21H_InvisibleFoods

Invisible Foods

Inspiration

1/3 of all food is wasted. This foodwaste also brings huge environmental and social costs:

If food waste was a country, it would be the third biggest emitter of green house gases after China and the US. The environmental foodprint is huge.

Socially, the farmer oftentimes only gets paid for the parts of the harvest that can be sold. - Even if the farmer sends fresh harvest to a trader and the trader can't sell it all and it spoils, the trader only pays the farmer for what was sold. Now, the farmer who usually counts to a financially vulnerable group within many countries earns even less for the same amount of hard work he did, if food is wasted. If the food would be sold, the farmer in return would be paid for the work he did to plant and grow these products.

SO - if we can reduce foodwaste, we contribute directly to a better foodprint and higher income of farmers.

BUT - we don't know enough: We don't know, where, when or why foodwaste is happening. There is a lack of information to be able to do something about the food waste problem.

This is why we follow a data based approach to reduce food waste that happens already pre-retail in the food supply chain.

What it does

With our digital Waste Management Toolbox we know where, when and why unsellable food surplus is happening. We present what happens in real time on our Dashboard. This allows the food operator to make better decisions and prevents surplus from happening. What can't be prevented, we match with upcyclers to conserve the surplus food before it spoils and make new products from it. With our technology this now becomes possible, because we are able to generate offers automatically and match surplus supply with a buyer fast. Today, the surplus would be spoilt until a new buyer would be found.
Last but not least we certify food operators who manage to keep their waste below a percentage - what we can prove because we have the data - and we offer a label for the consumer to distinguish products from saved food in the supermarket shelf. Communicating the co2 & water savings and increased farmers income by saving the food.

The certification supports food actors selling local food. - Their transportation chains are shorter, they produce less waste and profit from a certification by improved markt position.

Challenges we ran into

The food sector is a very old sector. The idea to improve processes with technology meets a certain skepticism. And that is difficult to overcome.

Accomplishments that we are proud of

We are nominated as finalists for the The Hague Innovators Challenge 2021 by Impact City! And we need your help for the audience price. If you are willing to help us, please follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/invisible-foods/?viewAsMember=true or contact me to keep you in the loop for when your voice counts.