Editorial and News

Abstract

In the Autumn Budget, the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, announced a new tax on the manufacture and import of plastic packaging containing less than 30% recycled plastic. This was in response to mounting public pressure following media coverage of plastic waste mountains in some developing countries and the effects of plastic on marine life. Our theme for December is food packaging and it is apparent from recent announcements by major players in the food sector that the industry is starting to take action to reduce the amount of plastic used in packaging and to increase recycling of the plastic in packaging. Large food companies and retailers are entering into partnerships with waste management companies and packaging producers to create value chains to ensure that there is a sustained demand for the recycled plastic, producing a circular economy (p4, p18, p22). Large manufacturers are setting targets to improve the recyclability of plastic packaging and working to increase the recycled content (p4, p22). Deposit return schemes for bottles have been successful in other European countries and offer real potential in the UK (p22). Innovations in packaging to reduce plastic waste include reducing the number of layers of plastic packaging and introducing bioplastics to make packaging more compostable (p18, p24). Reusable bottles and coffee cups can also help to reduce the amount of packaging waste generated (p22, p24) Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) is an important technology used to extend the shelf life of a range of food products (p28), hence contributing to reducing food waste. It is alarming that it has taken us so long to wake up to the dangers of plastic disposal and accumulation in the environment. A joint effort from government, industry and consumers is required to tackle this very pressing problem. I would like to welcome Sterling Crew, Chair of the IFST Food Safety Special Interest Group and Managing Director of SQS Ltd, to the FST Advisory Panel. Sterling has been a regular contributor to Food Science and Technology and we are looking forward to his contribution to the Panel. email mb@biophase.co.uk Single-use plastic items, such as plates, cutlery, straws, balloon sticks or cotton buds, will be banned in the EU under plans adopted in October 20181. These products, which make up over 70% of marine litter, will be banned from the EU market from 2021, under draft plans approved by the European Parliament. Products made of oxodegradable plastics, such as bags or packaging, and fast-food containers made of expanded polystyrene have also been added to this list. The consumption of several other items, for which no alternative exists, will have to be reduced by Member States by at least 25% by 2025. This includes single-use burger boxes, sandwich boxes or food containers for fruits, vegetables, desserts or ice creams. Member States will draft national plans to encourage the use of products suitable for multiple use, as well as reusing and recycling. Other plastics, such as beverage bottles, will have to be collected separately and recycled at a rate of 90% by 2025. Unilever and Veolia have signed an agreement to work jointly on technologies that will help create a circular economy on plastics across various geographies, starting in India and Indonesia2. The companies acknowledge that the issue of plastic waste is a shared responsibility that requires bold action across the value chain to develop and scale up collection and reprocessing infrastructure, which is critical in the transition towards a circular economy. The work will focus on material collection, which will help channel recycled content back into the value chain. To help create an end market for recycled plastic, Unilever has committed to increase the recycled plastic content in its packaging to at least 25% by 2025. Veolia will work with Unilever to implement used packaging collection solutions, add recycling capacity and develop new processes and business models through this partnership in various countries. A new £1.4m ‘UK Circular Plastics Flagship Projects Competition’ was launched at the inaugural annual meeting of the UK Plastics Pact, held in London in October, to support creative business ideas to stop plastic being thrown away3. The competition, which is managed by WRAP (Waste Resources Action Programme) in partnership with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), forms part of the £20 million Plastic Research and Innovation fund (PRIF) announced in the Chancellor's Autumn Statement in 2017. The aim is to engage Britain's best scientists and innovators in helping to move the country towards a more sustainable circular economy in plastics. Research on minimum thickness of plastic bottles for recycling, which found that, overall, thin packaging was no more difficult to sort and recycle than thick packaging. However, for rigid PET bottles, there was a minimum thickness of 0.05mm, but this was only present in <2% of the sample. The research confirmed that for effective sorting and recycling, a bottle should be presented as empty and flattened with the lid on. ■Eliminate problematic or unnecessary single-use plastic packaging through redesign, innovation or alternative (reuse) delivery models. ■100% of plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable. ■70% of plastic packaging effectively recycled or composted. ■30% average recycled content across all plastic packaging. The UK Plastics Pact Roadmap to 2025 was published by WRAP in November 2018[4], identifying key actions businesses should take to reduce plastic packaging pollution in the environment. The actions relate to a series of important milestones aligned with the targets of The UK Plastics Pact, which is the world's first programme to tackle plastic waste through collaboration across the entire supply chain. The UK will act as a testbed for a planned network of country-specific, global Plastics Pacts. UK Plastic Pact member businesses are responsible for 80% of plastic packaging sold through UK supermarkets and half of all packaging placed on the market. The Roadmap is a guide for businesses and others to identify the actions that need to be taken and the timescale; it outlines some of the key challenges that must be overcome. It is expected to evolve over time, reflecting changes in policy and innovations. It also includes commentary on the complementary roles of government and citizens to ensure the UK moves towards a circular economy for plastics. The Roadmap aims to move plastics from being a single-use disposable material to a valued resource, in line with the circular economy model, while avoiding unintended environmental consequences of actions, such as substitution or blanket removal, which could lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions and/or increased food waste. If the targets are achieved, all plastic packaging will be recyclable or compostable by 2025. The roadmap also sets interim targets for increasing recycling and recycled content. Achieving this will require investment in the UK recycling infrastructure and would be expected to generate new jobs, while easing the pressure of plastic waste exportation. Modest changes to breakfast and dinner times can reduce body fat, according to a new pilot study5. The 10-week study on ‘time-restricted feeding’ (a form of intermittent fasting) led by Dr Jonathan Johnston from the University of Surrey investigated the impact of changing meal times on dietary intake, body composition and blood risk markers for diabetes and heart disease. Participants were split into two groups – those who were required to delay their breakfast by 90 minutes and have their dinner 90 minutes earlier, and those who ate meals as they would normally (the controls). Participants were required to provide blood samples and complete diet diaries before and during the 10-week intervention and complete a feedback questionnaire immediately after the study. Unlike previous studies in this area, participants were not asked to stick to a strict diet and could eat freely, provided it was within a certain eating window. This helped to assess whether this type of diet was easy to follow in everyday life. Researchers found that those who changed their mealtimes lost on average more than twice as much body fat as those in the control group, who ate their meals at normal times. If these pilot data can be repeated in larger studies, there is potential for time-restricted feeding to have broad health benefits. Those who changed their mealtimes ate less food overall than the control group. This result was supported by questionnaire responses, which found that 57% of participants noted a reduction in food intake either due to reduced appetite, decreased eating opportunities or a cutback in snacking (particularly in the evenings). It is currently uncertain whether the longer fasting period undertaken by this group was also a contributing factor to this reduction in body fat. WRAP's recent report Opportunities to Reduce Waste along the Journey of Milk, from Dairy to Home6 highlights the scale of milk wastes across the food chain; 330,000 tonnes of milk are lost each year, equivalent to 7% of UK production and worth more than £150m. Milk waste in the home is by far the largest contributor, accounting for nearly 90% of UK milk waste with 290,000 tonnes thrown away every year. This equates to eighteen and a half pints per household. Milk waste in the supply chain, through breakages and leaks during transportation and in retail outlets, represents 30,000 tonnes, with an additional 13,000 tonnes of waste identified during processing. The report identifies key actions that could help reduce milk waste by an estimated 90,000 tonnes per year, offering a potential combined saving of up to £40m. Actions are required across the entire value chain through processing, transportation, retail and in consumers’ homes. Strategies for reducing milk waste in the home focus on storing milk at the correct temperature (0-5°C) and include encouraging consumers to check the temperatures of their fridges, the use of temperature sensitive labels on milk, extending the use of the Little Blue Fridge icon, with the message ‘keep in the fridge below 5°C’, increasing freezing and improving shelf life. The most significant waste identified during milk processing arises from separating cream from milk, which produces a material known as ‘separator desludge’. This is usually sent straight to drain, but WRAP believes this is a potentially rich resource with high nutrient value proteins. Further processing into materials suitable for food, or animal feed applications could reduce waste by an estimated 10,000 tonnes and cut disposal costs by around £1m a year. Other practical interventions to avoid milk waste in depots and retail stores include reviewing bottle design and specifications to avoid breakages and leaks, which are the major causes of waste at this stage of the product journey. WRAP will work with the sector through the Courtauld 2025 Dairy Working Group to help ensure the recommendations are implemented and plans to track improvements and innovations to pack design and labelling over time through its Retail Survey. Progress will also be reported as part of a new target within The Dairy Roadmap – to increase product and packaging design features that help prevent consumer food waste. Image courtesy Fareshare The Government has announced a new pilot scheme supported by £15m of additional funding to reduce food waste from retail and manufacturing sources7. The scheme will be developed over the coming months in collaboration with businesses and charities and will launch in 2019/20. Currently around 43,000 tonnes of surplus food is redistributed from retailers and food manufacturers every year. It is estimated a further 100,000 tonnes of food – equating to 250 million meals a year – is edible and readily available but goes uneaten. Instead, this food is currently used for generating energy from waste, anaerobic digestion or animal feed. Further action to cut food waste from all sources is being considered as part of Defra's Resources and Waste Strategy, which will be published later this year. Defra is commissioning work to improve the evidence base around food waste, including understanding why more surplus food is not being redistributed. This work will inform the design of the scheme, aiming to drive down food waste. The new scheme follows the £500,000 Food Waste Reduction Fund announced in December 2017 to support food waste reduction throughout England. In July this year it was announced that funds have been awarded to eight charities across the country. The Food Waste Reduction Fund grants will help provide the resources needed to expand their work and will further inform development of the new scheme. The FSA has published the Year 3 (2017) results of an EU survey commissioned to assess the frequency of certain types of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) E. coli in raw UK retail pork and beef8. These findings have been collected on behalf of the European Commission as part of an EU-wide seven-year surveillance study. The data is fed back to the European Commission on a yearly basis and reported in the EU Summary Report on Antimicrobial Resistance. Samples (314 beef and 310 pork) were purchased from retail premises in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and tested for specific types of AMR E. coli. Overall, results showed that less than 1% of the samples were positive for ESBL or AmpC E. coli, which are specific types of AMR. These results are similar to those measured in Year 1 of the survey. However, one beef sample was found to be contaminated with an E. coli containing the mcr-1 gene, which confers resistance to the antibiotic colistin. This is thought to be the first discovery of an mcr-1 positive E. coli from retail beef in the UK. Although the meat came from outside the UK, further testing indicated no contamination with this E.coli on other samples and at this stage the source of the contamination has not been pinpointed. However, a risk assessment has been carried out and the FSA says that the risk to public health is very low. DIARY 17-21 February 2019 GULFOOD ANNUAL FOOD AND BEVERAGE EXPO AND CONFERENCE Venue Dubai, UAE Web gulfood.com/?utm_medium=evvnt%20listing&utm_source=event%20listing&utm_campaign=website 28 February-2 March 2019 22ND EURO-GLOBAL SUMMIT ON FOOD AND BEVERAGES Venue London, UK Web europe.foodtechconferences.org/ 24-28 March 2019 1ST GHI WORLD CONGRESS ON FOOD SAFETY AND SECURITY Venue Leiden, The Netherlands Web ghiworldcongress.org/ 4 April 2019 IFST SPRING CONFERENCE: NUTRITIONAL SCIENCE OVER GUT FEEL Venue University of Birmingham, UK Web ifst.org 8-10 April 2019 6TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION (ICFSN 2019) Venue Barcelona, Spain. Web icfsn.org/ 15-17 April 2019 3RD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FOOD AND NUTRITIONAL SCIENCES Venue Paris, France Web foodscienceconference.org/ 23-24 May 2019 2ND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FOOD PROCESSING, SAFETY AND PACKAGING Venue Paris, France Web foodcongress. conferenceseries.com/ 2-5 June 2019 FEED YOUR FUTURE: IFT 19 Venue New Orleans, LA Web iftevent.org/