Cut down on food waste with longer lasting freshness

Food waste is a shame - not only of of our resources and economy. It’s taking a huge toll on the environment as well: Fresh water and oil are being used to produce food that is wasted – and food waste is responsible for the emission of millions of tons of greenhouse gases.

At the same time the price of ingredients is rising, but worse yet, is that while one third of all food is wasted globally, the United Nations estimates that one in nine people in the world do not have access to enough food to lead a healthy life. It’s not hard to agree on the fact that food waste is morally irresponsible and should be reduced by all means.

Bread is part of the solution

The good news is that there is (a lot of) room for improvement – and we can all contribute to bringing down our food waste. Bakery products alone contribute a lot to the 88 million tonnes of food waste in the EU each year. In the UK alone, the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has estimated that consumers throw away 24 million slices of bread every day.

The main reason is staling or mold contamination. From a consumer and retailer point of view, pastries and bread are neither enjoyable nor sellable when they have lost their outer crispness or become dry on the inside. A fact that we can all agree on – no matter how much we are against food waste.

This is why Lantmännen Unibake is building knowledge on how to keep a crispy crust and moist crumb. We invest in research aimed at cutting waste by keeping bread and pastry products fresher for longer after baking.

Improved crispiness reduces waste

The other good news is that there are several approaches to improving fresh-keeping. That is why Lantmännen Unibake carry out research in order to find ways to delay the drying process. This involves:

Understanding what causes staling to occur
Developing crispier crusts by experimenting with new types of flour
Altering baking temperatures and times
Ensuring that the moisture evaporation from bread crumb does not soften the crust
Developing techniques for cooling bread so that the crust is significantly crisper and less flaky after final baking
Examining the storage’s impact on freshness and crispiness
Innovating package technology to prevent bread from staling

At Lantmännen Unibake we are committed to taking concrete action throughout our value chain to reduce food waste in our business. Furthermore, we have committed ourselves to take steps that can help consumers waste less food – thereby making a small but hopefully meaningful contribution to cutting down the food waste.