Mapping of Australian fruit and vegetable losses pre-retail

[摘要] The large amount of edible food that is lost in supply chains before reaching the market, is an issue of increasing concern worldwide. The first step towards developing solutions, is to be aware of the amount of losses produced, where they originate in the food supply chain, and their geographical location. Currently, there are no studies about the quantification and localisation of the fruit and vegetable (FV) losses on a regional or state basis across Australia, to enable developing strategies for loss minimisation or diversion on a regional basis. This report outlines and estimates the volumes and origins of FV losses occurring on-farm, in packing houses and during processing at both regional and state levels. A national food loss survey was undertaken for 2017- 2018. The survey consisted of capturing production and loss information on farm and during processing and packing. A generic survey form was developed to collect data by either email, telephone interviews, or individual visits to producers across Australia. A total of 13 fruit and 23 vegetable supply chains were covered in most geographical locations, which represent the majority of FV produced in the country. A methodology was developed to further expand the food loss database nationally to other locations where data could not be collected. This included extrapolation of individual data reported in specific regions with literature sources from previous Australian and international studies. The method enabled estimations on minimum to maximum loss ranges and the creation of national and state maps including the corresponding FV losses in production regions. Further loss characterisation and quantification, including out-of-spec ‘ugly’ produce or actual parts left in field, as well as by-products obtained in packing houses or during processing, must be validated regionally as a follow up to this work.The total losses estimated by adding losses found on-farm and at processing/packing house levels ranged between 18 to 22% of the total Australian FV production or 1,175,000 to 1,456,000 tonnes of FV loss. Most losses were identified in NSW, QLD, SA and VIC, showing relatively similar values ranging from at least 202,000 to 340,000 tonnes, depending on the state. The major crops undergoing such losses at grower and processing/packing house levels were identified for each state. Fruits in general provided greater losses than vegetables in NSW, NT, SA, and VIC. Wine grapes showed the largest loss in SA, NSW, and VIC with up to 187,000, 119,000 and 68,000 tonnes lost.Potatoes account for the largest loss in TAS (70,000 tonnes) and WA (11,000 tonnes). The largest loss in QLD were seen in the tomato supply chains with 104,000 tonnes lost. Other crops that were highly significant included melons and watermelons (up to 90,000 tonnes), apple (up to 55,000 tonnes), and cucumber (up to 35,000 tonnes). These crops were selected to create regional maps and identify cluster regions in different states.The FV chains that obtained 35% regional coverage in the survey (production volume basis), were also mapped according to cluster locations. These crops included apples, pears, pineapple, broccoli, carrots, and onions, which were estimated to undergo national losses in the order of 56,000, 20,000, 21,000, 14,000, 27,000 and 26,000 tonnes, respectively. Based on national estimates, the regions that undergo largest losses included: South East SA, West and North West TAS, Greater Sydney NSW, Barossa SA, with 114,000, 99,000, 89,000 and 69,000 tonnes of loss, respectively. Regions Adelaide North SA, Riverina NSW and Shepparton VIC, totalled 58,000 tonnes of annual losses each.It is hoped that this preliminary coverage on FV data will be used to inform the future creation of intelligent logistic diversion systems through food hubs where food losses can be stabilised and diverted to and transformed into higher value food products and/or ingredients, as a strategy to reduce food

[发布日期] 2019-06-13 [发布机构] CSIRO

[学科分类] 地球科学(综合)