How Food Processing Can Reduce FLW with Vivian Maduekeh

Our latest episode is with Vivian Maduekeh, Program Director at Partners in Food Solutions and Managing Principal of Food Health Systems Advisory. Together, we discuss the negative connotations around food processing and the important role food processing can play in reducing food loss and waste. We’ll dive deeper into the context in Africa and discuss the specific challenges and opportunities for food processors on the continent to play their role in reducing food loss and waste. 

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There’s no time to waste!

Transcript

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welcome to USA's kitchen sink a food loss and waste podcast I'm your producer ni laan 30 to  40% of the food that is produced is either lost or wasted contributing to a global food crisis  with over 800 million going to bed hungry listen on on as USA experts speak with researchers and  development professionals to explore solutions to this critical issue that Demands a kitchen sink  approach when it comes to climate food security and food system sustainability we have no time to waste thanks for tuning in to USA's kitchen snc a food loss and waste podcast my name is  narian senior food safety adviser and producer of the kitchen sink today I will be speaking  with Vivien mad program director at partners and Food Solutions and managing principal of  food Health Systems advisory together we will discuss what food processing is and  the role it has to play in reducing food loss and waste we'll dive a little deeper  into the context in Africa and discuss the specific challenges and opportunities  for food processors on the continent to play their role in reducing food loss and waste  welcome Vivian please introduce yourself thank you NAA I'm Vivian mad and I am a  program director at Partners In Food Solutions I am also the managing partner food Health Systems  advisory my background is in food science and technology and also food policy and the bulk  of my career has been spent on integrating policies and practices across Food Systems  climate and nutrition and when I say integration I mean finding ways or solutions that could benefit  climate economic growth but also nutrition and right now I'm leading a large program um across 11  countries in eastn West Africa focused on certain value chains such as rise Horticulture and animal  Source foods and these are value chains that are important both for nutrition and economy um on the  continent but also these are value chains that face the highest amounts of food loss and waste  up to 60% and so my role is to see how food processing can um not just support food security  but also reduce food loss way so I'm eager to to share a little bit more on this podcast today  thank you perfect well as as you alluded to and as I mentioned in my introduction we'll be talking  about food processing and food processors during today's episode so I want to start by addressing  the elephant in the room because there are a lot of misconceptions and negative connotations  with processed foods so can you explain what food processing is what are the benefits and  the role it can play in reducing food loss and waste certainly ni I'm glad you use the word  misconception so in simple terms food processing is the transformation of raw food ingredients into  edible food products that are safe nutrition and and nutritious and convenient to consume  and this can range from simple processes such as drying or canning or even complex processes such  as fermentation pasteurization and fortification and and based on this explanation you would see  that food processing is has broad benefits both for extending the shelf life of products but also  making products palatable right for example none of us can eat raw Patty rice you need to polish  that rice meal that rice to be able to to consume the food product so um food processing when it  comes to food loss and waste can help us preserve foods for longer and reduce waste um I appreciate  the fact that there are several concerns about um Ultra processed foods which are usually  high in salt and sugar on this on this podcast I would like to explain the distinction there is a  distinction between processing and Ultra processed foods now Ultra processed food takes it one step  further from processing where you now start adding uh various Commodities and additives that are far  away way far away from the original um original raw ingredients so whilst there is that concern  and whilst people should be aware of the negative um health issues with ultra processed foods we  shouldn't lose out on the positive benefits that food processing has for both nutrition but also  reducing food loss and waste absolutely I think um people often Overlook the fact that food  processing really exists on a range and when you think of food processing what comes to mind are  those ultr processed foods that people want to avoid and that are unhealthy and we're trying to  reduce from our diets but I think people often forget that there are a lot of foods that are  technically considered processed that we like to you mentioned fermenting I mean people love to  include these kind of foods in in their diets as you said it increase shelf life um it can prevent  nutrient loss so there are a lot of benefits to to food processing and that's one of the goals I  think of this of today's episode is is to to share that um you as I said there's a range with food  processing and there are some definite benefits so thank you for for clearing that up um and so  now that now that we've addressed the the food process processing elevant elephant um I want to  take a closer closer look at the African context can you share the unique challenges to reducing  food loss and waste in Africa and how do we get African food processors to step into their role of  reducing food loss and waste yeah sure uh reducing food loss and waste is a global challenge like we  all know uh yet in Africa the continent presents both unique challenges but also opportunities uh  when I use the word opportunities I I mean there is lots of potential for food processors to step  into the growing demand for processed foods both locally and um internationally and so as these  markets open up there is room for processors to process the raw um diverse uh ingredients  available on the continent however to enable them realize these opportunities um we need to support  them with the challenges that they face including access to capital I know that's usually the first  one because you need the right Capital to procure the right technology and to scale so access to  the right kind of financing at the moment most of the small and mediumsized companies that I  have worked with um find access to Investments and capital as a challenge the second one is  access to the right kind of Technology um for example if you need a pasteurizer you need the  right type of pasteurizer as a food processor to help you minimize the losses that could come from  spoilage we also need uh um uh most processors also have lack of technical knowhow coming from  the education but also other systemic issues such as Market fragmentation for those who have worked  on the continent they can attest to the fact that the market is quite fragmented getting products  from the farmers to the processors and then to the consumers that disjointed uh Market can  actually pose a challenge to food loss and waste at the same time we have infrastructure about 40%  of most of the losses in fruits and vegetables on the continent happens during Transportation  so imagine a bad road that would have typically taken two hours from point A to point B because  of the the the the road it could take as much as 12 hours 24 hours and because these products are  perishable the bad roads can actually affect um the the the shelf life of these products  so these are unique challenges on the continent as much as the processes cannot control everything  there are aspect aspects that they can control therefore to get them on board it boils down  to the money it boils down to the economic case how can we help them see that focusing  on reducing food loss on waste can help them with cost savings can help them increase your  profitability and for me my Mantra is whatever you cannot measure you cannot reduce so as part  of helping them see that economic case it means supporting them with tracking tools helping them  see how they can reduce it providing them with technical support So now that they've tracked  and measured providing them with technical knowhow on how to reduce um the losses in their process  so for me that that's what it boils down to um understanding that food processors have a role  to play and they are incentivized when you help them see the economic case for reducing their l wow viian I I love that response you hit on on so many themes that I think we reiterate throughout  the podcast you really brought a Food Systems approach to your response mentioning things  like we can't view things in isolation we have to think about Market leakages we have to think  about infrastructure uh you mentioned making the economic case that is something that has come up  repeatedly on on the podcast because of course Money Talks um and of course you mentioned the  the importance of measurement that is something that comes up quite frequently in conversations  around food loss and waste so definitely an area for further Improvement and and further  exploration so I appreciate you bringing those themes to to top of mind you mentioned um the  importance of access to Capital and alongside that access to technology and and capacity building  for food processors and it reminds me of of the work that USA is doing through our food loss and  waste accelerator to partner with with small and mediumsized Enterprises in what we call our food  loss and waste upstander countries in southeast uh Asia and southern Africa to partner with them to  provide catalytic funding to scale innovations that reduce food loss and waste many of which  involve food processing whether that's uh taking previously wasted food items and upcycling that  into a new product there's a lot of drying and freezing of fruit and vegetable products and then  along with that there's the need to create the market uh for those products and to raise consumer  awareness of of the benefits of these products and that they they are available and they're safe  and uh they're nutritious so I know that you you also work with a lot of really great partners and  companies doing great work so I'm curious if you have any case studies to share I have so many so  many but I'm going to share maybe one or two um I remember when I like I told you my background  is in food science and technology when I served as the um food technology and program program  manager for partners in Food Solutions there was this Dairy company in Nigeria that we were  working with and this da company had a fantastic commitment to reduce food losses for the local  fani women women that were producing milk so they would usually off take the milk from them  process it into yogurt and then deliver to the market um now there was a season where they were  having about 30% of the products that they sent to the market returned to them and by the time  it returns to them it would have gone through Browning changes in color and texture and this  kept happening it didn't have an impact only on food safety but also on their market share right  and so when we started working with them we helped them realize the the the impact of these  returns on their on their bottom line but also on their market dominance we started helping them to  track the returns for every return we did what they call root CA analysis now I must preface  by saying that this this was a company that we initially supported to do food safety training  and they didn't take it as seriously until we helped them connect the losses to their food  safety practices to their process control and that was where we got the attention they were now more  willing to work with me at that time as a food technologist work with me um we helped them with  uh their storage practices we helped them with their pasturization temperature they bottling  and after working with them for about three months there was a significant difference not only in the  food safety and spoilage but also in the quality of the product in their staff Morale on their  bottom line and so what this demonstrates is that when you bring it down to the economic case you  get the attention I also use another example of um and this is not just with spoilage this is  helping food processors see opportunities in other products now with rice uh processing as we know um  for some of those who process um rice into white rice there is an opportunity to utilize the husk  and so what we are now doing is trying to look at how the rice Millers can start processing  brown rice now brown rice has been shown to be nutritionally superior to Polished white rice now  what this does is it provides nutrition for the consumers it reduces the weight uh what will call  the um productivity or the weight per production it it increases the weight per production so if a  processor was to lose let's say 10% of their produ or 6% of their production as um as the hall or  the husk we help them reduce that and we all also help them reduce the losses that could come from  send sending these products as um as non-f food products and also we help them um with the market  share so for me this is a situation where you're bundling health impact of eating whole grains with  food loss and waste it's a unique it's a unique case study but it's a case study that even now  we are scaling through the Fortified whole grain Alliance trying to see how rice Millers  can produce more and more brown rice with less um food losses in their process um at the same  time we're also working with them trying to see what are the various points in their processing  where they're getting most of the the wastage and this can be in the polishing process in the  mealing process and we're therefore working with them to make sure that um we reduce losses and get  that process efficiency to as high as 60% so that's um that's what I'm able to share um like I  mentioned it BS down to the economic case and when you can help food processors see where the money  is they they they commit that's that's what I've learned over the years absolutely I I appreciate  you mentioning this bundled approach and we talk a lot about the triple wins of of food loss and  waste this ability to positive impacts on climate on nutrition and food security and on economic  development by reducing food loss and waste and as you said I think a lot of this is is finding the  right argument to make to your particular audience and often with the private sector that argument  is the the economic case and I I love that you brought up food safety it's obviously very closely  linked with food loss and waste we say um at us say that safe food is saved food so thank you for  making that that connection um and and yeah we we found that in a lot of our conversations making  that economic case is is what really incentivizes the the private sector to start making changes I  think some of the conversations I've been having recently on other episodes is what's what is the  case to make to Consumers we there's obvious an economic case to be made there a lot of people are  feeling the pain when they go into the grocery store the incentive is there to buy less to be  more intentional about what you're purchasing um but I think the the consumer case is is also  interesting I I think there's there's more than the economic case that needs to be made I think  humanizing um food loss and waste and bringing in that personal perspective is is really key  I know the the recent food waste index report got a lot of attention for the just huge amount  of meals that are going to waste every single day and I I'm glad that that report is getting  a lot of attention because I think some of those arguments will be compelling to to Consumers but  definitely money talks for for businesses and that applies to food processors so I appreciate you you  reiterating that that economic argument on today's episode and sharing some of those really great um  great case studies I I know Vivian I've asked you to participate in our food loss and waste theme  month on AGR link so I'm hoping we can dive deeper into some more examples of some of the great work  that you're doing and I really appreciate you taking the time to speak with us today yeah for  sure thank you thank you Nia thank you very much there was a reason why we focused on what can the  food processor control versus policies right these policies affect them but in this episode we're  focusing on what can the food processor truly control and how can we incentivize them to take actions thank you for tuning in to us A's Kitchen Sink this podcast was produced by  nian and is organized by the USA food loss and waste community of practice co-chairs  Ahmed kabon and Anne vaugh additional Thanks goes to feed the future the US government  Global Food security initiative and the USA Center for nutrition