Eat or Throw Away? Factors Differentiating High Food Wasters from Low Food Wasters

Eičaitė, Ovidija; Alenčikienė, Gitana; Pauliukaitytė, Ingrida; Šalaševičienė, Alvija

doi:10.3390/su131910741

Cited by 8 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 65 publications

(217 reference statements)

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“…There are over 50 types of food date labels in the U.S. 1 such as 'Best Before' and 'Use by' (Kavanaugh and Quinlan, 2020). Most date labels are indicators of food quality or freshness, while typically not being indicative of the safety of food products from a microbiological perspective (Eičaitė et al, 2021). However, most consumers, while being heavily reliant on date labels to evaluate the safety of their food, have an improper or incomplete understanding of food date labels; as 1 It is important to note that, except for infant formula, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not mandate the "Use by" date labels for any food products that fall under its purview.…”

Section: Consumer-level Food Waste -The Role Of Date Labelingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking microbial contamination to food spoilage and food waste: the role of smart packaging, spoilage risk assessments, and date labeling

et al. 2023

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Ensuring a safe and adequate food supply is a cornerstone of human health and food security. However, a significant portion of the food produced for human consumption is wasted annually on a global scale. Reducing harvest and postharvest food waste, waste during food processing, as well as food waste at the consumer level, have been key objectives of improving and maintaining sustainability. These issues can range from damage during processing, handling, and transport, to the use of inappropriate or outdated systems, and storage and packaging-related issues. Microbial growth and (cross)contamination during harvest, processing, and packaging, which causes spoilage and safety issues in both fresh and packaged foods, is an overarching issue contributing to food waste. Microbial causes of food spoilage are typically bacterial or fungal in nature and can impact fresh, processed, and packaged foods. Moreover, spoilage can be influenced by the intrinsic factors of the food (water activity, pH), initial load of the microorganism and its interaction with the surrounding microflora, and external factors such as temperature abuse and food acidity, among others. Considering this multifaceted nature of the food system and the factors driving microbial spoilage, there is an immediate need for the use of novel approaches to predict and potentially prevent the occurrence of such spoilage to minimize food waste at the harvest, post-harvest, processing, and consumer levels. Quantitative microbial spoilage risk assessment (QMSRA) is a predictive framework that analyzes information on microbial behavior under the various conditions encountered within the food ecosystem, while employing a probabilistic approach to account for uncertainty and variability. Widespread adoption of the QMSRA approach could help in predicting and preventing the occurrence of spoilage along the food chain. Alternatively, the use of advanced packaging technologies would serve as a direct prevention strategy, potentially minimizing (cross)contamination and assuring the safe handling of foods, in order to reduce food waste at the post-harvest and retail stages. Finally, increasing transparency and consumer knowledge regarding food date labels, which typically are indicators of food quality rather than food safety, could also contribute to reduced food waste at the consumer level. The objective of this review is to highlight the impact of microbial spoilage and (cross)contamination events on food loss and waste. The review also discusses some novel methods to mitigate food spoilage and food loss and waste, and ensure the quality and safety of our food supply.

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Section: Consumer-level Food Waste -The Role Of Date Labelingmentioning

confidence: 99%