Reducing ethylene levels along the food supply chain: a key to reducing food waste?

Abstract

Excessive waste along the food supply chain of 71 (UK, Netherlands) to 82 (Germany) kg per head per year sparked widespread criticism of the agricultural food business and provides a great challenge and task for all its players and stakeholders. Origins of this food waste include private households, restaurants and canteens, as well as supermarkets, and indicate that 59-65% of this food waste can be avoided. Since ∼50% of the food waste is fruit and vegetables, monitoring and control of their natural ripening gas - ethylene - is suggested here as one possible key to reducing food waste. Ethylene accelerates ripening of climacteric fruits, and accumulation of ethylene in the supply chain can lead to fruit decay and waste. While ethylene was determined using a stationary gas chromatograph with gas cylinders, the new generation of portable sensor-based instruments now enables continuous in situ determination of ethylene along the food chain, a prerequisite to managing and maintaining the quality and ripeness of fruits and identifying hot spots of ethylene accumulation along the supply chain. Ethylene levels were measured in a first trial, along the supply chain of apple fruit from harvest to the consumer, and ranged from 10 ppb in the CA fruit store with an ethylene scrubber, 70 ppb in the fruit bin, to 500 ppb on the sorting belt in the grading facility, to ppm levels in perforated plastic bags of apples. This paper also takes into account exogenous ethylene originating from sources other than the fruit itself. Countermeasures are discussed, such as the potential of breeding for low-ethylene fruit, applications of ethylene inhibitors (e.g. 1-MCP) and absorber strips (e.g. 'It's Fresh', Ryan'), packages (e.g. 'Peakfresh'), both at the wholesale and retail level, vents and cooling for the supply chain, sale of class II produce ('Wunderlinge'), collection (rather than waste) of produce on the 'sell by' date ('Die Tafel') and whole crop purchase (WCP) to aid reducing food waste.