Miller Magazine Issue: 122 February 2020

75 ARTICLE MILLER / FEBRUARY 2020 chnological innovation can be a major driver. In this article, I’ve explored options for food sustainability and what role the food industry needs to play to protect its future. THE NEED FOR SUSTAINABILITY Sustainability can be defined as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. For corporations, sustainability is not just about introducing environmentally friendly initiatives, as some may perceive. It is about protec- ting and utilizing resources efficiently and effectively. The UN expects world population to rise by two billion people over the next 30 years. With this increase in po- pulation, comes the need to increase the amount of food produced, which will inevitably increase both the amount of agricultural land needed food waste generated across the supply chain, and the greenhouse gas emissions from food production. This is where food sustainability is key, to mitigate the negative impacts of increased production and ensure that food supplies are not exhausted for future generations. THE FIGHT AGAINST FOOD WASTE AND LOSS According the World Resources Institute, almost a quarter of food produced for human consumption goes uneaten. This food waste and loss is created across the entire supply chain, including production, handling, storage, processing, distribution and consumption. An important distinction can be made between food ‘loss’ in the production process and food ‘waste’ which occurs in the food consumption and retail stage. Globally, the causes for the food waste and loss differ from continent to continent. In North America and Europe, where the annual food waste and loss combined is roughly 100kg per consumer; food waste (i.e. consumption stage) accounts for more than half.. In com- parison, only 5 per cent of food waste and loss combined in Sub-Saharan Africa is related to consumption, and the rest is lost during the production, handling and storage stages of the supply chain. These figures highlight the imbalance in food efficiency between developed and developing countries. Developed countries need to change consumer behavior, whereas developing nati- ons must look towards improving infrastructu- re and processes in early stages of the supply chain. Although food loss may be higher in deve- loping countries, the need to make improve- ments earlier in the supply chain is of global concern. International industry collaboration must focus on ensuring that food loss is reduced throughout the farming and sorting process in order to use as much as possible of what we produce. As for production-side food waste, repurposing of produ- ce is a key solution. If an apple or a blueberry does not have high enough quality for one use, one must find another use for it and make wasting the produce the very last resort. Sensor-based sorting systems can determine, for example, the quality level of a product, and thus allow for lower qu- ality products to be reworked until they are fit for another purpose, such as pet food or animal feed. At TOMRA, our sorting and grading solutions can help increase the yield of produce by between 5-10 per cent, which when put into context equates to as much as 25,000 trucks of potatoes every year. This allows businesses to maximize yields and recovery rates, while reducing waste and improving the overall quality of the produce. Our innovative sorting solutions can also help clean up crops that in the past would not be harvested, if damaged by adverse weather events, like hail, strong winds or torrential rain. Such events typically mean that incoming defect loads are high, but sensor-based cleaning of these damaged crops, together with removing subtle defects, has a strong positive impact on the shelf life of produce like fresh fruits and salads. REDUCING GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS In addition to the challenges of food waste and loss, the