FLEISCHWIRTSCHAFT international 1/2017

40
Fleischwirtschaft international 1_2017
Food Waste
cold chain can be reduced significantly
as the awareness for maintenance
of the cold chain is increased
at all stages. Theoptimised
temperature conditions are at the
same time coupled with an extension
of the shelf life and thus of the
selling window.Afurther benefit
of these labels with regard to reducing
the amount of food wasteis
that the safety margins of the best
before datecan be reduced significantly
by adjusting the indicator to
the real shelf life of the food.Accordingly
the consumer too is able
to see whether aproductisstill fit
for consumption after the end of
the best before date.
Although these technologies
have been available on the market
for more than 20 years and the
topic is currently asubjectofintensive
discussion at the policylevel,
there is still alack of afar-ranging
implementation and acceptance of
these indicators. Accordingly so far
the fields of application worldwide
have concentrated on just afew
supply chains. These include for
example monitoring of cooked
poultry meat,fish and fish products,
mussels, seafood and selectedready-to-eat
products for
airline catering.
Within the framework of twoEU
projects (FP6-012371, IQ Freshlabel-243423),
companies were
asked about the reasons for the
poor level of implementation.
Reasons stated in particular are the
fear of overwhelming consumers
with information, scepticism and a
lack of confidence vis-à-vis new
technologies, or the fear of expensive
implementation in already
existing systems. Furthermore,
manyretailer do not believe in the
reduction of food wastebyTTIs.
Instead, theyfear excessively high
losses due to sorting and arise in
complaints after the point of sale.
Surveys among consumers show a
completely different picture. Consumers
would view the introduction
of TTIs as an advantage and
believe in the reduction of waste
through intelligent packagings, as
theythen receive additional information
about the freshness and
safety of the products. In particular
in the fresh meat and fish sector
consumers would welcome the
introduction of such alabel. Accordingly
the attitudes of the upstream
chain and the last link, the
consumer,are completely opposed
as regards the introduction of
TTIs. Whereas producer,wholesaler
and retailer are skeptical with
regard to introduction of the label
and their contribution to waste
reduction, end consumers are very
positive about the idea of introducing
such indicators.
Summary and
prospects
Active and intelligent packagings
can in the long term makean
important contribution to reducing
the amount of wasteincertain
supply chains by extending shelf
life through evidence of correct
producthandling or by just-in-time
information about the actual quality
or remaining shelf life of the
product.
Thepercentage reduction rates
depend on numerous factors,
however.Higher reduction rates
are to be expectedinthe case of
perishable foodssuch as poultry
meat and fish than in the case of
products displaying shelf lives of
more than three weeks. Furthermore,
the logistic structures represent
asignificant influence factor.
Especially in complex food chains
with long transport routes, these
types of packaging can makean
important contribution to sustainablefood
production. Further
influence factors include the customer-supplier
relations, the
process organisation, the current
methods used to control important
quality and safty parameter,the
markets, the production volumes
and the involvement of consumers.
When using intelligent labels it is
crucially important how these
indicators are integrated intothe
overall information and quality
management and whether the
information are chaired withn the
further actors in the chain. The
wastereduction rates also depend
crucially on whether,for example,
time-temperature indicators are
used as cold chain indicators or as
indirectfreshness indicators with
which the residual shelf life can be
determined at each stage along the
chain.
In order to reduce the amount of
wasteinthe long term it is important
to first identify the precise
causes of wastes in different supply
chains (product-related and supplychain-related
causes), so that on
this basis the right packaging
technology for the respective chain
or productcan be selected.
Close cooperation between the
packaging industry,agricultural,
processing, transport and trading
businesses, recycling companies,
the authorisation authorities as
well as the consumer is important
for the future development of new,
active and intelligent packaging
technologies. Only in this way can
sustainable, active and intelligent
packagings that gain acceptance
both in the industry and among
consumers be developed and
implemented in line with needs in
the long term.
Literature
1. GUSTAVSSON J., C. CEDERBERG,U.SONESSON,
R. VAN OTTERDIJK und A. MEYBECK (2011):
Global Food Losses and Food Waste.
Study for the international Save Food
Congress, 16-17.05.2011 Düsseldorf. –
2. KREYENSCHMIDT,J., A. ALBRECHT,C.BRAUN,
U. HERBERT,M.MACK,S.ROSSAINT,G.RITTER,
P. TEITSCHEID und Y. ILG (2013): Food Waste
in der Fleisch verarbeitenden Kette.
FleischWirtschaft 93 (10), 57–63. –
3. MUTH,M.K., S.A. KARNS,S.J. NIELSEN,
J.C. BUZBY und H.F. WELLS (2011): Consumer-level
food loss estimates and
their use in the ERS loss-adjusted food
availability data. Technical Bulletin
no. 1927.Washington, DC: USDA.
Further literature references can be
requested from the authors.
Dr. Sophia
Dohlen
works in Food Processing
Engineering at the University
of Bonn. One field of her
research focuses the assessing active
packagings with regard to their potential for
increasing the shelf life of perishable foods.
PD Dr.Judith
Kreyenschmidt
heads the Cold-Chain-
Management working group
at the University of Bonn
(IEL, Food Processing Engineering). The
fields of research include creating simulation
models to predict food quality, developing
and implementing new technologies in
the areas of temperature monitoring,
hygiene and packaging to improve food
quality and safety and to reduce food waste.
Authors’ address
Dr.Sophia Dohlen and PD Dr.Judith Kreyenschmidt,
Institute of Nutritional and Food
Sciences (IEL) Food Processing Engineering,
Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität
Bonn, Katzenburgweg 7–9, 53115Bonn,
Germany, sdohlen@uni-bonn.de,
j.kreyenschmidt@uni-bonn.de
Food Waste
Wageningen University
installs Taskforce
The Taskforce Circular Economy in
Food, launched during the National
Food Summit in the Netherlands,
aims to prevent and reduce
food waste and becomes an international
frontrunner in the valorisation
of agrifood residual
streams.
The Taskforce, an initiative by
Wageningen University &Research,
in collaboration with the Ministry of
Economic Affairs and the Sustainable
Food Alliance, connects initiatives
against food waste. It is leading
the transition towards acceleration
and the development of a
circular economy.The Taskforce is
currentlycomposed of 25 members
from the entire food supplychain,
from SMEs to food multinationals,
and supplemented with members
from public and societal organizations.
In the second half of 2017,the
Taskforce will publish anational
strategy and roadmap to collectivelyachieve
acircular economy in
food: an economy in which waste
does not exist, agrifood residual
streams are re-used in the best
possible way, and raw materials
retain their value. In the roadmap,
there are concrete goals and actions
for both the short and long
term. In addition, the Taskforce will
function as athink-tank and a
source of inspiration and will challenge
businesses to innovate more
rapidly.
Participants can use insights
gained from the European research
programme Refresh, which is coordinated
by Wageningen University &
Research; the Taskforce is strongly
linked to this programme. “With
businesses taking the lead, we are
building an ecosystem in which we
will dedicatedlywork towards
realising solutions and tangible
economic, ecological, and social
impact,” says Toine Timmermans,
programme manager at Wageningen
University &Research and
initiator of the Taskforce. Within the
Taskforce network, actions, best
practices, instruments, and
progress reports will be shared and
innovative business cases will be
developed. During the upcoming
two years, dozens of actions and
projects will be launched and supported.
//www.wur.nl/en