This text is sponsored by Tetra Pak.
It’s not laborious to make the case for why tackling meals loss and meals waste is vital to sustainability. About one-third of meals produced globally by no means will get consumed. And meals waste accounts for about 8 p.c of worldwide greenhouse fuel emissions.
The meals and beverage business has a job to play by decreasing meals waste in corporations’ operations, and by giving customers merchandise which are much less more likely to result in waste. There may be good purpose (past sustainability) for the business to concentrate — whether or not you’re a retailer, a producer or a meals model — as a result of customers care about this concern. In accordance with the Tetra Pak Index 2020, 77 p.c of customers say meals waste is a priority, placing it on par with local weather change.
Earlier than we get to the position of business, it’s vital to know the distinction between meals loss and meals waste. Meals loss is brought on by inefficient rising, processing or preservation — in different phrases, meals that fails to make its solution to retail. Plenty of issues in meals manufacturing can cut back meals loss. Rising efficiencies can cut back product loss earlier than meals even leaves the manufacturing facility, along with a variety of different sustainability advantages.
Meals waste happens on the phases of distribution, retail and consumption by customers. As a result of it’s pushed by the quick shelf lifetime of meals, we will guarantee meals is packaged to optimize shelf life. Quite a lot of components can shield and lengthen the lifetime of the product.
Let’s take a more in-depth take a look at these options.
Understanding the place meals loss occurs in manufacturing
As soon as uncooked components arrive at a plant for processing, there are a lot of causes these components don’t make it out of the manufacturing facility. Step one in tackling meals loss on the manufacturing facility is knowing the place it’s taking place.
Fashionable automation programs, reminiscent of Tetra Pak PlantMaster, allow meals and beverage producers to trace all product actions inside their services. This knowledge permits them to construct a baseline to know the place and why meals loss is occurring, and the place investments will be made for enhancements.
One other solution to perceive and cut back meals loss on the plant is by implementing a technique reminiscent of Whole Productive Upkeep (TPM). TPM is a holistic method to working and gear upkeep that goals to cut back stops and breakdowns. This technique won’t solely assist enhance the general productiveness of a plant, but in addition assist in mapping all of the sources of waste and loss. For instance, plant operators could discover they’re having a variety of begins and stops within the packaging course of, which ends up in liquid meals loss. By implementing TPM, one meals and beverage producer was capable of cut back its meals loss by 3.6 million kilos.
One other ache level in processing with a major quantity of liquid meals loss is the combination part when the processing system switches from water to product and vice versa. This combine part transition happens between each batch, sometimes with quite a few batches per day, per processing system. Lately at one among my prospects’ websites, we carried out an answer that lessens the length of the combination part with out compromising on product high quality. This resulted in a 20.5-gallon discount in product loss per transition, saving the corporate greater than 24,500 gallons of product per system, per yr. These financial savings can add up rapidly.
High quality loss is one other space to have a look at, and which might a targeted enchancment mission underneath the TPM methodology would tackle. When producers conduct inner high quality sampling, they’re de facto creating meals loss. And a few producers are sampling as much as 2 p.c of their completed product. As soon as a sampling plan will be standardized, the sampling fee is lowered from 1 p.c to 1.2 p.c with out compromising on high quality or meals security.
Decrease meals waste with packaging
As soon as meals has escaped being misplaced through the manufacturing course of, ample different alternatives can forestall it from turning into meals waste. Whereas meals and beverage producers don’t have a lot management over what logistics operators, retailers or customers do, they’ll decide the packaging. The suitable packaging can lengthen shelf life and improve the percentages of being consumed.
On the most elementary stage, good packaging should preserve meals suitable for eating and free from micro organism or different contamination. A bundle is a bodily barrier that retains oxygen, water vapor and different particles out. Some packages shield from gentle, and others are used with processing methods that stretch shelf life.
A bundle also needs to shield the standard, integrity and style of the product to make sure customers don’t throw it out. Particularly in case your merchandise include purposeful, value-added components, reminiscent of omega-3 fatty acids or nutritional vitamins, you want a bundle that won’t compromise their effectiveness, bringing advantages to the buyer.
One closing packaging consideration: Does it have to be chilled all through the availability chain? Packages that require refrigeration are inclined to spoiling if one thing goes awry throughout chilled transportation and storage to retail, or if customers fail to get them into their fridge at dwelling. Nevertheless, a bundle that’s shelf-stable can be completely superb unopened even when the facility goes out. As an added bonus, a bundle that doesn’t require chilled transportation will lower down on transportation-related vitality wants, whereas nonetheless sustaining the standard of the product and stopping meals waste.
Having sound, considerate approaches to meals processing and packaging is the entry level on the street to stopping meals loss and waste. By optimizing processing, you’re guaranteeing extra meals makes it out the door and on its solution to customers. And by making sensible packaging decisions, you may make sure that merchandise have the next success fee of creating it by means of the availability chain and being loved by customers.
