WASTE NOT -
Tomatoes are useful for a lot of things — mixing into salads, adding nutritional value to cheeseburgers, lobbing at struggling standup comics, and even making plastic for car parts. But a team of scientists at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology has come up with a powerful new application for the flushed fruit: electricity.
At the recent 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the team presented their pilot project, which involves a bio-based fuel cell that uses tomato waste left over from harvests in Florida.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Food dominates our lives; it influences our health and has becomes a defining theme of 21st-century popular culture. No wonder then that the sustainability issues that influence the things we eat and drink have taken on such importance with the public worldwide.
WASTE NOT -
Campaigns near and far have been educating people on the – well, wastefulness – of food waste. Bad for both our wallets and the environment, the amount of food that is purchased by consumers only to go uneaten and get thrown out is estimated at 16 percent in European Union countries and up to 25 percent in the United States. The average family in the United Kingdom discards £700-worth (over US$1,000) of food a year, while the average American family of four tosses $1,365 to $2,275 per year.
CLEANTECH -
Label Insight - leading provider of SaaS data solutions providing insights and strengthening the connections between CPG brands, retailers and consumers - announces the launch of its Sustainability SmartSPEC™ solution. The Sustainability SmartSPEC is customizable based on a retailer's unique sustainability initiatives in categories such as environmental impact, animal welfare and farming techniques.
CLEANTECH -
This week, both the World Resources Institute (WRI) and MorningStar Farms — producer of veggie burgers, sausages and other faux meat items beloved by vegetarians across the U.S. — have unveiled research asserting that the average American could cut their diet-related environmental impacts by nearly half just by eating less meat and dairy.
NEW METRICS -
Nine of the “Big 10” global food and beverage companies - Associated British Foods (ABF), Coca-Cola, Danone, General Mills, Kellogg, Mars, Mondelez, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever - have improved their ratings by at least 10 percent in three years since Oxfam began keeping score through its Behind the Brands scorecard.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Mars Food plans to begin distinguishing between its products which are fit for “everyday” versus “occasional” consumption. Over the next few months, the company is expected to publish a list of products which should not be eaten more than once per week due to higher salt, sugar and/or fat content. The list will appear on the company’s website, and the list items’ packaging will bear a label in stores in the United Kingdom.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
It’s the pinnacle of tax season here in the U.S. this week, and it’s easy to imagine coffee being in high demand at the Internal Revenue Service. So in the midst of their most grueling week of the year, a group of businesses and advocates are calling on the IRS to go one day without coffee — one of many crops that relies on pollination — to help drive home the potential implications of a future without pollinators.
PRESS RELEASE -
The 2015 report by Nestlé continues the practice of transparent reporting on a set of forward-looking commitments that articulate the company’s firm belief that to prosper over the long term and create value for shareholders, it must also create value for society.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
In light of this year’s Flint, Michigan water crisis and massive methane leak in Porter Ranch, California, along with increasing awareness of manmade toxicities in our environment, consumers are looking for better tools to control their health and be better armed for knowing and controlling what goes into their bodies.
Enter MyDx — aka “My Diagnostic” — a portable analyzer that acts like an electronic nose to measure and detect chemical molecules in vapor.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Building a stronger and more equitable food system requires the fresh thinking, talents, and skills of our youth. We have the potential to feed everyone, including the millions of people globally who are most vulnerable to hunger and its serious consequences. Having worked for one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies for more than a decade, I know that the next generation of farmers, business managers, NGOs, public advocates, and students can together help us reach the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goal aimed at ending hunger (SDG 2).
COLLABORATION -
A coalition of a dozen major food brands and retailers (and Patagonia!) have asked federal regulators not to back down on reducing trucking emissions and increasing fuel economy.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
This week we welcomed the latest in a spate of recent challenges aimed at overhauling our broken food system: In partnership with Campbell Soup Company and General Mills, Net Impact launched the Forward Food Competition, an opportunity for innovative food companies and industry disruptors to pitch their original sustainable food idea to a panel of industry experts. Applicants can submit their ideas through the Net Impact website until May 15, 2016.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Move over Prince Ea, there's a new spoken word artist promoting sustainability. To help reach a wider audience for its newly-released 2015 sustainability report, Heineken recruited Dutch rapper and vocal artist Kevin "Blaxtar" de Randamie to transform the report into his own artistic expression.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
My family eats a mostly vegetarian diet. Some kids at school were making fun of my 9-year-old son, telling him how great meat tastes. Before diving into the challenge of dealing with childhood peers, I asked him if he knew why we’re vegetarian. When it was clear he didn’t (that’s on me), I started to tell him about the environmental impacts of meat as it’s currently produced, health benefits, and animal welfare.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
A report released today by six non-profit organizations found that 67 percent of nearly 200 tested food can linings contained Bisphenol A (BPA). The report also identified the replacement materials and to what extent their safety has been studied. Ahead of the report’s release, both Campbell Soup Co. and Del Monte Foods announced plans to switch to BPA-free packaging.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
It’s a great time to be a salad on a fast food menu. A generation ago, there was no happy medium between lunch hour at a fast food joint or at a sit-down restaurant — and either option was, and still is, calorie-laden. But concerns over the nation’s food supply, growing environmental awareness, and the disturbing obesity rate here in the U.S. has led to the growth of the “fast-casual” food concept, and many chains in this category are more socially conscious than conventional restaurant chains.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
The U.S. Senate might be waiting to make a decision regarding the labeling of genetically modified organism (GMO) ingredients, but Big Food companies are not. This week, Mars, Incorporated, ConAgra Foods, and The Kellogg Co. jumped on the bandwagon with pledges to label their products for GMOs nationwide.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
In a surprise announcement on March 16, the UK government unveiled a tax on sugary drinks amidst its budgetary plans. Companies have 2 years to reformulate their products, but the director general of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) said they were “extremely disappointed” by the decision and called it “a piece of political theatre.” Soft drink makers, including Coca-Cola, are reportedly considering suing the government to force the tax to be scrapped.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
On Monday, Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) released a second white paper detailing the final findings from its industry research partnership with Cranfield University.