Abstract
Food losses and waste are associated with inefficient use of agricultural land, water and other resources and agricultural raw materials. Reducing the scale of food wastage is one of the most urgent challenges for food system operators, starting from agriculture to food consumption in the households. This is all the more urgent as food insecurity has deepened during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are few studies on how to reduce food losses in food processing sectors, as most researchers focus on the demand side of the market, especially within household consumption. To fill the knowledge gaps related to the inefficient production system in the baking and confectionery industry (BCI), research was conducted to estimate the scale of losses in BCI in Poland, determine their causes and assess the risk of their occurrence, identify retrieve points (RP) and ways of reducing and preventing losses. Two research methods were used. Quantitative data were collected using an Internet survey method on a sample of 48 bakeries. The qualitative data was provided by 5 individual in-depth interviews with experts from the surveyed industry. The results showed that the total scale of losses in Polish BCI reached 2.39% (in 2017) and 2.63% (in 2018) of the weight of manufactured products. The loss analysis was presented within respective sections of production: raw materials magazine (RMM), production section (PS), final product magazine (FPM), final product transport (FPT). The highest loss level was reported for PS—1.56% (2017), 1.85% (2018). Additionally, 12 loss risks and nine main cause categories were identified. Potential 6 retrieve points (RP) during the baking processes were indicated: making and handling intermediate products and dough; portioning and forming of dough, baking, customised packing, shipping (storage), transport by own fleet. The type of risk, the cause of losses, their consequences, and manners of preventing losses were specified for each RP. Being the first study of this kind in Poland, its results are key to build a road map for further researches focused on reduction of food losses, more sustainable management of resources in BCI. It might contribute to corporate social responsibility and value co-creation.
Highlights
Food wastage is one of the major problems of the modern world [1,2,3]
The obtained results are of key importance for pursuing further research and show premises for developing road maps leading to the reduction of food losses in the baking and confectionery industry (BCI)
The business solutions implemented in the sector’s enterprises should be rooted in the principles of corporate social responsibility and creating common value, where loss limitation is taken into account
Summary
Food wastage is one of the major problems of the modern world [1,2,3]. It has been identified as one of the greatest sources of inefficiency in the food system. According to FAO estimations, the global volume of food wastage is 1.6 Gtonnes of “primary product equivalents”, while the total wastage for edible part of foods is 1.3 Gtonnes. This amount can be weighed against total agricultural production (for food and non-food uses), which is about 6 Gtonnes [4].
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