-sector perspective, following common risk were identified: “Low quality”, “Reliability of delivery”, “Misunderstanding in communication” and “Unreliable supplier”. Majority of most important risks, as identifi ed and perceived by supply chain operators are connected to material flow and transport / logistic problems.

Key words: agri-food sector, supply chains, business risk, risk assessment

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