Creative Solutions for Addressing Food Waste Across the Food and Beverage Value Chain
Food waste in the United States and across the globe is now estimated to account for about 8-10% of the food system’s climate impact.
Food waste is a pressing issue across the food and beverage value chain, with significant implications for the environment and food security. As food scientists and product developers at consumer packaged goods or ingredient supplier companies, it is crucial to address this challenge proactively. This year, Grow Well was actively involved in quantifying the scale of the problem and potential systemic solutions.
Food waste is only growing
Despite the growing attention to food waste and efforts to develop more processed, longer shelf-life foods, food wastage rates in the United States have been steadily increasing since 1960. Chuck Templeton, senior managing director at S2G Ventures, points out that the generation rate of food waste per person per day has risen from 2.68 pounds in 1960 to 4.9 pounds in 2018—an 8% increase from 2017.
The EPA data reveals that overall, US food waste (consumer-side) increased from 12 million tons in 1960 to 41 million tons in 2017. Adjusting for population change, per capita annual food waste has nearly doubled from 133.85 lbs per person in 1960 to more than 252 lbs per in 2017. This upward trend has continued even after the announcement of the national Food Loss and Waste reduction goal by the USDA and EPA in 2015, which aimed to slice food waste in half by 2030. More recent estimates from the EPA suggest that per capita food waste may be even higher, at 328 pounds per person in 2016. Even if we met the goal set before us, we’d still have 23% higher per capita food waste than in 1960.
We know that food waste efforts aren’t working… so what is? To answer this question, we share our reflections from a session Alison co-hosted at IFT FIRST - ‘What are Creative Solutions to Food Waste in the F&B Value Chain?’
Innovations in food waste prevention during manufacturing
To address this critical issue, food scientists and technologists must explore innovative solutions that can effectively reduce food waste across the value chain.
❄️Packaging
Dr. Claire Sand emphasized the importance of packaging and cold chain advancements in extending product shelf life. By ensuring that food remains fresh for longer periods, these innovations help reduce food spoilage and waste. Companies can explore sustainable packaging materials and technologies that preserve food quality and safety while minimizing environmental impact.
🔁Systems design
Dr. Ziynet Boz highlights the need for additional advances in circularity and design towards re-use to achieve a truly sustainable food system. Organizations like IFT and the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers are actively working to advance the circular bioeconomy. Food scientists and developers can join these efforts to explore circular approaches in their product development and supply chain management.
Innovations in food waste prediction and prevention tech
🥦To be proactive in determining reducing waste, leveraging technology can be invaluable. Dr. Jaime Reeves spoke about Spoiler Alert, a company that uses software to find secondary markets for surplus or obsolete SKUs from distributors and food service companies. Data analytics can help businesses optimize inventory management and reduce waste.
📉Christine Mosely, CEO of Full Harvest, shares her company's efforts to digitize the produce supply chain, thus better connecting imperfect produce with processing markets to tackle loss and waste, leading to more efficient use of resources.
🍞Mengyi Hu shared how dough additives her company Innophos developed help improve batter stability and reduce waste related to shift and equipment changeovers that can leave dough or batter sitting in high temperature environments for extended periods.
We’re embracing the circular economy
🌾Innovators like Renewal Mill and Regrained, which upcycle materials like spent brewers or distillers grains into products for human consumption, move materials up the food loss and waste hierarchy, making better use of natural resources.
