Food waste

Food waste can occur at every stage in the food system, from production, processing, distribution, sales to consumption. There are huge amounts of resources used within the food supply chain (energy, water, land, chemicals), which have large environmental and climate impacts. Food waste is therefore an important issue when it comes to sustainability and reducing the human impact upon the environment.

SLU has pioneering research investigating strategies to tackle food waste. LOWINFOOD is a collaborative project SLU researchers are involved in that focuses on strategies for prevention and reuse within the food chain. The project looks at innovations and solutions that have already been developed and tested by some partners, including technological tools and devices as well as organizational and managerial solutions. The core activities of the project are all focused on the evaluation of the efficacy of these innovations in reducing food losses and waste. The impact of the innovations will be evaluated considering the amount of food waste avoided as well as in environmental and socio-economic terms.

The project has numerous Workpages that SLU researchers are involved in, and SLU leads WP3:

• WP1 – Evaluation of innovations in a multi-actor approach
• WP2 – Innovations against loss of fruits and vegetables
• WP3 – Innovations against loss of bakery products
• WP4 – Innovations to prevent and rescue fish losses and waste
• WP5 – Innovations against waste of all foods in out-of-home and at-home consumption
• WP6 – Communication, dissemination and market replication

Contact

Mattias Eriksson, Researcher at the Department of Energy and Technology; Division of Agricultural Engineering. Email: Mattias.Eriksson@slu.se