What are some ways to minimize food waste in the supply chain?

The important part is to plan from the start. Don't produce any food product without having figured out how the produce will be utilized. Where it will be sold or stored. If it will be sold who is going to buy and in what form should it be sold? If it will be stored first which storage facilities are needed, do they exist in your area . Next particularly for agricultural produce is to employ technology to minimize post harvest losses eg for grains such as maize ensure it is dries well moisture content of 13% and below then have proper storage, Or milk you introduce cold storage immediately after milking and linkage to market for immediate offtake.

Chocolate consumption has been on the rise nearly consistently since it was discovered by Western countries. Although the 2023 harvest will likely reach 5 Million Tonnes, it is deemed 100.000 ton short of the demand, trigerring a too rare increase of cocoa prices. At the same time, most of the 5 million cacao farmers - mostly in West Africa - live below poverty level on deforested plantations. To make cacao and therefore chocolate sustainable will require, if not a decrease of production, a limit on growth. Cocoa, like everything else, is getting close to the limit of the earth. I doubt that lab-produced chocolate will be able to meet the ever growing demand.

Prevention is key! However, bringing the supply chain together to co-create solutions is how we embed change. Siloed solutions can push the problem onto others. Often the waste we see in one area (eg on-farm) is affected by decisions from other areas (eg retail/consumers). So, solutions that involve multiple actors, coming together from across the supply chain (eg retailers and farmers) will be hugely beneficial.

Yes but never forget the underexploited nutritional and economic value that can be derived from creative use of seconds and rejects

I have seen food waste in 2 sectors one is agriculture with uneven demand and supply of tomatoes, onions, and lemons which skyrocket their prices or are thrown into the drains. Farmers need to be educated on which crop to grow based on demand. The other is restaurants and events where a lot of food is left over that needs a way for redistribution. NGOs and other organizations can participate in sharing this responsibility.

? Apps like "OLIO" connect neighbors to share surplus food, and commercial outlets to donate unsold food items. ? "FoodCloud" connects businesses with surplus food to local charities and community groups.

Being an agri output product, the quality of all output is not going to be same. Segregate the produce grade wise, and identify grade wise consumption points for the produce. Lesser the mismatch between quality expectations and quality supplied, lesser are the chances of wastage.

There are some projects that have been implemented and are operating successfully, such as: ? Supermarkets like Tesco have initiatives to convert unsold bread and other items into animal feed. ? On a community level, initiatives like community composting programs help convert food scraps into valuable compost. ? Some companies transform food waste into biofuels. For instance, "Bio-bean" in the UK turns waste coffee grounds into biofuel logs and pellets.

Even after defining grade wise product usage if there is some grade that can not be sold in the original form, identify processing options for such grades. Processing not only consumes what is not sold, it also enhances value.

One great recovery strategy to minimize food waste is to take Germanys' example of investing into Biogas plants that can produce electricity and heat from any organic waste by anaerobic fermentation. These systems are very flexible and can adapt from the energy needs of a household to powering entire neighborhoods or factories. The resulting material after fermentation is a great organic fertilizer that can be reentered in the food production chain to create value and reduce synthetic fertilizer usage.

2 tips, 1. Attention to the labelling: "Use-by" and "best before" labels needs to be standardized and clarified to reduce confusion among consumers. 2. Training for Businesses is crucial: Organizations like "Wrap" offer training to businesses on how to reduce food waste.

Yes, ofcourse awareness at the production level to minimize the waste is key parameter to be looked into. If the prodcuers are educated about how shelflife of the commodity can be improved by doing primary processing, it will surely help them to reduce the losses before it reaches to consumers.

In my experience there are some additional ways: 1. Policy-Regulation: Governments can play a vital role in minimizing food waste through policies and incentives. For example, France has made it illegal for supermarkets to throw away unsold food, redirecting them instead to charities. South Korea, households pay for food waste disposal by weight, creating an economic incentive to waste less. 2. Technological Innovations: ? Edible coatings or films for fruits and vegetables can extend shelf life. ? Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) can extend the freshness of perishable products. 3. Business Model Innovations: For example, the "Zero-waste" grocery stores where consumers bring their containers and purchase exactly the amount they need.

A contrarian perspective - For a study conducted during Onion crisis of 2010/11, I had estimated that in a scenario of zero wastage during onion storage season, farmers' suicide rate in Maharashtra shall increase because of drastic price drops due to 30-40% oversupply in markets. Shall we say onion wastage serves a gainful purpose.

It might be helpful to use some comprehensive criteria's for evaluating possible way to reduce food waste and loss such as: Affordability, Availability, Acceptability, Awareness, Technical feasibility, Adaptability, Scalability, Resource availability and Time to impact.

Encouraging growers to integrate their production systems and add processing lines to their fresh produce production is great to minimize waste at the source. One example is that of apple orchards that besides using 90% of their production for fresh consumption, utilize the less marketable 10% of their fruits for apple juice or for pomace and pectin which are high value products.