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International Conference on

Recent Trends in Environmental Sustainability

ESCON22/SAgri/09
Reducing postharvest food waste via upcycling into new and innovative food products

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Vijay Yadav Tokala* and Lisa Kitinoja
1 The Postharvest Education Foundation, La Pine, Oregon, USA.
Correspondence: vijayyadav.t@postharvest.org
Abstract:

Due to the COVID-19, the last two years have been very challenging for the whole world, and
the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UNFAO) estimates that the
pandemic situation might have pushed an additional 83-132 million into chronic hunger in year
2020. While on another hand, it is also reported that the panic-buying during this period has
increased food waste in several nations. Even before the pandemic, the global food losses and
waste was estimated to amount to 1.3 billion metric tons by mass or 30% of the total food
produced for human consumption. In the last decade, the topic of postharvest losses and wastes
acquired global attention with different initiatives being implemented by nations. Upcycling
domestic, as well as industrial food wastes into new and innovative products, is one such
intervention. It is a unique consumer product-based solution, making it economically
sustainable and highly scalable. The presentation will discuss the concept of upcycling, its
importance, examples of different products, the scope for the market and standardization
protocols.

Keywords: food waste; standardization protocols

Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari Campus

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