From farm to fork to dustbin

By Mark Rigby

- Published: 01 February, 2006

Page 37

Do we really think about waste as food manufacturers, or more importantly, as consumers?

How many of us throw food away at the end of each week with no regard or regret? In particular, we buy healthy goods that make us feel good at the time but do we eat all the food that we buy? In studies, the answer is no!

Consumers seem happy to generate waste, which actually makes a mockery of the savings we are looking to make as food manufacturers.

Over the past months I have looked at, and been amazed by, the amount of food that goes from manufacturer, to consumer, to the dustbin. It's a difficult one to tackle as each and every consumer has different eating habits.

Take eggs for instance, we buy six eggs because that's the smallest amount we can purchase, but how many eggs do we use and how many go into the big black fridge, or bin-liner as it's better known?

We talk a lot today about consumer insight and food miles but how much time do we spend on consumer psychology? Why would you buy six eggs and throw away three? Maybe the pack size is all wrong? There is a considerable amount of knowledge about what consumers buy but very little about what they actually use!

From a food manufacturing perspective we measure waste on the efficiency through our factories and throughput in the supply chain and take very little consideration of what is actually left on the plate. Instead, we need to consider the amount of waste that consumers buying our products generate because we don't supply them with food in the most suitable quantities or packaging formats.

Perhaps we can learn from growth sectors that have, through default, realised this, such as the fast food industry that deliver single portions that are consumed! If you need to sell components, you need to deliver a solution that delivers no waste to ensure success.

We could also, perhaps, learn something from the beverage industry. After all how many drinks do you see left un-drunk?

Mark Rigby is director, Development Chefs' Networkmarkrigby@developmentchefs.co.uk