A conceptual photo of a long row of refrigerated boxes filled with fruit and vegetables, representing the interior of a modern supermarket. Nicole Smith
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A new study by researchers at the University of Michigan (UMichigan) concludes that full refrigeration throughout the food supply chain could reduce nearly half of global food waste – roughly 620 million tonnes.
About one-third of the world's food production goes to waste each year, according to a University of Michigan press release, while roughly 800 million people suffer from hunger, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
A fully refrigerated food supply chain could reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with food waste by 41% globally, according to the study.
“We were surprised by the amount of potential we have to reduce food loss and waste globally,” Aaron Friedman Hyman, a master's student in the University of Michigan School of Environment and Sustainability and lead author of the study, said in a press release. “Of the roughly 1.3 billion tons of food wasted each year, roughly half could be addressed by optimizing the food supply chain.”
Studies have shown that optimized refrigeration conditions in parts of Asia could reduce food waste by 45 percent and associated emissions by 54 percent, while optimized refrigeration conditions in sub-Saharan Africa could reduce food waste by 47 percent and associated emissions by 66 percent.
The researchers said that emissions from refrigeration can be significant, so the actual greenhouse gas emissions reductions will depend on the efficiency of cold chain technologies and the carbon intensity of the power grid.
The researchers found that in many settings, developing a less industrialized, more localized “farm-to-fork” supply chain could achieve food savings that are equal to or greater than those of an optimized cold chain.
The study compared the benefits of a farm-to-fork food system with those of a technologically advanced, globalized food supply chain.
“The hyper-localized food system resulted in less food waste than an optimized global refrigerated supply chain,” Friedman Hyman said in a press release. “The results help quantify the value of maintaining and supporting local food chains.”
The study, titled “The impact of refrigeration on food waste and associated greenhouse gas emissions across the supply chain,” was published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
According to the University of Michigan, food loss accounts for roughly 8 percent of human greenhouse gas emissions.
The study focuses on losses that are part of the supply chain, from post-harvest to retail, rather than losses at home or on the farm.
The study takes into account emissions from food production but not those associated with supply chain operations, refrigeration and food waste sent to landfill.
The researchers found that in Europe, North America and other industrialized regions, most food is wasted at the household level, meaning that improving the cold chain would not have a significant impact on overall food waste.
The study highlighted the importance of food waste associated with meat products, as their climate-related emissions are consistently greater than any other type of food, primarily due to the greenhouse gas intensity associated with their production.
Two University of Michigan researchers found that meat accounts for more than half of greenhouse gas emissions from food waste worldwide, even though it accounts for less than 10% of food waste by weight, and that optimizing meat refrigeration could reduce emissions from meat waste by 43%.
The study modeled food waste at every stage of the supply chain to identify where cold chains could be optimized to reduce emissions and food waste. It then looked at the impact of moving from the current inconsistent and variable quality cold chains around the world to an optimized system with high quality refrigeration at every stage.
“Cold chain infrastructure is expanding rapidly around the world, but optimized cold chains will likely develop at different rates and in different ways around the world,” Shelley Miller, a professor in the University of Michigan School of Environment and Sustainability and co-author of the study, said in a press release. “This analysis shows that while increased refrigeration should lead to improvements in both food waste and greenhouse gas emissions associated with food waste, there are important trade-offs associated with cold chain improvements depending on food type and region.”
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Kristen is a writer of fiction and non-fiction. She holds a J.D. and a Certificate in Marine and Coastal Law from the University of Oregon Law School and an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London. She is the author of a collection of short stories, The Smallest of Entryways, and a travel memoir, Ernest's Way: An International Journey Through Hemingway's Life.
