The food testing industry is undergoing a profound transformation as digital technologies expand alongside increasingly stringent environmental regulations. Rather than treating digitalization and environmental compliance as separate operational requirements, this study explores how their interaction reshapes value creation across the food testing industry chain. Focusing on the regulatory and ecological dimensions of digital transformation, the study examines how testing organizations respond to environmental law while reconstructing their value propositions in a highly regulated service sector. Using a mixed-methods design, the research draws on expert interviews and survey data from food testing institutions to analyze structural changes, value distribution dynamics, and governance mechanisms emerging under combined technological and legal pressures. The findings show that when digital transformation is strategically aligned with environmental compliance, testing organizations are able to convert regulatory obligations into sources of operational improvement, service differentiation, and long-term competitiveness. Digital tools enhance environmental monitoring, compliance transparency, and coordination across the industry chain, enabling new forms of value reconstruction that integrate economic performance with ecological responsibility. This study proposes an integrated framework that clarifies the pathways through which digital capability building and environmental governance jointly support sustainable industry development. The results offer practical insights for policymakers and practitioners seeking to promote digitally enabled, regulation-aligned growth in food testing and other environmentally regulated service industries.

1.    Varma S, Patra P, Shankar R. The food industry supply chain: Synergy of environmental orientation and collaboration in implementing circularity. Business Strategy and the Environment. 2024; 34(1): 218–241. doi: 10.1002/bse.3988

2.    Meng XN, Xu SC, Hao MG. Can digital-real integration promote industrial green transformation? Fresh evidence from China’s industrial sector. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2023; 426: 139116. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.139116

3.    Ren Z, Liu Q. How Digital Transformation Drives the Value Enhancement of SMTEs from the Perspective of Technology, Business and Social Interaction. Social Indicators Research. 2025; 178(3): 1367–1390. doi: 10.1007/s11205-025-03522-z

4.    Qin T, Wang L, Zhou Y, et al. Digital technology-and-services-driven sustainable transformation of agriculture: Cases of China and the EU. Agriculture. 2022; 12(2): 297. doi: 10.3390/agriculture12020297

5.    Abad-Segura E, Castillo-Díaz FJ, Batlles-de la Fuente A, et al. The impact of sustainable technologies on business strategy and competitiveness. In: Digital Transformation and Innovation in Business and Industry. Springer; 2025. pp. 103–130. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-81029-9_6

6.    Roth A, Zheng Y. A tale of two food chains: The duality of practices on well‐being. Production and Operations Management. 2021; 30(3): 783–801. doi: 10.1111/poms.13317

7.    Wang Y, Zhang L, Yan J, et al. How the “village merger and resettlement” policy reshapes agricultural carbon emissions: An analysis of effects and mechanisms from Chinese rural practices. Agriculture. 2025; 15(5): 451. doi: 10.3390/agriculture15050451

8.    Rehman Khan SA, Ahmad Z, Sheikh AA, et al. Digital transformation, smart technologies, and eco-innovation are paving the way toward sustainable supply chain performance. Science Progress. 2022; 105(4): 00368504221145648. doi: 10.1177/00368504221145648

9.    Han G, Zhang X, Pan X. Study on agricultural carbon emission efficiency calculation and driving path of grain production department in China. Quality Assurance and Safety of Crops & Foods. 2025; 17(1): 201–216. doi: 10.15586/qas.v17i1.1512

10.    Dayioglu MA, Turker U. Digital transformation for a sustainable future: Agriculture 4.0-a review. Tarım Bilimleri Dergisi. 2021; 27(4). doi:10.15832/ankutbd.986431

11.    Franco S, Giannoccaro I. Dynamic capabilities and microfoundations to overcome barriers to circular economy implementation. Business Strategy and the Environment. 2025; 34(4): 4392–4408. doi: 10.1002/bse.4171

12.    Ersoy P, Börühan G, Kumar Mangla S, et al. Impact of information technology and knowledge sharing on circular food supply chains for green business growth. Business Strategy and the Environment. 2022; 31(5): 1875–1904. doi: 10.1002/bse.2988

13.    Al Mamun A, Reza MNH, Yang Q, et al. Dynamic capabilities in action: the synergy of big data analytics, supply chain ambidexterity, green supply chain and firm performance. Journal of Enterprise Information Management. 2025; 38(2): 636–659. doi: 10.1108/jeim-08-2024-0441

14.    Holzinger A, Weippl E, Tjoa AM, et al. Digital transformation for sustainable development goals (SDGs): A security, safety, and privacy perspective on AI. In: Artificial intelligence for sustainable development. Springer; 2021. pp. 1–20. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-84060-0_1

15.    Liu J, Zhang P, Wang X. Exploring the mechanisms and pathways through which the digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises enhances green and low-carbon performance under the “dual carbon” goals. Sustainability. 2025; 17(3): 1162. doi: 10.3390/su17031162

16.    Grabs J, Carodenuto SL. Traders as sustainability governance actors in global food supply chains: A research agenda. Business Strategy and the Environment. 2021; 30(2): 1314–1332. doi: 10.1002/bse.2686
17.    Sutar PS, Kolte GC, Yamini S. Food supply chain disruptions and its resilience: a framework and review for resilience strategies in the digital era. Opsearch. 2025. pp. 1–35 doi: 10.1007/s12597-025-00915-z

18.    Wu T, Peng Z, Yi Y, et al. The synergistic effect of digital economy and manufacturing structure upgrading on carbon emissions reduction: Evidence from China. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 2023; 30(37): 87981–87997. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-28484-y

19.    Waqas M, Farooq F, Bhat MA, et al. Crafting a sustainable environment through green energy, financial development and agriculture in the brics economies. Journal of the Knowledge Economy. 2025; 17(1): 428–465. doi: 10.1007/s13132-025-02694-w

20.    Yin W. Identifying the pathways through digital transformation to achieve supply chain resilience: an fsQCA approach. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 2022; 30(4): 10867–10879. doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-22917-w

21.    Plekhanov D, Franke H, Netland TH. Digital transformation: A review and research agenda. European Management Journal. 2023; 41(6): 821–844. doi: 10.1016/j.emj.2022.09.007

22.    Kraus S, Jones P, Kailer N, et al. Digital transformation: An overview of the current state of the art of research. Sage Open. 2021; 11(3): 21582440211047576. doi: 10.1177/21582440211047576

23.    Baldwin R, Cave M, Lodge M. Understanding regulation: Theory, Strategy, and Practice. Oxford University Press; 2012.

24.    Achtenhagen L, Melin L, Naldi L. Dynamics of business models – strategizing, critical capabilities and activities for sustained value creation. Long Range Planning. 2013; 46(6): 427–442. doi: 10.1016/j.lrp.2013.04.002

25.    Warner KSR, Wäger M. Building dynamic capabilities for digital transformation: An ongoing process of strategic renewal. Long Range Planning. 2019; 52(3): 326–349. doi: 10.1016/j.lrp.2018.12.001

26.    Deephouse D L, Bundy J, Tost L P, et al. Organizational legitimacy: Six key questions. The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Institutionalism. 2017; 4(2): 27–54. doi: 10.4135/9781446280669.n2