food waste management

Not just the food itself can be considered a waste and affect the environment, the process of treating food waste can also considerably harm the environment, especially when proper techniques are not used. The agricultural industry is definitely one of the major food waste sources. However, the exploitation of these food waste can actually serve as inexpensive starting materials like anti-oxidants! A Greek company, Vioryl SA is an example, where they conducted studies on the pressed grape skins from wine waste and the citrus peels after juice removal.

Research and experiments were done based on the disposal and utilization of solid fruit, vegetable and other organic food waste:

- Flavonoids could be extracted from fruit peels, and then released using hot water and calcium hydroxide. The effect of peel maturity and recycling of the extracting liquor resulted in increased yields of hesperidin and naringin (flavonoids found in citrus fruits)

- Waste mushroom composts can act as an adsorption medium, and a microorganism source to absorb insecticides. Also, mushrooms could potentially save the world!!! They could clean up oil spills, provide defence against smallpox and break down toxic-based polychlorinated biphenyls. (PCBs - man-made compounds, mainly used in electrical industries in the past, but was banned due to environmental concerns)

- Agricultural compost and other waste, including apricot and cherry stones, almond shells and grape seeds, could pose as granular activated carbon biofilters in filtration plants. This helps to remove low concentrations of hydrogen sulfide and volatile organic compounds. (VOCs)

- Milling of olive paste during olive oil production is accompanied by continuous washing,  leading to significant wastewater quantities. A study has indicated that the wastewater extracts could have high anti-oxidant properties. If more research can be done to further prove it's anti-carcinogenic activity, the wastewater could be recycled and would be a promising use as an inexpensive source of anti-oxidants.

References:

ARVANITOYANNIS, S. (2010) Waste management for the food industries. Academic Press.

foodbank sg 2

Hi!!! I'm back with a new post hehehe.

If you've been reading my blog, you would have known about the Food Bank post awhile back. So, at that point I was pretty much still wondering what happens to the food inside the food bins/the food bins that are placed at Techno Edge. Will the people from Food Bank collect it weekly? Monthly?

And then.. as if to answer my question, an email was sent to me! (And probably all of you too heh)
The content was as such - a green bazaar would be held at UTown from 28 September to 2 October! :) Organised by NUS Students Against Violation of the Earth (aka SAVE), this green bazaar will include a food collection drive, and a clothes collection booth + bazaar!

I thought the idea of the clothes bazaar was pretty good and interesting. By exchanging your unwanted clothes for 'coupons', it allows you to redeem clothes from other participants as well! Imagine all the #ootds you can have hahaha. Then again, for this kind of activity to work, it requires participation from a lot of people. The more the merrier after all! So all of you with unwanted clothes, just go go go and donate it!!

Okay, but more importantly is the food collection drive! (since this is a blog on food wastage haha) Happening right here right now at NUS~~ do donate if you have excess of these items :)

Time: 10am - 6pm

Date: Mon 28 Oct - Fri 2 Sept (Week 7)

Venue: UTown Plaza

update on 1 Oct: the bins at Techno Edge are gone!!!!! I think they took it to Utown for the bazaar hmm

foodbank sg

Hey guys!

So today I was in the engineering canteen, Techno Edge, and I happened to come across these food bins (in which I discreetly took a photo of :p)

Which reaaaally caught my attention because I have never seen one before. Or maybe I just wasn't paying attention to the problem of food wastage before this.......

(Side note: I found out they have 6 food "banks" where you can drop off the food. And 1 of it is in NUS! How convenient for us!!)

And hence I learnt about Food Bank .Singapore - an organisation which collects unwanted, unused excess food from people, and then distributing these food to the poor or the needy. Their aim of this organisation is not just to provide a helping hand to the less fortunate in Singapore, but also in raising awareness of the problem of food wastage. In Singapore, food is the 2nd highest type of waste!!! This alarming results has thus led to the set-up of this charity organization.

In the past, they have had events such as Project X-pired, FoodLanthrophy and Food ReXycling Day. They have an upcoming Project X-pired II coming soon in October! Art pieces made from food waste (e.g expired food) will be used to make art pieces :-) Head over to the website to find out more about their events if you're interested yeah!

Food banks have been around since 1967, including the world's first - St Mary's Food Bank Alliance in Arizona! Seems like one of the ways to mitigate the problems of food wastage lies with us - in preventing food from ending up wasted in the bins in the first place. Just got to take note of the expiry dates on our food!

References:
NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT AGENCY. (n.d) Waste statistics and overall recycling. [Online] Available from: http://www.nea.gov.sg/energy-waste/waste-management/waste-statistics-and-overall-recycling [Accessed: 30/9/2015]

PRISCILLA GOY. (2015) Don't throw away cny goodies, donate them. [Online] 5 March 2015. Available from: http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/dont-throw-away-cny-goodies-donate-them [Accessed: 30/9/2015]

US food waste reduction goal

On September 16, 2015,

The government has announced the United States' first ever national food waste reduction goal!!!! *throws confetti* They have called for a 50% reduction of food wastage by 2030, so as to improve food security and conserve the nation's resources. 

It is known that the US enjoys an abundance of food, but this only results in huge amounts of wastage. Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack has mentioned that an average family of 4 leaves more than two million calories of food uneaten each year, which is equivalent to approximately $1500. Reductions in food losses in developed areas can decrease the number of undernourished people in developing regions by up to 63 million. (FAO, summarized by Yosuke Munesue)

In the past, there have been successful campaigns to reduce food wastage, such as the US Food Waste Challenge. For this food reduction goals, there will be many partnerships with various organizations, the private and local sector, the governments and many more. This is a major opporutnity for US to work towards cutting down on food wastage. As EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy wisely says, "Let's feed people, not landfills." I look forward to seeing the progress in US' new initiatives. :)

References:
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. (2015) USDA and EPA Join with Private Sector, Charitable Organizations to Set Nation's First Food Waste Reduction Goals [Online] September 2015 Available from: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdamediafb?contentid=2015/09/0257.xml&printable=true&contentidonly=true [Accessed: 20/9/2015]

YOSUKE MUNESUE. (2015) The effects of reducing food losses and food waste on global food insecurity, natural resources, and greenhouse gas emissions [Online] 17 (1). Available from: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10018-014-0083-0 [Accessed: 20/9/2015]

ugly but beautiful

I'm back with another post on how supermarkets are dealing with food wastage! This time, we take a closer look at a french supermarket, Intermarché

To cut down on the food wastage from 'ugly' produce, Intermarché has thought of a brilliant method. Giving these ugly produce their own aisles and labels in the supermarket, these produce that were supposed to be thrown away now gets a second chance to be consumed.

On first look, maybe the ugly produce were not that attractive and it would still be difficult for consumers to accept it. However, Intermarché came up with an ingenious plan by repackaging these food (as seen in the video). What a great idea!! This not only helps to increase awareness on food wastage, but it also encourages consumers to buy the 'ugly' produce which are sold at lower prices. Win-win situation!

In addition, before the ugly produce even reaches the supermarket, an organization called Imperfect Produce in the US would buy the rejected, cosmetically-challenged goods from farmers and distributors before selling them to consumers. Here's an interview with Ben Simon, the chief executive officer of Imperfect Produce.

Let's take a closer took at these produce:

"These Pink Lady apples were rejected because they're smaller than the required minimum diameter of 2 inches."

"Vibrant as they are, these carrots were deemed too crooked for grocery stores."

"These heads of cauliflower were rejected because of ever-so-slight splitting between the knobs on the head."

These are just some but not all of the produce that are rejected by supermarket standards. Bet you can't even tell the difference between a rejected one and one that can be sold in the supermarket huh? These produce are still edible and they taste the same despite their lacking in the appearance department.

Activities like these really make me feel like trying 'ugly' produce now... Does that even make sense?! The supermarkets in Singapore should definitely take a leaf out of the French supermarket book. Imagine the amount of food waste that we would be able to cut down! Not to forget, start-ups such as Imperfect Produce. I believe that slowly but surely, we would be able to take baby steps in cutting down our food wastage at the consumer level. :)

References: 
http://www.techinsider.io/ugly-fruits-and-vegetables-reject-your-unreasonable-beauty-standards-2015-8
http://www.onearth.org/earthwire/imperfect-produce-food-waste

from waste to art

While reading up about food wastage, I came across this project "One Third" by fine art photographer Klaus Pichler. I thought it was kind of interesting? The pictures were really beautiful.. albeit odd and strange-looking, but it leaves us thinking about what happens to all the food that we waste - dumped and rotting in the bins, yet we are oblivious to it. I think the fact that Pichler took the effort to use the bathroom of his studio apartment (just to improve his credibility!) for this project was really commendable. I mean, imagine looking at rotting food for 9 months, and worse still, the smells!?!!

Some details about this project: it was titled "One Third" because one third of the world's food goes to waste. It portrays the relationship between individual wastage of food and globalized food production. In addition, he inserts his own gathered data of the food's history such as it's carbon and water footprint as the photo caption.

Sort: Strawberries 'Elsanta' * Place of production: San Giovanni Lupatoto, Verona, Italy

Cultivation method: Foil green house * Time of harvest: June - October

Transporting distance: 741 km * Means of transportation: Truck

Carbon footprint (total) per kg: 0,35 kg * Water requirement (total) per kg: 348 l

Price: 7,96 € / kg

Sort: Chicken * Place of production: Behamberg, Austria

Production method: Farm * Time of production: All- season

Transporting distance: 183 km * Means of transportation: Truck

Carbon footprint (total) per kg: 3,54 kg * Water requirement (total) per kg: 1551 l

Price: 3,69 € / kg 

Sort: Whole meal bread * Place of production: Vienna, Austria

Production method: Factory production * Time of production: All- season

Transporting distance: around 120 km (cereals) * Means of transportation: Truck

Carbon footprint (total) per kg: 0,79 kg * Water requirement (total) per kg: 1608 l

Price: 3,55 € / kg

Sort: ALMO - Beef Place of production: Fladnitz an der Teichalm, Austria

Production method: Animal Farm * Time of production: All- season

Transporting distance: 124 km * Means of transportation: Truck

Carbon footprint (total) per kg: 13,33 kg * Water requirement (total) per kg: 5640 l

Price: 15,99 € / kg

You can view the rest of his work here. GO GO GO. It's quite fascinating!

References:
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. (2014) Visualizing waste: Klaus Pichler's gorgeous rotting food. [Online] July 2014. Available from: http://proof.nationalgeographic.com/2014/07/16/visualizing-waste-klaus-pichlers-gorgeous-rotting-food/ [Accessed: 27/8/2015]

water foodprint

Hi guys! 

It's the second post and today I'm going to touch on how food wastage also means water wastage. Water scarcity is an equally important environmental concern. Worldwide, 1.1 billion people have no access to water and 2.7 billion of people find water scarce for at least one month of the year. It is crucial to therefore minimise food wastage as much as possible, so as not to contribute to unnecessary water wastage.

So according to a UN report, the amount of water wasted when the food produced are not eaten is equivalent to the entire annual flow of the Volga river! 

As we all know, water is not a finite resource and is actually more important than food. The lack of water kills you faster than the lack of food! People often take food for granted, and hence are unaware of the amount of water that goes into food production and transportation. (read: importance of water - if you're interested). 

In California,

One gallon of water (=3.78541178 liters) is needed to grow a single almond nut!!!!! 

Shocking, isn't it? That's equivalent to using 10% of California's water supply just for these tiny nuts. When you eat a handful of almonds. about 23 almonds, that would mean that 87 liters of water is required for its production. 

However when you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, this amount of water is insignificant when food production is concerned. Up to 200-1000 gallons of water is utilized to grow only nine daily servings of fruits and vegetables recommended by the USDA (for the 2000 calorie per day American diet). Meat or any dairy products, which can easily double that number, have yet to be included into the staggering amount of water needed.

(from the book Food Industry Wastes: Assessment and Recuperation of Commodities)

Linking back to the main point, the water footprint of food wastage is so much more than just 23 gallons of water for producing a handful of almonds. Bottom line is, stop wasting food~ 

In an article, The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) mentioned a few key points. They are an organisation which provides consumers with current, useful information about health and well-being.

• demand for water (for irrigation, drinking purposes etc) can outstrip supply, resulting in water shortages 
• farms growing feed grains, cotton, raising livestock are using up groundwater and surface water permanently
• producing meat requires huge amounts of water. to produce 1 pound of animal protein, an average 1,000 gallons of water needed
• irrigating feed crops and raising livestock consume over half of all freshwater. in contrast, domestic uses of water only use less than one-tenth as much water as agriculture
• overall rate at which water is removed exceeds the rate of replenishment by as much as 21 billion gallons daily 

Based on these points, it truly reflects the fact that water is limited and will run out one day. Of course, what I'm trying to bring across is not to stop people from eating what they want, but to be more aware of how much they are eating (or in this case - wasting). Yes, you can go ahead and order that beef if you like, but the important thing is to enjoy and finish it, and not let it go to waste!

I'm going to end off with a few more pictures to show you how much "hidden water" is actually used in the production of food. Hopefully the next time you're eating, you'll be more conscious of finishing what you have on the plate :-)

References:

ALISSA WALKER. (2015) Seriously, stop demonizing almonds. [Online] Available from: http://gizmodo.com/seriously-stop-demonizing-almonds-1696065939 [Accessed: 22/8/2015]

CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST. (n.d) More and cleaner water. [Online] Available from: http://www.cspinet.org/EatingGreen/pdf/arguments4.pdf [Accessed: 22/8/2015]

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. (2015) How reducing food waste could ease climate change. [Online] Available from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/01/150122-food-waste-climate-change-hunger/ [Accessed: 22/8/2015]

WATER SUPPLIES DEPARTMENT. (n.d) What is virtual water? [Online] Available from: http://www.waterconservation.hk/en/virtual.html [Accessed: 22/8/2015]

WORLD WILDLIFE FUND. (n.d) Water scarcity. [Online] Available from: http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/water-scarcity [Accessed: 22/8/2015]