Supercooling Technology Can Minimize Food Loss

Food waste is a serious and growing problem that affects all aspects of sustainability: the economic, the environmental, and the humanitarian. It’s an overarching societal issue with global reach. Nearly one-third of all food produced each year is squandered or damaged before it can be consumed. While this spoilage can happen at any node along the food supply chain, the vast majority of food loss happens when perishable items spoil as they move through the cold chain.

In the U.S. alone, more than 119 billion pounds of food are discarded between harvest and the family dining room table. That equates to 130 billion meals and more than $408 billion in food thrown away each year, according to the latest statistics from Feeding America. There are solutions available to help address this global challenge that can and should be implemented at every point along the cold chain.

Food Waste Along the Supply Chain

From the moment a food item is plucked from the ground, picked from the tree, or pulled from the sea, the clock starts ticking on its lifespan. Each stop from harvest to table has a limited time allotment that affects the overall longevity of the product. If each stop along the way meets its time allocation, whether it’s hours or days, the food arrives at its last stop—your plate—in time to be eaten and enjoyed. Food waste occurs when food is delayed at any point and it either doesn’t make it past a particular stop or it creates a time crunch that cannot be overcome at the remaining stops along the chain. The result is a staggering $1 trillion dollars’ worth of food being lost or wasted every year, according to statistics from Feeding America.

Here are some ways food loss can occur along the supply chain.

• Farming. Food loss at the farm level depends on many variables and differs significantly based on geography and the effects of mother nature. The majority of food waste at this stage happens at harvest time. Perishables such as fruits and vegetables need to be moved to appropriately cooled storage areas or transported quickly, or there can be pest infestations, mold, or spoilage. Nearly half of all fruits and vegetables produced globally are wasted each year due to inadequate post-harvest cooling and storage during their journey through the food cold chain. The effect of food wasted at the farm level can ripple through all of the resources used to grow the food, which magnifies the loss exponentially. Irrigation water, fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, and agricultural labor are also lost. An estimated one billion acres of farmland are planted, fertilized, watered, and tended each year to grow crops that are, ultimately, wasted.
• Manufacturing and transportation. Human error, a lack of adequate standard operating procedures, processing time, and inefficient storage are the main causes of food waste at the manufacturing level, which account for more than 10% of food waste. Streamlining food processing, providing additional training for workers, and implementing more effective storage solutions could eliminate significant waste at this level. An estimated $5 billion of food is lost in the U.S. during transport throughout the food cold chain. Even refrigerated transport from farm or sea is not always enough to preserve the quality and safety of perishable food items. Millions of tons of food are discarded each year because they do not arrive at their intended destination before spoiling. Furthermore, it’s not just the food that is wasted; 30% of all transport journeys and the fuel that drives them, as well as the human hours of driver labor, is also wasted (United Nations).
• Retail. The bulk of retail-level food loss occurs at grocery stores and restaurants. Waste happens when grocery retailers remove dented cans, misshapen or blemished produce items, overstocked specialty foods, and spoiled or expired foods from their shelves. Food waste in restaurants occurs at both the preparatory stage, primarily from overcooking and improper storage, and when the customer leaves uneaten food on their plate. Extra food that is not consumed at a buffet can also contribute to restaurant food waste. Wasted food from the retail sector is valued at about twice the amount of profit from food sales.
• Consumer. Consumer food waste is the food that is thrown away by households, restaurants, and retail outlets. According to a global report by the United Nations, consumer food waste accounts for 17% of the food available to consumers. The majority of this waste comes from households, which discard 11% of the total food available to consumers. The average household of four people wastes $2,760 per year on food that goes uneaten. Americans discard more food than any other country, nearly 40 million tons, wasting approximately one pound of food per person per day. Food that is prepared but left uneaten, or food that spoils in our fridges and cabinets, contributes to the 1.3 billion tons of food wasted each year globally.

Societal Implications

Food waste is a societal issue that affects food security, food quality and safety, economic development, and the environment.