EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
Continued from page 17
segment with an overview of the Asia-
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), a
forum which encompasses 21 economies
from the Pacific Rim that promote free
trade, and their efforts on food loss and
waste reduction.
Dr Hsu noted that reducing food losses
has been “repeatedly underscored as
one of the primary tasks” to safeguarding
the food security of APEC economies.
Impressively, APEC nations have set a near-
term goal to reduce food loss and waste
by 10% by 2020 compared to 2011–2012
levels. APEC economies are engaged
in a multi-year project to strengthen
public-private partnerships to reduce
food loss and waste in the supply chain
by identifying key issues to be addressed,
seeking best practices in the private
and public sectors, and finding practical
solutions while enhancing capacity
building. They seek to understand food loss
and waste through three lenses: systemic
(viewing food loss and waste as an integral
part of the food system), sustainability
(social, environmental, and economic
dimensions), and food security (a focus on
human consumption).
Dr Hsu stated that the APEC economies
are using the FAO methodology to address
food loss and waste at all levels of the
food supply chain — from production and
harvest to consumption. He pointed to high
loss percentages of fruits, vegetables, fish,
and meat in the pre-consumption stage
due to the lack of adequate cold chain
infrastructure, and noted that they are
using resources such as the ReFED report
to view costs and benefits of interventions
(with a focus on ‘no regret’ options — that
is, only winners, no losers). In addition, he
displayed summary results in cost-benefit
format for a 10% reduction in APEC food
loss and waste, noting positive net annual
economic value, substantial reductions
in greenhouse gas emissions and water
consumption, and sharp increases in
meals recovered and jobs created. In
closing, he stressed the APEC economies’
commitment to 10% FLW reduction
now, while a call to action for the 50%
reduction goal specified in UN sustainable
development goals (SDG) target 12.3 will
occur at a June conference in Taipei.
Julien Brun, managing partner at CEL
Consulting, a firm specialising in emerging
supply chains, followed with preliminary
survey results quantifying food loss in
Vietnam. Brun gave a broad ‘flyover’ of
the farming sector in Vietnam, noting that
some 42% of its population (of 92 million) is
engaged at some level in the food chain,
representing 18% of GDP. He also noted
that the average size of farms is small (ex.
0.4 hectares for the average fruit farm), the
food supply chain is fragmented, and there
is considerable room to improve efficiency
and traceability. He stressed a key aspect
of food in Vietnam: It is predominantly
‘fresh’ while processed food is limited, and
with the absence of an extensive cold
chain, perishability is high.
Brun’s survey of 150 farmers revealed
that 32% of fruits and vegetables, 14%
of meat, and 12% of fish and seafood
products failed to reach market due to
spoilage, leading him to conclude that
nearly 60% of food produced in Vietnam is
not consumed. Despite these losses, Brun
found that only 14% of surveyed food chain
actors (farmers, collectors, distributors)
make use of a cold chain, resulting in
substantial lost revenue, lost time, wasted
water, and greenhouse gas emissions. In
terms of land use, Brun estimates that 11%
of Vietnam’s land is used to produce food
that is not consumed — an area roughly
the size of North Carolina. He summarised
Hamza Harti, country director of FM Logistic Vietnam, provided a detailed operational view of
food transport issues.
Catching up in-between sessions, Mark Mitchell of Supercool Asia Pacific (left) and Gerald
Cavalier, president of Tecnea.
COLD LINK AFRICA • November/December 2018
www.coldlinkafrica.co.za
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