Article: Powder Extends Almost-Expired Food’s Shelf Life, Could Be Key To Ending Hunger

Topic: Waste

Each year people toss out billions of dollars in food waste. FoPo’s vision is to reduce food waste by extending the shelf life of food about to expire.

• The company, FoPo, receives cheap, nearly expired fruits and vegetables from grocery stores, processing them into a food powder, called FoPo, and selling that powder back to the markets to be consumed
• Farmers throw out billions of dollars in fruits & vegetables due to their outer appearance but the food is perfectly edible. Instead of throwing this into the landfills, they can be converted to food powder
• Shelf life can be extended from a couple of weeks to a couple of years, while still maintaining the same nutritional quality and taste
• The technology to freeze dry food is not new but it’s considered a premium food product. This new process of taking food that’s about to be discarded will lower the production costs, making it more affordable to feed people in low income countries

Stakeholders:

• FoPo company
• Food producers & retailers: farmers, supermarkets, restaurants
• Government food regulation agencies such as the FDA

Deployment

• Contract with grocery stores, supermarkets, and farmers to receive food that’s either about to be expired or is not up to the visual standard to be sold to customers
• Market the food product to engage community about the innovative waste reduction solution
• Scale up to mass production, sell back to grocery stores and restaurants