This report concerns the first two-year research period of the PPS project ‘Efficient Chain, prevention of waste streams’ (2015-2018). The ambition of this PPS project is to prevent losses (spoilage, waste streams) in the organic food chain, and to increase the opportunities for waste streams trade.
This project includes two research parts. Part A focusses on loss prevention in organic shops and at farms. Part B focusses on waste streams and aberrant products from organic potatoes, vegetables and fruit, primarily on products that are aberrant (shape, size) and for that reason have been disapproved for sale via usual sales channels .
Companies within the PPS project ‘Efficient Chain, prevention of waste streams’ are Udea/Ekoplaza, Eosta, Odin/Estafette and Green Organics. Knowledge Partners are Wageningen Food & Biobased Research and the Louis Bolk Institute.
The goal of the PPS project is:
1. To deliver tools for the prevention of losses at primary producers and in shops
2. To develop a marketing strategy for aberrant products and thus to reduce residue streams from potato, vegetable and fruit chains and to investigate alternative ways to valorise these streams.
For the shop situation, a simulation model was used for simulation of losses of three selected products. The results are product specific recommendations regarding, among others, a prolonged durability, presentation stock and decrease of consumer’s selection behaviour.
The loss percentage of approximately 15-25% in the organic sector is divided as follows:
- 10-15% loss of plants
- 5-10% not-harvested product
- 2% damage/loss during packaging a.o.
Important aspects for loss decrease are the connection in the food chain, transparent storytelling to the consumer, marketing standards and practical improvements.
During the third project year, pilots will be started regarding the simulation of losses in shops (including generalisation of example shop conclusions) and the co-operation between Eosta and Udea / Ekoplaza (‘Elastic Chain’) for structural product loss reduction.
Source: Staps, S., Tromp, S., van Gogh, B., & van der Burgh, M. (2017). Efficiënte keten: preventie reststromen: rapportage 2015/2016. Louis Bolk Instituut. https://edepot.wur.nl/428582