1.3 billion tonnes. That might sound like it could be the weight of the global elephant population, or even the land mass of an entire country, but no, the figure represents something a lot more alarming. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1.3 billion tonnes of food goes to waste every year.
Unfortunately, those of us with an interest in the food supply chain don’t have to look very far to find a story in the news about how much of our food is thrown away. But what can we actually do to change things for the better?
Our very own Chef Academy came up with its very own answer to that question last year, and their idea may just provide a blueprint for a more secure supply around the world.
The commercial kitchen with a difference
Zero Waste – All Taste is a concept kitchen designed to show how even the most basic, low-cost, and most frequently-wasted produce can be used to create a gourmet menu, featuring every edible part of a single ingredient.
The pop-up kitchen has been aimed at supermarket chains on the basis that they stock a lot of fresh ingredients which are often disposed of as soon as they exceed their sell-by date. Rather than view this as a problem, our Chef Academy turned this into an opportunity to show how some smart thinking – not to mention some well-designed commercial kitchen equipment – could help to put an end to unnecessary food waste.
What does the concept kitchen look like?
The Zero Waste – All Taste portable kitchen is a mobile cooking station less than 30m2 in size and boasts the following equipment:
With so much kit in such a small space, supermarket chains have the potential to produce and sell up to 700 dishes per day. When we consider how all of that produce would have otherwise been thrown away, that’s not a bad end product, right?
Zero Waste – All Taste was first unveiled at Euroshop 2017, in a partnership between Electrolux and Epta, multinational Group specialized in commercial refrigeration for retailers. This pilot initiative saw the humble carrot used by chefs from our Chef Academy to create an extensive menu including burgers, fritters, soup, and chips.
The industry statisticians tell me that global sales of healthy food were expected to reach $1 trillion by the end of last year. With that figure only likely to rise, Zero Waste – All Taste could just be arriving at the perfect time.
Ilaria Meneghin, Retail Segment Manager