According to government data, consumers in Australia discard over 3.1m tonnes of edible food waste per year. As well as the detrimental environmental impact, this has a practical cost of around AUD $20bn annually.
In an effort to limit this waste in red meat, MLA has worked with the Tasmanian Institute for Agriculture to develop a new prediction tool that calculates the potential shelf-life of our products more accurately.
In our commercial trials, this new module has produced very promising results, showing that a 10% reduction in red meat waste is possible by simply improving cold chain control. The trials tested 39 different pathways that meat products could go through in the supply chain, with varying storage designations, timings and storage temperatures. According to MLA Program Manager Dr Ian Jenson, the new model still takes a conservative estimate on shelf life, but is significantly longer than that which would be predicted using the current system.
Since 2008 MLA has invested AUD $1.75m into shelf life research. We hope that models can simplify supply chains, facilitate better stock management for retailers and increase customer confidence in longer use-by-dates.
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FOOD SAFETYPRODUCTION INTEGRITYQUALITY
Article Date: 6th May 2019
