Opening the black box of food waste reduction

•A model of surplus food generation and management is obtained by iterating theory development and exploratory case studies.•Food waste is defined both from a social and environmental perspective.•Each stage of the food supply chain is characterised in terms of the “degree of recoverability” of surp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Food policy 2014-06, Vol.46, p.129-139
Main Authors: Garrone, Paola, Melacini, Marco, Perego, Alessandro
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Blacks
Business
Case studies
Data analysis
Food
Food supply
Food supply chain
Food waste
Foods
Management
Reduction
Strategy
Supply chain management
Supply chains
Surplus
Surplus food
Sustainability
Sustainable development
Waste
Wastes
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Summary:•A model of surplus food generation and management is obtained by iterating theory development and exploratory case studies.•Food waste is defined both from a social and environmental perspective.•Each stage of the food supply chain is characterised in terms of the “degree of recoverability” of surplus food.•A set of confirmatory case studies demonstrates the model potential for managerial and policy uses. Surplus food management plays a key role in food waste reduction. This paper addresses the multifaceted concept of food supply chain sustainability by presenting a model of surplus food generation and management (called ASRW, Availability-Surplus-Recoverability-Waste), which encompasses the integrated food supply chain (i.e. business, environmental and social players). The model was developed using a bottom-up approach, by conducting 30 exploratory case studies and iterating theory development and data analysis. Three confirmatory case studies, from different food supply chain stages, are also presented to demonstrate how the model can be used to identify food waste reduction strategies.
ISSN:0306-9192
1873-5657
DOI:10.1016/j.foodpol.2014.03.014