IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i4p3598-d1069681.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Food Waste in Distribution: Causes and Gaps to Be Filled

Author

Listed:
  • Francisco Carlos Vaz Sales

    (Programa de Pós Graduação em Engenharia Industrial, Escola Politécnica, Campus São Leopoldo, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos-UNISINOS, S. Leopoldo 93022-750, RS, Brazil)

  • Michele De Souza

    (Programa de Pós Graduação em Engenharia Industrial, Escola Politécnica, Campus São Leopoldo, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos-UNISINOS, S. Leopoldo 93022-750, RS, Brazil)

  • Luiz Reni Trento

    (Programa de Pós Graduação em Engenharia Industrial, Escola Politécnica, Campus São Leopoldo, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos-UNISINOS, S. Leopoldo 93022-750, RS, Brazil)

  • Giancarlo Medeiros Pereira

    (Programa de Pós Graduação em Engenharia Industrial, Escola Politécnica, Campus São Leopoldo, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos-UNISINOS, S. Leopoldo 93022-750, RS, Brazil)

  • Miriam Borchardt

    (Programa de Pós Graduação em Engenharia Industrial, Escola Politécnica, Campus São Leopoldo, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos-UNISINOS, S. Leopoldo 93022-750, RS, Brazil)

  • Gabriel Sperandio Milan

    (Programa de Pós Graduação em Engenharia Industrial, Escola Politécnica, Campus São Leopoldo, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos-UNISINOS, S. Leopoldo 93022-750, RS, Brazil)

Abstract

This qualitative study investigated the gaps that hinder fruit and vegetable waste reduction in small distributors serving the last miles of the food chain. Fifteen Brazilian distributors operating far from the producers were analyzed. The findings contribute to the literature by showing several research gaps. The surplus in farmer planting increases waste generation at the level of distributors. We should know how to collect and process the relevant data to forecast the demand of each small farmer or distributor (e.g., tendencies in market demands or other farmers’ planting plans). Sectoral entities should use these data to help actors define how much to plant or buy. The acceptance of waste by farmers and distributors has a financial reason. Changing such acceptance requires the demonstration of financial gain that a more sustainable approach may have. We need to know how to calculate the economic gains and losses related to waste reduction throughout the chain (before developing useful mitigators). We should also know how to induce entrepreneurs to invest in better resources or practices in transportation, handling, packaging, and storage. Selling items before their decline avoids waste. We need to know how to improve small actors’ gains to increase sales of such products.

Suggested Citation

  • Francisco Carlos Vaz Sales & Michele De Souza & Luiz Reni Trento & Giancarlo Medeiros Pereira & Miriam Borchardt & Gabriel Sperandio Milan, 2023. "Food Waste in Distribution: Causes and Gaps to Be Filled," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-12, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:3598-:d:1069681
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3598/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3598/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Halloran, Afton & Clement, Jesper & Kornum, Niels & Bucatariu, Camelia & Magid, Jakob, 2014. "Addressing food waste reduction in Denmark," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P1), pages 294-301.
    2. Dayanne da Costa Maynard & Renata Puppin Zandonadi & Eduardo Yoshio Nakano & Raquel Braz Assunção Botelho, 2020. "Sustainability Indicators in Restaurants: The Development of a Checklist," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-25, May.
    3. Christine Göbel & Nina Langen & Antonia Blumenthal & Petra Teitscheid & Guido Ritter, 2015. "Cutting Food Waste through Cooperation along the Food Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-17, January.
    4. Rissman, Jeffrey & Bataille, Chris & Masanet, Eric & Aden, Nate & Morrow, William R. & Zhou, Nan & Elliott, Neal & Dell, Rebecca & Heeren, Niko & Huckestein, Brigitta & Cresko, Joe & Miller, Sabbie A., 2020. "Technologies and policies to decarbonize global industry: Review and assessment of mitigation drivers through 2070," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    5. Tippawong Rodjanatham & Tenzin Rabgyal, 2020. "Quality Assurance of International Fruit Supply Chains via Techno-Management," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-12, April.
    6. Arunraj, Nari Sivanandam & Ahrens, Diane, 2015. "A hybrid seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average and quantile regression for daily food sales forecasting," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(PA), pages 321-335.
    7. Anish Kumar & Sachin Kumar Mangla & Pradeep Kumar & Stavros Karamperidis, 2020. "Challenges in perishable food supply chains for sustainability management: A developing economy perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 1809-1831, July.
    8. Mena, Carlos & Adenso-Diaz, B. & Yurt, Oznur, 2011. "The causes of food waste in the supplier–retailer interface: Evidences from the UK and Spain," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 55(6), pages 648-658.
    9. Sandeep Jagtap & Chintan Bhatt & Jaydeep Thik & Shahin Rahimifard, 2019. "Monitoring Potato Waste in Food Manufacturing Using Image Processing and Internet of Things Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-12, June.
    10. Massimo Canali & Pegah Amani & Lusine Aramyan & Manuela Gheoldus & Graham Moates & Karin Östergren & Kirsi Silvennoinen & Keith Waldron & Matteo Vittuari, 2016. "Food Waste Drivers in Europe, from Identification to Possible Interventions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-33, December.
    11. de Souza, Michele & Pereira, Giancarlo Medeiros & Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, Ana Beatriz & Chiappetta Jabbour, Charbel Jose & Trento, Luiz Reni & Borchardt, Miriam & Zvirtes, Leandro, 2021. "A digitally enabled circular economy for mitigating food waste: Understanding innovative marketing strategies in the context of an emerging economy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. de Souza, Michele & Pereira, Giancarlo Medeiros & Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, Ana Beatriz & Chiappetta Jabbour, Charbel Jose & Trento, Luiz Reni & Borchardt, Miriam & Zvirtes, Leandro, 2021. "A digitally enabled circular economy for mitigating food waste: Understanding innovative marketing strategies in the context of an emerging economy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    2. Ghosh, R.K. & Eriksson, M. & Istamov, A., 2018. "Food waste due to coercive power in agri-food chains: Evidence from Sweden," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277496, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Massimiliano Cerciello, 2021. "Spatial patterns in food waste at the local level. A preliminary analysis for Italian data," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(1), pages 83-101, February.
    4. Mohammad Al-Tamimi & John De-Clerk Azure & Ramakrishnan Ramanathan, 2023. "Corporate Reporting on Food Waste by UK Seafood Companies: Literature Review and an Assessment of Current Practices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-16, January.
    5. Beausang, Ciara & Hall, Clare & Toma, Luiza, 2017. "Food waste and losses in primary production: Qualitative insights from horticulture," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 177-185.
    6. Filip Tkáč & Ingrida Košičiarová & Elena Horská & Kristína Mušinská, 2022. "Socioeconomic Relations of Food Waste in Selected European Countries," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-10, June.
    7. Wen-Hwa Ko & Min-Yen Lu, 2020. "Evaluation of the Professional Competence of Kitchen Staff to Avoid Food Waste Using the Modified Delphi Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-11, September.
    8. Christina Strotmann & Linda Niepagenkemper & Christine Göbel & Fara Flügge & Silke Friedrich & Judith Kreyenschmidt & Guido Ritter, 2017. "Improving Transfer in the Food Sector by Applying a Target Audience-Centered Approach—The Development of a Nonprofit Marketing Campaign Guide Based on a Case Study of the LAV Platform," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-26, March.
    9. Raquel Diaz-Ruiz & Montserrat Costa-Font & Feliu López-i-Gelats & José M. Gil, 2018. "A Sum of Incidentals or a Structural Problem? The True Nature of Food Waste in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-19, October.
    10. Massimiliano Cerciello & Massimiliano Agovino & Antonio Garofalo, 2019. "Estimating urban food waste at the local level: are good practices in food consumption persistent?," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 36(3), pages 863-886, October.
    11. Christina Strotmann & Christine Göbel & Silke Friedrich & Judith Kreyenschmidt & Guido Ritter & Petra Teitscheid, 2017. "A Participatory Approach to Minimizing Food Waste in the Food Industry—A Manual for Managers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-21, January.
    12. Secondi, Luca & Principato, Ludovica & Laureti, Tiziana, 2015. "Household food waste behaviour in EU-27 countries: A multilevel analysis," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 25-40.
    13. Bettina A. Lorenz & Monika Hartmann & Stefan Hirsch & Olga Kanz & Nina Langen, 2017. "Determinants of Plate Leftovers in One German Catering Company," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-17, May.
    14. C. Rita Chen & Rachel J. C. Chen, 2018. "Using Two Government Food Waste Recognition Programs to Understand Current Reducing Food Loss and Waste Activities in the U.S," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-23, August.
    15. M., Balaji & K., Arshinder, 2016. "Modeling the causes of food wastage in Indian perishable food supply chain," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 153-167.
    16. Hannah Barker & Peter J. Shaw & Beth Richards & Zoe Clegg & Dianna Smith, 2021. "What Nudge Techniques Work for Food Waste Behaviour Change at the Consumer Level? A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-18, October.
    17. Daniel Durán-Sandoval & Gemma Durán-Romero & Francesca Uleri, 2023. "How Much Food Loss and Waste Do Countries with Problems with Food Security Generate?," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-19, April.
    18. Belén Derqui & Teresa Fayos & Vicenc Fernandez, 2016. "Towards a More Sustainable Food Supply Chain: Opening up Invisible Waste in Food Service," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-20, July.
    19. Cicatiello, Clara & Franco, Silvio & Pancino, Barbara & Blasi, Emanuele & Falasconi, Luca, 2017. "The dark side of retail food waste: Evidences from in-store data," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 273-281.
    20. Fábio T. F. Silva & Alexandre Szklo & Amanda Vinhoza & Ana Célia Nogueira & André F. P. Lucena & Antônio Marcos Mendonça & Camilla Marcolino & Felipe Nunes & Francielle M. Carvalho & Isabela Tagomori , 2022. "Inter-sectoral prioritization of climate technologies: insights from a Technology Needs Assessment for mitigation in Brazil," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 27(7), pages 1-39, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:3598-:d:1069681. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.