Choosing the optimal packaging

to prevent food waste

Nordic Food Waste Conference

Gardermoen, 27 April 2017

Oddvin Sørheim

Causes for food waste due to packaging

• Beyond last use by or best before date

• The product is spoiled or unedible due to poor packaging

• Chill chain with temperature abuse, especially for persihable foods

with short shelf life

• The quantity of the foods or volume of the

package is too large for the consumer, or

3 for 2 campaigns, leading to waste

Food without packaging

Original Unverpackt, Berlin

CO2 emissions for various foods

Treehugger, 2011

04.05.2017 5

Alternatives for packaging of ground beef

Estimated shelf life, days

Oxygen permeable wrapping

High oxygen package

ca. 70% O2/ 30% CO2

Low oxygen package

ca. 60% CO2/ 40% N2

3 - 4 8 - 10 16 - 18

Velzen & Linnemann, 2008

Packaging with high oxygen in Norway

• The retailer NorgesGruppen started in 2012 the packaging center

Norfersk at Hærland for private label fresh meat, in collaboration with

Nortura

• Up to November 2014 was using

high oxygen for many types

of meat (not steaks, in skin-pack)

• Thereafter, changing to gas

mixture with 60 % CO2/ 40 % N2

Waste of ground meat in stores in NorgesGruppen

under/after use of high oxygen, ca. 6.5 vs. 2.5 %

7

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Feb Mar April May June July Aug Sep

Pe

rce

nta

ge

wa

ste

2014(before)

2015(after)

Source: NorgesGruppen/ Østfoldforskning

Total counts on chicken breast fillets with different

level of CO2, stored for up to 26 days at 4 ⁰C

Holck et al. 2014

Discoloration of salami and cooked ham

• The combination of residual oxygen in the packages and light

causes discoloration, off-taste and waste

• Cooked ham has no oxygen consumption,

must have very low oxygen in packages,

or shield from light at display

• Salami has high oxygen consumption by

the product, store in darkness until all

oxygen is gone, then transfer to light display

Larsen et al., 2006

Sørheim et al., 2017

Cooked ham 30 gr x 3, light-proof top film

Storage of bananas

04.05.2017 11

4 ⁰C

• Best at 14 ⁰C and high humidity

• 4 ⁰C results in discolored skin and

white fruit

• At room temperature + 20 ⁰C, fast

maturation and inner browning

• Plastic bags reduce weight loss and

improve display life

• Avoid exposure to ethylene

• Handle bananas with care, avoid

damage to skin

Weight loss of bananas

03.11.2014 Presentasjon

Storage temperatures of 4, 14 and 20 ⁰C

With perforated plastic bags (MP) or without (UP)

The benefits of packaging

Meat

• A high carbon footprint, expensive, and is spoiled relatively fast, and

therefore deserves resources for packaging

• Shelf life is secured by using high quality raw materials, avoid

recontamination before packaging, use CO2 gas packaging or

vacuum, minimize residual oxygen, use high barrier films, shield

certain products from light, and maintain chill chain

Fruits and vegetables

• High levels of waste (up to 50 %), short shelf life, vulnerable to poor

handling, variable respiration rates and temperature optimums

• Use perforated packaging materials to reduce weight loss and decay,

storage at correct temperature

More and better packaging often results in less food waste

Acknowledgements

Financial support from the Nordic Food Waste project and Nofima`s

FoodMicroPack project (NFR)

Advice and research input from Hanne Møller (Østfoldforskning),

Hanne Larsen and Marit Kvalvåg Pettersen (both Nofima)