New Sustainable Market Opportunities for Surplus Food: A Food System-Sensitive Methodology (FSSM)

An important way to address global food security is to make better use of the food already produced. Since at least one third of global food is wasted before consumption, there are enormous incentives to cut this waste and create a more sustainable food system. This paper focuses upon saving food loss at the supermarket level in the US and channeling this food stream in new and efficient ways to those in hunger. A more comprehensive Food System-Sensitive Methodology has been used to pilot and evaluate a surplus food management program that diverts culled fresh fruits and vegetables from grocery stores that would otherwise be disposed of in landfills. Instead, produce is processed for donation or for new businesses. Nearly 35,000 pounds of produce was culled from a grocery store chain in Philadelphia. Twenty-five percent of this was not suitable for culinary uses, ten percent consisted of relatively small quantities of food that did not warrant further research, and about 33 percent is suitable for use at area food shelters and pantries. An experimental sample taken from the remaining 15,000 pounds was used for recipe research and development for diversion to new commercial enterprises. We analyzed a scenario where a supermarket receives $0.25 per pound for culled produce, generating about $8700 dollars in average monthly revenue while eliminating disposal costs. New commercial possibilities for the unused food were then explored. The scenario included community-based enterprises that could process the produce into value-added products that could be wholesaled back to the store at sufficient profits to support 2 - 4 community employees. Extrapolating these results to the approximately 38,000 large supermarkets in the United States suggests that much of the 1,100,000,000 pounds of produce that is currently sent to landfills can be repurposed. If diverted to new foods each of the 46.1 million SNAP recipients could figuratively receive an equivalent of 24 pounds of fruit and vegetable products per annum. This initial analysis suggests that repurposing surplus produce from supermarket discards can have significant beneficial outcomes for new food markets and the environment.

Retail Seafood Waste Prevention: Reducing Retail and Consumer Fresh-Fish Waste by Cooking Directly from Frozen

More than 30% of fish caught from the world’s oceans are never eaten by consumers adding a significant but unnecessary strain to the sustainability of global fisheries. Although a lot of this loss occurs at sea, in developed countries, a significant amount happens at retail stores and in households. People can help with this problem if they find and use new ways to interact with their retailers and with the way they store and cook seafood at home. Consumers can primarily purchase seafood that has never been frozen, was previously frozen, or is still frozen. Nearly all retail waste occurs when consumers do not buy seafood within a few days after it is in the unfrozen, display cases, forcing the stores to dispose of the fish in landfills or sewage plants. An estimated 220 million 4-ounce meal portions of the most popular seafood in the United States including shrimp, salmon, and cod meet this fate. This number can be reduced to the direct extent consumers can be persuaded to buy and cook from frozen. Retailers are motivated to sell more frozen seafood because profit margins are reported to be higher and labor and disposal costs are lower. Many stores also benefit from their brand’s sustainability image, and contributions to corporate, national, and international waste reduction goals. Their challenge has been to educate and encourage consumers to choose frozen before fresh. Taste-testing evidence gathered in this study demonstrated that consumers could adopt easy, new culinary skills to cook seafood from frozen that tastes just as good as what they are used to. Our studies also highlighted other consumer benefits, including: less fish handling required, simple preparation, easier meal planning, water savings, and higher levels of food safety. Based on these results it will be beneficial for stores to commit resources to consumer education and promote more frozen seafood sales in other ways that satisfy their management goals. Increasing consumer adoption can drive changes at the store level that will provide measurable contributions to seafood waste reduction.

“No Need to Get Salty” Or Is There? Sodium Functionality as a Consideration in Nutrition Public Health Policy

Aim: Public health professionals focus on both downstream (individual) and upstream (population-level) interventions to reduce sodium consumption and prevent sodium-related chronic diseases. Effective upstream interventions specifically aimed at reducing dietary sodium intake include the implementation of comprehensive nutrition standards that restrict the amount of sodium contained in foods available for purchase. The aim of this work was to identify sought-after foods that did not meet the Philadelphia Nutrition Standards’ sodium limits and reformulate those foods to be standards-compliant and consumer-acceptable. Subject and Methods: Two foods were reformulated for compliancy with the Philadelphia Nutrition Standards’ sodium limits and consumer acceptability: the hoagie roll and soft pretzel. Reformulation included sensory testing and engaging potential manufacturing partners to investigate products’ commercial potential. Results: While hoagie roll reformulation led to a local company manufacturing and selling the reformulated product, soft pretzel reformulation stalled due to lack of consumer acceptability of the reformulated product. Salt contributes desirable characteristics in the texture, taste, and appearance of the soft pretzel, the absence of which consumers found unacceptable. Conclusion: Product reformulation holds great potential to create lower-sodium foods that otherwise have all of the characteristics of the higher-sodium “original” products but requires an understanding of the role of salt in product recipes. Reducing salt without considering its multiple functions in food may result in a product that is unacceptable or even unsafe. A simple four-step tool can help public health practitioners evaluate the extent to which products are suitable for reformulation.