Is Food Safety Compatible with Food Waste Prevention and Sustainability of the Food Chain?

Abstract

In a context where the sustainability of food chains and food waste prevention are subjects of interest for public authorities and professionals, it is important to assess if these new objectives of food policy are compatible with food safety. The objective of this work was to develop a global model for a ready-to-eat meat product that provides three different outputs, i.e. energy consumption, percentage of spoiled products and exposure levels of Listeria monocytogenes. First a cold chain model was developed. The cold chain model was then coupled with (i) predictive microbiology models and (ii) energy consumption models for cold equipments. Various scenarios were tested for assessing the consequences of potential changes in cold chain equipment on safety, food waste and energy cost. This global approach could help policy makers in decision making.