Page 52 - FoodFocusThailand No.159 June 2019

SMART PRODUCTIONON
SMART PRODUCTI

Sensor-based Sorting Solutions

to help Supermarket Overcome Future Challenges

As population grows and efficiency becomes more critical, supermarkets face unique challenges. Supermarkets
of the near future will have their business models radically re-shaped by innovations instore, online, and in
the food industry supply chain. These technologies will be deployed in the battle for customers but, more than
this, can also benefit the planet.

This will be achieved by improving sustainability—a buzzword word precedent by including food loss and food waste reduction within
widely over-used, but which really can mean something in supermarkets the UN’s global development goals. Looking at the same issue, a
and the supply chain. Producing and selling food will become more European Parliament report—”Technology options for feeding 10
environmentally responsible because sustainability and profitability billion people”—stated that automating food processing lines with
both depend on the efficient use of resources. the right technology can improve sustainability in many ways, such
The global population is forecast to increase from 7.6 billion to 10 as “optimizing product quality” and “reducing quality losses and
billion people by 2050, and in many places food demand is already defects, and decreasing energy and water consumption.” This
outstripping supply. To illustrate the rapid pace of change, agricultural affirms that there are good reasons for processors to reduce waste
demand today is 50% greater than it was just five years ago. This is and, by doing so, reduce inefficiencies, lower overheads and
placing enormous strain on agricultural resources because the land increase profits.
available for growing food is very limited. According to the UN Food A quick win can be gained by optimizing the latest sensor-based
and Agriculture Organization, only 20% more land can be brought into sorting solutions. The potential here is considerable. Optimized
productive use. Existing resources must be used more effectively to sorting machines are capable of determining, for example, that
provide food for everyone and to ensure food supply for future 70% of a poor-looking crop is actually of good quality. This makes
generations. a huge difference: at the same time as meeting precisely defined
In addition to these pressures, there is another challenge which quality standards, the majority of the product can be sold and
must be tackled, and that’s food waste. Almost one-third of all the food consumed, feeding people and making profit, rather than consigning
produced worldwide is currently being wasted, amounting to it to waste. Selling fruit or vegetables as a lower-grade of produce,
approximately 1.3 billion tons of food rotting away or being thrown away or for a different processed product than originally intended, is far
every year. It is shocking to learn that waste accounts for around 45% better than not selling it at all.
of all fruit and vegetables and 20% of all meat. This is scandalous. Just Waste can also be reduced through reverse sorting. Waste
one quarter of this wasted food could feed the 795 million chronically streams containing as little as 1% to 2% of good product are often
hungry people around the world. discarded, but this is unnecessary. With the correct optical set-up,
This also has commercial implications. According to the Waste and arrived at by the sorting machine manufacturer having a good
Resources Action Programme (WRAP), action to prevent food waste understanding of the potential purposes of ‘side-streams,’
could save businesses €341 million a year. And there are clear indicators automated sorters can recover this waste. This is becoming
of where action needs to be taken. Some 54% of all this waste is lost common practice in the nut industry, making better use of natural
in upstream processes, much resulting from inefficiencies in developing food resources and simultaneously adding commercial value and
countries during harvesting, post-harvest handling, and processing. profit.
The other 46% is wasted in processing, distribution and consumption, For these profound reasons, sorting technology will play an
with massive consumer-led waste in developed nations. increasingly important role in the supermarket of the future. And
Recognizing these inefficiencies, the United Nations agreed in 2015 because the financial and ethical reasons for reducing food waste
to reduce per capita food waste by half by 2030. This set a new are urgent, that future needs to start right now!

52 FOOD FOCUS THAILAND JUNE 2019