Food waste is a financial burden for many CPG businesses, but companies can leverage innovative technologies to foster a more collaborative supply chain that reduces waste, optimizes resources, protect their reputation and saves them money.
Out of 1,000 companies surveyed, over a third (35%) of companies in the food industry, including consumer packaged goods, grocery and restaurants, reported a loss of between $1 million and $49 million across their organization annually, according to data technology company Impinj.
Supply chain visibility in the food industry is an area of growing importance, Megan Brewster, VP of advanced technology at Impinj and former senior advisory for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, told FoodNavigator-USA.
In light of food safety legislations like the US Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which emphasizes rapid and precise responses to product recalls, their implementation is often hindered by a lack of visibility in supply chains, she said.
This lack contributes not only to challenges in managing recalls but also to broader issues like food waste, stockouts, shortages, unnecessary carbon emissions and labor inefficiencies, she noted.
A third (32%) of respondents said food waste losses cost between $49 million and $150 million annually, and of these losses 35% of food waste is donated, 34% is sent to landfills and 31% is converted for other usage (e.g. animal feed or compost) according to the survey.
“Food waste is really expensive,” Brewster highlighted, adding that the loss of sellable goods is damaging to a company’s reputation.
Yet, technology can help play a role “in helping these companies achieve the visibility and help defer some of these costs,” she added.
For example, using trackable tags like Impinj’s RAIN RFID chips on boxes, cases and pallets of fresh food can help ensure that products reach customers in a timely manner. RAIN RFID technology enables “full food traceability from farm to customer,” according to Impinj.
Yespers Total Value factory focuses on zero waste with apples
Dutch manufacturer of upcycled clean label foods Yespers opened its first “Total Value” factory this year in a commitment to reduce food waste.
The facility focuses on processing apples, aiming to use every part of the fruit to prevent food waste and promote a circular economy, Stefan Baecke, founder, Yespers, told FoodNavigator-USA.
From stems, seeds, cores and fruit, each part of the apple is separated before processing. Apple stems are dried for tea while the seeds are finely pressed into an oil. The cores also go into the pressing process and processed into apple juice, and the pulp is dried and ground into apple fruit powder. This proof of concept exhibits Yespers’ zero-waste method, which Baecke refers to as the total value of the apple.
“In our view, waste only exists when you misuse resources. It is quite strange that apple juice is often considered more valuable than the other parts of the apple, while apple juice is actually mainly sugar water. We actually want to emphasize the maximum value of all parts,” he shared in a statement.
Yespers’ factory is a shift from a traditional extraction-based model in the food and beverage industry to a more holistic, sustainable approach, Baecke said.
He described the conventional model as focused on maximizing yields and minimizing input costs, which often leads to waste and environmental harm.
As Yespers’ approach aims to use entire resources – like a whole fruit – without wasting any part of it, Baecke noted the importance of ensuring that every component across labor, land and water is also utilized to reduce waste, environmental impact and inefficiency. By doing so, Yespers is able to retain value within the supply chain, create new revenue streams beyond the primary product (e.g., juice) and promote sustainability at scale, he added.
Yespers’ long-term strategic vision extends across the entire food supply chain as opposed to limiting collaborations to direct suppliers and buyers, Baecke said.
For example, bottle reuse systems can reduce and encourage the purchase of byproducts like pomace for use in other goods like cookies or pancake flour, he elaborated.
