Food Waste Reduction: Advances in Natural Food Preservation and Protection for Baked Goods and Meat

Emma Cahill, Global Strategic Marketing Director, Kerry

According to Kerry’s recent ‘Left on the Shelf’ proprietary consumer study, consumers all over the world are highly motivated to adjust their behavior to help reduce food waste. This is driven first by a desire to save money and second by concern for the environment. The trend presents an opportunity and challenge for food and beverage producers to improve the shelf life of their products and stay on the right side of consumers.

The Kerry ‘Left on the Shelf’ study revealed, for instance, that 83 percent of consumers would consider the environment when making a purchase. Quite simply, consumers want to do something to fight global warming and be environmentally responsible, so a strong focus on sustainability—with front-of-pack claims around longer shelf life—can be a key differentiator in today’s ultra-competitive marketplace.

Kerry’s study shows that up to half of food waste could be prevented by consumer action (with the other 50 percent prevented by shelf-life extension). Our research also found that a massive 98 percent of consumers globally were actively trying to minimize food waste.

Bakery Is the Largest Category of Processed Food Waste

Bread and baked goods represent the largest volume of packaged, processed food waste on a global basis (fresh produce comprises the highest volume overall). Consumers won’t eat food that doesn’t look, taste or smell appealing. The top reason for bakery waste is mold, followed by staleness. In extending shelf life, all aspects of the eating experience are considered; that is, microbial control and sensorial shelf life come as a package deal.

As recent Kerry global food waste research has shown, consumers greatly value the objective of reducing food waste. For bread manufacturers in particular, achieving an extended shelf life for a product may allow for on-pack claims on ‘fresh for longer’ that may help build brand loyalty and foster new sales. It’s vital to note here that, although bread is a low-cost product, it is the biggest category of packaged food waste globally.

The key strategy in baking should be to extend the quality shelf life of the product. If the baked item maintains softness, taste, and texture longer, it can be consumed for a longer period of time and there is less wastage. There are huge benefits to making efforts to improve shelf life. Studies show that some 50 percent of consumer food waste can be prevented by extending a product’s appealing life span. In emerging markets, 60 percent of food loss occurs early in the supply chain, i.e., before it reaches the retailer, and this can often be addressed by enhancing preservation practices in production.

The good news is that a wide range of advanced preservation and protection technologies are already available in the marketplace—enzymes, organic acids, emulsifiers, fermentates, vinegar and other bakery ingredients—that can eliminate shelf-life issues while extending viable end-use dates.

‘Using just a few simple inputs, Kerry’s innovative new estimator is designed to inform users about the impact of reduced food waste on our planet.’

Meat: The Most Expensive Global Category of Food Waste

Meat is the most costly category of food waste globally in terms of both dollars and environmental impact, so the need to address its preservation challenges can’t be overstated. Rising food and feed prices have made protein more expensive everywhere, but reducing global meat waste is arguably most beneficial to regions where citizens cannot access enough affordable protein daily.

According to Kerry’s proprietary research, meat is also the top category in terms of consumer worry about food safety. Unbeknownst to many, the traditional consumer ‘sniff test’ is not an infallible guide to determining if meat is safe to eat; the kinds of pathogens that can make people sick often don’t have a smell or visual impact. Therefore, while you can see moldy bread and sniff sour milk—quality issues that don’t necessarily lead to illness, ironically—determining a meat product’s viability is much more difficult, and the health impacts of consuming contaminated meat can, in extreme cases, be deadly.

The growing demands of consumers around the world for cleaner labels—including all-natural ingredients and the removal of certain undesirable ingredients—also impact meat shelf life. Some clean-label ingredients will offer a shorter shelf life than their conventional counterparts, so a multifunctional, ‘layered approach’ system may be needed to fill the gap. There is now available a wide range of natural and traditional preservation ingredients and technologies to ensure that meat stays fresh and safer for longer, thus reducing costly wastage of meat.

Through a concerted global effort, global undernourishment and food waste is a resolvable problem, and it’s an area in which we must all take a proactive role. Thankfully, there are a large number of proven solutions and tools available to help make this a reality. Food and beverage producers can begin right now to reduce food waste and loss. Preservation solutions are available to help reach this goal and reduce the environmental and social costs of wasted food—and ultimately help feed the world. The benefits of reducing global food waste, quite simply, would be enormous.

Food Waste Estimator Can Help Companies and Consumers

Kerry’s Food Waste Estimator allows consumers and manufacturers to quantify and understand the financial and environmental impact of reducing food waste either in the food chain or in the home.

Using just a few simple inputs, Kerry’s innovative new estimator is designed to inform users about the impact of reduced food waste on our planet. It provides information on the number of additional people that could be fed, as well as the amount of CO₂ and water that would be saved by making simple changes to reduce food waste. Too Good to Go, the world’s largest app addressing the utilization of surplus food, provides useful food-waste reduction tips for consumers within the estimator.

Companies and consumers can explore their food-waste metrics and potential waste savings using the Kerry Food Waste Estimator here (https://explore.kerry.com/Food-Waste-Estimator).