Cold Link Africa Mar/Apr 2017 | Page 25

EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS

INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN

global network of 1 000 dealers , Carrier offers a complete cold chain solution from harvest to consumer . Its business is to develop innovation in transport refrigeration for sea and road , cold chain monitoring , telematics , and supermarket refrigeration , explained Appel . Its tracking and monitoring system eliminates the risk of fines being imposed on logistics role players . CO 2 systems are being extended further across the cold chain , and Europe boasts of having at least 3 000 systems in operation in supermarkets . “ The wide cross section of delegates at the Cold Chain Summit of 2016 have accepted the challenge to road map the route towards reducing food loss and waste , not only in their own region but across the globe ,” said Appel .

CARBON EMISsIONS FROM FOOD LOSS

Most forums , summits , and debates around food loss and waste focus on the fight against global hunger , and the loss and the waste along the distribution chain from source to consumer . Spreading the global food production to the world ’ s population of 7 billion would not only reduce the number of 800 million hungry people , but also reduce global carbon emissions . Consider the carbon emissions from the production of the 1.3 billion tonnes of food lost and wasted . The carbon emissions from the energy to plough , transport , irrigate , store , distribute , pack , and then destroy before consumption , accounts for the world ’ s third largest source of carbon emissions if it were a single country . The ranking would be China , US , followed by Food Waste and Loss .

“ Saving the carbon emissions from all the production of food that is lost would be the same as removing all the cars off the roads in the US . The water used to produce the same food is sufficient to meet the entire water demand of Africa ,” said John Mandyck , chief sustainability officer of United Technologies Corporation . “ Only 10 % of the global production of perishable is refrigerated . Extending the cold chain beyond the 10 % of all perishables is also a step towards reducing global carbon emissions .”

Reducing food loss and waste offers simultaneous solutions to a number of the challenges facing the planet and its population , such as reduction in

Inside the massive aquarium — the biggest in the world in terms of the volume of water .

global warming , feeding the hungry , and conserving the natural resources of water and available land . “ The scales are so large that anything that is done will have a significant impact . People learn from one another and the more networking and discussion around these challenges , the more impact it will have on a wider application of technologies and the bigger dent it will make on the reduction of global warming and hunger ,” explained Mandyck .

UN environment resolution to halve food waste

In the keynote address , Clementine O ’ Connor of the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) quantified food loss and waste .

At producer prices , the waste and loss of vegetables cost the global economy approximately USD164-billion . Global cost of all food loss and waste amounts to USD940- billion . The second highest loss occurs in the meat sector , and next in fruits , excluding those used for making wine .

“ Food loss and waste occur along the entire value chain , from production to consumption , including that in homes , hotels , restaurants , and businesses . In 2015 , UNEP called on all countries and companies to action on the Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 ( by 2030 , halve per capita global food waste at the

There was time to visit the aquarium and the exhibits of seafaring nations .

retail and consumer levels , and reduce food losses along production and supply chains , including post-harvest losses ). O ’ Connor explained the key elements of the implementation plan as :

• Set targets for own area / region of activity ;

• Measure progress towards targets ; and

• Act against measured performance .

Green Biz , an initiative by consumer goods companies , was quoted by O ’ Connor as being an example of setting targets . The 400 consumer goods companies of Green Biz have committed to preventing food waste , then maximising its recovery towards the goal of halving food waste within their own retail and manufacturing operation by 2025 ( versus a 2016 baseline ). Green Biz will also contribute to the United Nation goals by 2030 .

LOSS IN RETAIL OUTLETS

Research done by Tesco in the UK found that 32 % of food waste in the UK occurred in the value chain from