Every day good food is wasted. In total, food wastage accounts for about 25-30% of the total produced food. This is partly the fault of consumers who throw away leftovers and food that has passed the best-before date. However, in between the production and consumption of food, many links of the chain have their own food loss and waste issues. This waste is mainly the consequence of economical, technological and legislative barriers, or because of behavioral aspects and lack of collaboration in the supply chain. Just think of food standards, one of the reasons that only straight cucumbers are available in supermarkets.
Technology can help to reduce food wastage, e.g. by using a RFID tag that can tell the real best-before date of any perishable product.
Toine Timmermans is program manager sustainable food chains at Wageningen University & Research Centre.
More information:
In this dossier on food waste you can find news releases, background information and research projects of Food & Biobased Research.
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