One third of the food produced to be consumed by humans is wasted all around the world. This waste is not just the loss of valuable resources but it is also an affront to the 815 million people around the world which are suffering from malnutrition. Solving the food waste problem and ensuring better food availability is the concern of today’s food industry. With a food supply chain, waste of production, distribution, processing and consumption can occur anywhere. In order to solve the food waste problem, all these stages should be addressed.
Food manufacturers are currently working on waste management at the distribution stage of the supply chain. Around 14% of the food is wasted during harvesting and distribution. Recent development in the cold-chain management can help in decreasing these figures significantly. Cold chain is one of the fields in supply chain management that deals with the movement of perishable goods such as chemicals, beverages, vaccines, etc. All these goods need to be refrigerated at every step of the supply chain. As supply chains become longer and longer, current cold chains are often unable to fulfill the particular climate needs of these goods.
By maintaining suitable temperature-controlled conditions and a continuous cold chain along each step, distributors can potentially salvage upto 475 million tons of food chain annually. This amount is enough to feed millions across the world if the supply chain ensures that the food is reaching those who need it the most. Plugging cold chain gaps is not enough to keep food products from spoiling. The real goal is food and beverage products are preserved during the supply chain process with their peak nutritional value, quality and taste so that everyone has access to healthy and fresh food. Cold chain management gives us hope to do so and decrease food waste.
Food retailers of today rely immensely on refrigerated distribution centers and docks to transfer food from one location to another until it reaches the consumer’s doorstep. However , this method is expensive. Temperature, light, humidity and ventilation requirements vary for each product. Thus, it is impossible to cater to these requirements for thousands of different product stores in one place. Moreover, these docks are far from actual residential places of consumers and this means logistics costs have increased. So, it is not an ideal method. Companies are now trying to make products as close to the consumers as possible to shorten the food chain.
Large enormous storage facilities are being replaced by smaller cold storage facilities called micro-fulfillment centers. Micro-fulfillment centers are smaller than 10, 000 square feet and they allow retailers to have a small amount of manageable inventory at a given time, according to predictable consumer demand. Micro-fulfillment centers are also easier and affordable to build in comparison to the big expensive high-tech storage facilities. Micro-fulfillment centers are often built into an existing grocery store, parking lot or anywhere close to the consumers. This way products that are ordered online are even shipped instantly to the consumers, often on the same day.
Micro-fulfillment centers can be shipped in insulated food storage containers so that each product can travel in ideal condition. Digitized tote-sized containers have an ideal environment for food products whether it is 45 degree fahrenheit for unripe avocados or 0 degree fahrenheit for frozen vegetables. Unfortunately, a lot of retailers are not adopting this option since they are too lazy and reluctant to shift from their large inventory storage spaces. What they are unable to realize is that handling smaller and more manageable containers can avoid spillage at storage centers and transportation.
With groundbreaking advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning is used for supply chain management. Data analytics tools are combined with AI to ingest billions of data points to process data streams in real-time and create workable insights. For example, through machine learning software forecasting models, inventory, transport time, consumer demand and spoilage probability can be calculated. Moreover, this software can also analyze trailers during transport between distribution centers.
Previously, battery-based thermometers were used to predict passive temperatures of food containers but with machine learning, temperature data of containers can be received in real time. This can be done with Bluetooth low energy (BLE) trackers. BLEs can offer real-time monitoring of temperature, humidity, data entry and data analytics. This way companies can identify and tweak any suboptimal environmental conditions.
Even if waste management is successful, it does not ensure improved availability or accessibility of food products for low-income consumers. Even with lesser spoiled food, supply chain gaps persist and food deserts become. Areas that have limited access to nutritious and affordable food often because lack of infrastructure are called food deserts. People of such areas do not necessarily have the means to travel to big grocery stores so how can perishable items reach these people who need them the most? Positioning micro-fulfillment centers in such low-income communities that are deprived of industrialized supply chains can ensure access to healthy food for all.
In France, grocers are prohibited to throw away food that they can donate. Similar kinds of waste management laws can be implemented elsewhere as well. Big food brands do not have an excuse anymore in the present era of automation and technological advances. Goody Professional is making sure that more fresh food is preserved and available to consumers. Goody Professional is a company that specializes in waste management and recycling.
Goody Professional food brand has been working for years to make sure that the environment is clean and safe for the next generation. In order to keep up with the evolving needs of their customers, Goody Professional has introduced their new waste management system. They have no shortage of experience when it comes to managing waste. As a result, they can provide their clients with the best solutions for their waste management needs in the food industry. They believe in recycling food products and waste disposal solutions with their food products.
