Page 30 - Food & Drink magazine June 2021

FOOD WASTE
Fielding food waste solutions
Goodman Fielder has set itself the goal of halving its food waste by 2030. Kim Berry talks to head of sustainability Mick Anderson about what the company is doing to achieve that.
QWhat was the catalyst for Goodman Fielder to set its food waste goals?
Every year, about 30 per cent of the world’s food is wasted. If that waste was a country, it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, behind only China and the US.
The arable land used to grow food that is never eaten is estimated to be about the size to China. So if we want to halt deforestation, protect biodiversity, tackle climate change and address food insecurity and social inequality, food waste is a pretty good place to start.
For Goodman Fielder, it became impossible not to be passionate about stepping up to be an industry leader in tackling the issue. It also helps deliver so many of our sustainability priorities.
QWhat steps are Goodman Fielder taking in-house? Our goal is to halve food waste by 2030, from the farm right through to the home and this obviously includes a focus on our own operations.
There is no single answer to tackling food waste. People, processes, equipment, products, and data are all elements that make up a successful food waste program.
The bakers and operators on the factory floor in our bakeries know which processes are creating food waste and often have great insights into the causes and potential solutions. Combining these insights with a data driven focus we can target investments and training to
drive change. Each of our
manufacturing sites has a daily operations briefing or “pulse” where waste levels for the previous 24 hours are discussed, and improvement actions reviewed.
This daily check-in allows issues to be identified and rectified quickly and the impact of
larger initiatives can be measured quickly.
All our major manufacturing sites in Australia and New Zealand have alternate solutions for any food waste that is generated (eg donations, stockfeed partnerships).
Q
Our Burleigh Heads bakery is a great example of successfully implementing food waste strategies. The site achieved a 90 per cent reduction in production waste over the last 18 months.
The team did this through a combination of behaviour/ process change and large capital investments.
A key project focused on our bread tins. As tins get old, lose their coating, and become misshapen, bread can get stuck in the tin and is unable to be extracted at our de-panners. These loaves then have to be pulled out by hand and, due to damage, can’t be returned to the production line.
This was the single biggest cause of food waste at the site and investing in new tins became a vital investment in tackling food waste.
Bringing the whole team along for the ride was also an important success factor for the initiative, with a real focus on how to handle the new tins to maximise the benefit and prevent damage.
Another success story is at our crumbing plant in Victoria. It can convert unsold bread into premium breadcrumbs for sale to food service and industrial customers. This upcycling initiative can divert up to 2000 tonnes of bread waste each year from stockfeed to human consumption.
We now produce mini loaves under the Wonder White and Helga’s brands – for us, from a sustainability perspective, it is a
Have there been any major
successes so far?
ABOVE AND RIGHT: The Pampas Pastry Re-Pie- Cling campaign has been a way of helping consumers reduce food waste at home.
OPPOSITE: Goodman Fielder’s decision to make mini-loaves in its Helga’s and Wonder ranges was not without cost, but has been hugely successful.
30 | Food&Drink business | June 2021 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au
What about consumers?
We know that some of our most popular products are among the most wasted within the home, so it is important our actions stretch to our consumers and support food waste prevention strategies in the home.
Q