Food waste is a prevalent issue all over the world, especially in America. About 40% of foods in America go uneaten. Meanwhile, one in eight Americans cannot provide food for themselves. (NRDC) According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Services, food waste is defined as food that can be edible after post-harvest but is not eaten for any reason such as food mold, bruises, etc. With the help of a technological innovation, Demetra, it can decrease food waste, reduce excess production and maintain environmental sustainability.
Demetra’s effort to manage the food waste problem is done by creating natural components from plants to help maintain the preservation of fruits for as long as it can. This process is done during post-harvest. This innovation contributes to sustainable development as it does not create additional trash than when the innovation is not used. Furthermore, by having a longer shelf life for fruits, this will decrease the use of exploitation of natural resources. Part of the reason as to why a lot of foods are wasted in the first place is because people are producing more food than is needed. All the water and energy could have been used for other things instead.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), food waste takes up the most space in municipal landfills. The amount of food in landfills quickly produces methane, which is bad for the environment. Demetra also improves on existing technology such as Zest Labs. Zest Labs’ solution to food waste is to have real-time data on produce. Their technology monitors and evaluates each pellet of produce to know if a produce is ripping too quickly, it can allow people to redirect the shipment of produce to the closest supermarket or food provider for a longer shelf life (Gaskell).
While this is one of the solutions for decreasing food waste, this does not account for unexpected situations. For example, if multiple pellets needed to be directed to a closer destination, a problem that might arise would be the excess amount of produce the supermarket will have in addition to their other supplier. This inadvertently will create more food waste in the end if the supermarket is unable to sell it all. With Demetra, it ensures 30% texture preservation while preventing the loss of water and sugars in fruits (UNIDO). This makes Demetra more reliable and flexible with the distribution of food.
Demetra will lead to a more positive environmental impact as it will decrease food waste by preserving more food. Furthermore, this will allow farmers to produce a more accurate representation of what will only be consumed. This will then decrease the number of resources, such as water and pesticides used on crops, and increase efficiency. For future implementations, Demetra would be able to expand by decreasing carbon footprints from the transportation of crops. They could keep track of when to add in the preservation process in fruits at the most optimal time.
As for the economic impact, by having Demetra implemented throughout the world, it would allow consumers flexibility having food stored longer. For supermarkets, it would decrease food waste since fruits are preserved longer, thus allowing more buying time. For farmers, fewer resources will be needed to grow crops, therefore they can focus on maintaining quality rather than quantity. For employment, if Demetra is successfully implemented, it would open up more job opportunities in researching other natural preservations in various foods other than produce. In the long term, it is environmentally and economically beneficial for not just consumers but for companies selling fruits to have Demetra.
