7 Technologies to Tackle Food Waste

End of year holiday feasts are traditionally a time for spending time with friends and family, catching up on the last year and preparing for the new year to come. Feasts are central to celebrations across cultures but estimates are that we each consume an average of 6,000 calories at a single sitting during these celebrations. 

More remarkable, however, is the horrific amount of food thrown out during holidays, more obvious to us than at any other time of the year. Guilt ensues. Charitable organizations remind us of those who are hungry, we notice the money wasted on food uneaten and the leftovers generated.

Waste on the plate is actually just the last step in a food chain riddled with discards from retail all the way through to producers. BCG estimates that 1.6 billion metric tons of food, globally valued at USD $1.2 trillion, is unused. 1/3 of all the food produced globally is thrown away. In China and the US half the food never makes it from field to fork. Unused food means that water, energy, labor, agricultural chemicals, and other resources used to grow, store and transport that food are also wasted.

In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly called for halving world food waste and reducing food losses by 2030. A coalition of executives from governments, businesses, international organizations, research institutions, farmer groups and civil society were pulled together in a group known as Champions 12.3 and tasked with mobilizing and generating global action to accomplish these goals. A number of startups and organizations, such as ReFed, World Resources Institute, and Consumer Goods Forum, are also trying to reduce food waste, and technology is playing an increasingly important role in that effort.

Reducing wastage in the refrigerators or on the plates in homes and restaurants is challenging; how can we collect such small amounts across such diverse collection points. Composting on site is the easier option. This blog specifically takes a closer look at the ways that technological innovation can help reduce food waste in the upstream part of the food chain, arguably an easier way to make real changes.

A trillion dollar problem – Seven technologies to save more food upstream to feed the planet.

Three areas being brought to bear on food waste in the process of producing the food and getting it to market, may be broadly categorized as being based on Information, Imaging and Preservation.

Information: Blockchain, IoT & Artificial Intelligence (AI) 

Blockchain in the ag sector is getting a lot of attention, and is being employed to improve traceability, food safety, and efficiency; it can also help eliminate food waste at its source. However, where blockchain will reach its full potential is when combined with other technologies. For example, using blockchain in crops will use data to precisely manage nutrients, pesticides, and water, while in the meat industry, the ability to quickly isolate a food source can eliminate unnecessary product loss while boosting consumer confidence. Wyoming cattle ranchers are early adopters of blockchain in the US beef industry, with first products due to hit the market in early 2019. Ranchers are betting consumers are willing to pay to know where and how their beef is sourced.

Combining blockchain with artificial intelligence (AI), IBM Food Trust plans to reduce food waste by connecting growers, processors, distributors, and retailers. Partnering with Big Ag companies such as Dole, Nestle, Driscoll and Walmart. Since completing a pilot program with IBM Food Trust, Walmart is taking it a step further with Eden Technology, an in-house food-waste program designed to determine a product’s freshness from farm to shelf. Post-harvest shelf-life and management solutions for produce and meat is a critical area in the food supply chain. Zest Labs (US) provides growers, producers, shippers, and retailers autonomous and end-to-end cold chain visibility for proactive decision-making to improve freshness and reduce shrinkage. Other examples include Savormetrics (Canada) and AgShift (US), using AI and machine learning to analyze produce, grains, meats, and dairy products to predict quality, decay curves, and remaining shelf-life.

The potential for blockchain in the food chain has also drawn several crypto companies into the food sector. Ambrosus (Estonia), uses a decentralized blockchain and IoT network with real-time tracking and food sensor technology, including food attribute monitoring. Since a lot of the future growth in the grocery industry is expected to be online, Ambrosus is teaming-up with Russian-based INS Ecosystem, using an inventory tracking system for the grocery industry that enables consumers to buy directly from producers.

The global nature of the food supply chain makes Blockchain a particularly useful tool for VeChain (Singapore), a multi-platform blockchain whose users include food partners Danone (France) and Bright Foods (China). TE-FOOD (Germany) uses VeChain’s blockchain platform to store data, while specializing in fixing food-sector supply-chain issues in developing countries. TE-FOOD plans to bring the IoT and blockchain to companies with little or no technology through smart phones. Its launching its first blockchain system in Vietnam by the end of 2018 and has an eye on India, a huge market where cheap smart phones and cheap data combined with direct pay apps are revolutionizing how business gets done.

Other examples include Wenda (Italy), which is using the IoT and partnering with Chainvine (Stockholm/London) to bring blockchain capabilities to the food and beverage industry with products like olive oil, wine, and pasta. FoodLogiQ (US) is enabling efficient supply chain management by capturing the data needed to stay FSMA-compliant through stitched together real-time tracking from farm-to-fork.

TeleSense (US) continuous IoT monitoring and a cloud platform helps reduce an annual USD$12Bn loss, due to grain spoilage in developed countries, through rapid detection of anomalies and automatic notifications in grain silos or storage units.

Hyperspectral Imaging

Hyperspectral imaging combines spectroscopy and digital photography, and allows for extremely detailed imaging across the full range of visible and invisible light. Digital images and software are used to measure chemical composition of food items such as product ripeness and contamination without probing or piercing the skin. Used to find foreign objects (such as plastic) during production, measure product quality, control processes, it distinguishes between fat, bone, and gristle in meat production. Hyperspectral imaging has been used by NASA for decades, but the technology is now more affordable, sparking a variety of new food applications. Companies commercializing hyperspectral imaging for the food industry include ImpactVision (US), Specim (Finland), Stemmer (UK), and Israel’s Unispectral.

Photo courtesy: ImpactVision. 

Technologies for Preservation

Gene editing to reduce browning, spoilage, and prolong shelf-life

Every year, 35% of fresh potatoes, valued at USD $1.7 billion, are lost because of waste from poor storage or shelf life (Journal of Consumer Affairs; Simplot). Genetic editing technology shows promise in helping curb waste, because of its ability to reduce spoilage and browning. Different than GMOs, gene editing enables scientists to splice portions of DNA from crops that make them undesirable, for example, turning off the genes that are vulnerable to pests and disease.

J.R. Simplot (US) announced it is the first agricultural company to achieve gene-editing licensing for its CRISPR-Cas9 technology in the United States; tomatoes, mushrooms, strawberries, and other foodstuffs are coming to the marketplace.

Food coatings

Inconsistent storage conditions throughout the supply chain and the demand for cosmetically perfect produce pressures farmers to harvest only crops that will maintain quality before reaching the consumer. These factors have opened the door to novel methods for keeping food fresher longer. Although there is also a global marketing initiative to entice consumers into eating perfectly safe, ugly or imperfect produce usually goes at a discounted price.

Photo courtesy: Apeel Sciences

 Apeel Sciences (US) has engineered an invisible, edible, natural, and tasteless coating to protect the surfaces of produce. It serves as a barrier-like skin to protect produce from transpiration, oxidation, and microbial activity, keeping produce fresh for longer. Lebanese start up STARTCHY has also developed a 100% natural coating designed to give apples a longer shelf life. SafeTraces has alsoddsssd developed DNA-based, edible barcodes that can trace a product back to its source in minutes. The invisible coating can be added to dry or bulk products during production. Recovery and test results can be gathered from anywhere using a handle-held device.

AgroFresh, Hazel Technologies (US), It’s Fresh (UK) and Freshsurety focus on ethylene control. Small packets are inserted into produce packaging to extend shelf life by emitting a vapor that delays ripening and stops the growth of mold and bacteria. BluWrap focuses on fresh fish and meat with fuel cells that monitor and reduce oxygen in shipping containers.

Cold chain solutions

10% of the food loss in developed countries is due to lack of refrigeration but in developing countries, that figure nearly triples to 28%. The ability to maintain a cold chain can significantly extend the shelf-life of products but is often nonexistent in emerging markets. Deploying more advanced cold chain solutions could reduce the problem significantly.

Advantech (Taiwan) and BT9 XSENSE (UK), provide real-timed cold chain management, monitoring and identifying any potential problems with perishable food products along the transit line. Sigfox (France) also uses IoT for cold chain tracking and monitoring, but also monitors weather, track herds, precision ag, and temperature of grain stocks.

Maersk (Denmark), one of the largest global food transports, outfitted 270,000 of its containers with IoT technology to monitors and record the temperature, humidity in real-time as they move goods around the world. Maersk also launched a startup incubator to tackle front-end, supply-chain solutions to food waste and bring more solutions to market.

Wakati (Belgium) has developed a solar-powered, standalone hydration device to preserve food. Instead of a cooling system, it created a low-cost, low-energy alternative. Using just one liter of water per week and solar energy, the Wakati system functions in warmer climates to keep fresh produce hydrated, enabling farmers to more effectively store their harvests on the farm and in transit, thereby, increasing their ability to bring crops to market.

What’s next?

Within the food chain there is considerable experimentation, as everybody from farmers to truckers looks for ways to use emerging technologies to gather information or data about where food is in the chain, use images to know more about the condition of the food, or manage the progress of the food as it moves along the chain. However two other elements need to be considered.

First, because you can’t manage what you don’t measure, a systems approach is needed to analyze information and drive results. For example, data analytics offers a tool that helps food companies improve their predictions of consumer demand, allowing them to adjust food production. Tracking the location and temperature of foods along the supply chain to prevent spoilage is useful for that load of food; data analytics can compare performance over time and against quality and cost metrics. Champions 12.3, mentioned above, produces an annual report card, reporting on their progress.

Setting standards, targets and expectations are part of the second element: building awareness among stakeholders about the extent and costs of food loss and waste, aligning direct and indirect policies and incentives to encourage minimization of food waste.

Governments can help by developing policies that incentivize companies to reduce food waste and being supportive of education initiatives to inform food handlers and consumers on the costs – to individuals and communities- of food waste.

Everybody along the food chain, from the farmer to the delivery services can strive to reduce food loss and leftovers- to their own benefit. Using new technologies and improving process efficiencies will reduce costs and even a simple 3-step approach to food waste can yield substantial financial benefits:

1.     Identify where and how you can contribute to the solution.

2.     Find the right partners.

3.     Measure the impact.

In one study that approach yielded profits 3.3 percent higher than similar companies (BCG). Teaming up can enhance those benefits even further. For example, a coalition of 28 Big Ag companies are addressing the challenge of reducing food waste by 2030 (as these case studies demonstrate).

Finally, ‘Prosumers’ are making consumers and the companies than supply them aware of the costs of food waste, encouraging and rewarding companies who work to reduce it.

Many thanks to Kathryn White for her research and writing, Alexa Potocki & Kate Phillips Connolly for editing.