PREVENTING FOOD LOSS AND WASTE #1: INCREASING AWARENESS TOWARDS CLIMATE-SMART ECOSYSTEMS
On the 29th of September, the whole world celebrated the second International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste.
Inaugurated just last year, this international awareness day testifies to how far we still need to go for real recognition and understanding about the true value of food.
Food is survival, it is the fruit of the earth, it is the concretization of natural resources, but it is also the result of human work. In a long supply chain, it unrolls from the field in the transformation, distribution, processing, catering, foodservice and up to the tables in our homes.
In the wake of the pandemic, food has returned to its central position in both national and international debates and international and local policies. The recent Food Coalition, launched by FAO, the UN Food Systems Summit, and the Pre-COP 26 hosted in Milan, plus all the G20 meetings are clear exemplifications of the urgency to build back better and re-start from the essentials.
Yet, food and the agri-food system, continue to express evident paradoxes.
Every year, about 14% of food products are lost worldwide before reaching the market. The annual value of food losses is estimated at USD 400 billion, equivalent to the GDP of Austria, while in the European Union, the estimated economic damage of food waste, roughly 88 million tons, is 143 billion euros.
Increasing awareness on food loss and waste is crucial to ending highly inefficient, linear, and unsustainable business systems. But as awareness is intertwined with a deep understanding of the causes and processes that feed these malfunctions, overcoming oversimplifications around food systems becomes equally central.
This article, the first of a series as disclosed here, aims to unravel some of the complexities and paradoxes behind the food system, revealing less evident leaks, and increasing engagement on food loss and waste prevention.
“Waste is a design flaw.” — Kate Kreba
CLIMATE-SMART ECOSYSTEMS OR CLIMATE-IMPACTFUL ECOSYSTEMS?
We are all aware of the seriousness of the current climate emergency.
Equally, it is widely known that traditional agriculture, specifically intensive, extensive, and extractive agriculture, is highly responsible for climate alterations.
Data is clear: 30% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions come from the agribusiness sector. Considering that it is responsible for 80% of deforestation and land degradation, which alone generates +17% of emissions, as FAO reveals, the impact is massive.
If this context already seems sufficient to underline the importance of moving towards different models of agriculture, particularly climate-smart agriculture, we must also consider the climate impact due to loss and waste.
4.4 million km2 of land, an area larger than the entire Indian subcontinent, is used to grow the food that is lost on farms each year.
It is not surprising, then, that if food waste were a country, it would be the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the United States.
A climate-smart approach requires sufficient understanding and assessment of the vulnerabilities to climate change, to embrace effective adaptation and mitigation strategies. Yet the majority of G20 countries are far below the targets set for mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
It requires adopting a circular design for food, as recently stressed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, “from product concept, through ingredient selection and sourcing, to packaging.”
It also requires sufficient understanding of local contexts, data, and root causes at the basis of food loss and waste, to monitor the impacts and progress achieved in reducing this calamity. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 Target 3 requires states to “halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses” by 2030.
Still, quantifying food losses at all stages of the supply chain, and especially in the fields, remains a challenge. The primary obstacle is the complexity in measuring losses at the farm level, often underestimated in their magnitude, especially in industrialized countries, given the frequent but incorrect “perception that it is a more significant issue in lower-income countries, due largely to a lack of access to technology such as cooling facilities,” as reported in the recent WWF report.
Yet, despite the enormity of the food waste challenge, we still too often underestimate the complexities behind food loss.
THE HIDDEN CHALLENGES TOWARDS CLIMATE-SMART ECOSYSTEMS
- PACKAGING AND FOOD LOSS
The challenge of packaging is not immediately associated with food losses. However, in light of the global pandemic when market restrictions and prolonged lockdowns occur, packaging plays a crucial role.
Its main function is to preserve food from externalities, like humidity, moisture, and bacterial contamination. Therefore, when well-designed, packaging protects food from deterioration, in particular when food has been produced far from where it is then distributed, commercialized, and consumed.
Recent data from an Italian study spotlights the increased food loss (5%-15%) in Italian fields after the pandemic and how it has been addressed through better optimization of packaging (smaller and more sustainable packaging). It is no coincidence that the 2021 Food Sustainability Observatory reports a significant leap forward in start-ups investing in sustainable packaging or new technologies to extend food “shelf life.”
In this direction, an interesting best practice comes from Eceplast, an Italian small-medium-sized business capable of reaching 42 countries in the world thanks to innovative packaging: Linearbags to be installed in shipping containers to protect the goods during shipment.
“The liner bag solution preserves the quality of the cargo, reduces potential losses while eliminating a consistent amount of packaging. Typically in a container, you can pack 20 tons of raw sugar. With a Linerbag you need 15 kg of plastics; using any other sort of packaging, you will need 200 kg — 250 kg of packaging,” revealed Nicola Altobelli, Commercial Director of Eceplast to our Climate Shaper Irena Knetlova, who interviewed him.
This packaging has been developed and improved in time. As Nicola presented during the collateral event organized by the Future Food Institute at the pre-Cop 26, (in case you missed it, you can rewatch here), CargoClima is an evolved Linerbags, as it allows you to ship products in a modified atmosphere. Tested and implemented on the distribution of cocoa, a product that counts, at the current state, about 10% of the global transportation to deteriorate (25.000 containers lost), CargoClima allows to stow and sealed the product under vacuum and/or with inert gases to obtain a Modified Atmosphere package.
“By eliminating the original air, we prevent humidity and mold, but also oxygen and therefore product oxidation”, he said in Milan on the 29th September.
In this sense, both food loss and food unsafety are prevented, as the development of infestations and mycotoxins (that would generally require chemical fumigation) are eliminated.
- INADEQUATE TECHNOLOGIES
Relying on the right technology to prevent food loss (and waste) is also a matter of access. Small farmers, often in rural areas, do not have access to technology able to keep crops in storage longer. Poor handling conditions, unhygienic storage, and lack of adequate temperature control can be root causes of unsafe food, that eventually can lead to food loss and, in extreme cases, food insecurity.
In developing countries, just as in developed countries, food may be lost due to premature harvesting. Farmers sometimes harvest crops too early due to food deficiency or the desperate need for cash during the second half of the agricultural season. In this way, the food incurs a loss in nutritional and economic value and may be wasted if it is not suitable for consumption. In this sense, advanced technologies and blockchain can play a key role in achieving efficient food management, by exchanging data with a high degree of reliability and transparency.
An interesting example of this comes from Leanpath, a US company focused on data-based technological solutions to prevent food loss and waste. Collection and analysis of data enable stakeholders involved in the food chain to understand where most food loss and waste are occurring. Acting mainly at the canteen and restaurant level, this company is committed to preventing food loss and waste through a combination of hardware and software that tracks food loss and waste.
Other advanced technologies may come from Apeel, a company that applies nature-based treatment on the skin of fruits and vegetables to decrease the evaporation rate while prolonging their shelf life. Similarly, but on the fish and protein side, the company BluWrap, which provides oxygen management technology, allows food to be transported and conserved safely without the need for ice, environmentally harmful polystyrene, or expensive air freight.
FEEDING AWARENESS ON FOOD
“Nowadays we are disconnected from how our food is produced. It is time to emphasize the moral imperative on the wasting of food.” — Steven Finn, VP of Food Waste Prevention
We cannot move the needle towards climate-smart ecosystems without increasing awareness of food loss and waste prevention. This means unraveling the complexities around food systems both at the policy and consumer levels, from entrepreneurs to consumers, from experts to youth.
And it is precisely to youth, the leaders of tomorrow, that the Future Food Institute addressed the hackathon challenge on food loss and waste yesterday, during the Pre-COP26, and on the occasion of the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste. Gathering together students from ISS Spallanzani High School from Modena, they were challenged to find solutions on the triggers of food loss and waste throughout the whole supply chain, from the fields to households, from supermarkets to restaurants, from schools to canteens.
The time is now for us to go back to the responsible mindset, in which food is valued as necessary for survival. It is time to put an end to our culture of abundance.
The Future Food Institute is an international social enterprise and the cornerstone of the Future Food Ecosystem, a collection of research labs, partnerships, initiatives, platforms, networks, entrepreneurial projects and academic programs, aiming to build a more equitable world through enlightening a world-class breed of innovators, boosting entrepreneurial potential, and improving agri-food expertise and tradition.
Future food advocates for positive change through initiatives in Waste & Circular Systems, Water Safety & Security, Climate, Earth Regeneration, Mediterranean Foodscape, Nutrition for All, Humana Communitas, and Cities of the Future as we catalyze progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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