Using Artificial Intelligence to Reduce Food Waste in United Arab Emirates

Abstract

The United Arab Emirates is a country that has gone through a remarkable transformation over the last 50 years, from an economically poor and under-developed country to one of the wealthiest countries in the Middle East. United Arab Emirates residents enjoy a high quality of life, with access to clean water and electricity, along with luxurious housing and shopping malls; however, United Arab Emirates residents also waste a large quantity of food every day, which has recently become an immense problem. Food waste has become a global problem whereby approximately 1.3 billion tons of food produced for consumption goes to waste with an economic loss of around one trillion US dollars. According to the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, the United Arab Emirates wastes an estimated 12 percent of its total food supplies, costing the UAE 13 billion Dirhams (3.5 billion US dollars) annually (Rizvi, 2020). This study will investigate food waste and how artificial intelligence could reduce food waste costs, particularly for restaurants in the United Arab Emirates.