Business and Innovation Projects. News - 16 June 2021

Food Innovation Centre highlights the issue of food waste

The Food Innovation Centre, based at the University of Nottingham, has turned the spotlight on the issue of food waste in the latest in a series of factsheets.

One third of all food produced globally ends up as waste, which equates to millions of tonnes of food wasted around the world every year. The new factsheet series is designed to help SMEs in the food and drink sector to reduce their waste by including useful information on how to calculate the cost of waste, supply chain risks, environmental, legal and policy issues.

It lists five key areas for businesses to target and five key actions to tackle food waste.

Richard Worrall, who runs the Driving Research and Innovation project at the Food Innovation Centre, said: “The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that food waste causes a global economic, environmental and social cost of $2.6 trillion a year and is responsible for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

“Food waste is a huge issue and it’s something that the Food Innovation Centre is keen to help reduce. We’ve worked on a number of projects with SMEs to help them cut their waste or to make new products from by-products that would otherwise have gone to waste.”

One SME that has taken advantage of the free support offered to Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire food and drink businesses by the Food Innovation Centre is Nottingham-based SPG Innovation, which specialises in the commercialisation of Intellectual Property in food, life sciences and agritech.

Innovation manager at SPG Innovation, Rebecca McDowell, said: “It’s great to have a resource like the Food Innovation Centre available to help us and other SMEs with key issues such as waste reduction.”

The Food Innovation Centre

The Food Innovation Centre, based at the Bioenergy and Brewing Science building at the University of Nottingham’s Sutton Bonington campus, offers free support to eligible small and medium-sized food and drink manufacturers in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire under the Driving Research and Innovation project – a three-year project that runs until the end of December 2022.

Part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) via the D2N2 LEP, the project is run by the Food Innovation Centre at the University of Nottingham School of Biosciences, in conjunction with the Chemistry Innovation Laboratory in the School of Chemistry and Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and in association with the Midlands Engine. It is a unique collaboration project that provides free specialist innovation support to small and medium-sized businesses.

It has provided free support to almost 200 small and medium-sized food and drink manufacturers in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire so far, with new product development, processing, packaging and sustainability just some of the expertise they’ve shared.

For more information about the Food Innovation Centre, to access the Food Waste Management and Valorisation factsheet, or to get in touch with experts who can help with the issue, visit their website.

Latest News & Events

19 July 2024

Local business support boosted with launch of Early Stage Angel Investment Fund

Read Article

21 June 2024

Spotlight on our Board: Scott Knowles, Chief Executive, East Midlands Chamber, on the D2N2 LEP transition and East Midlands devolution

Read Article

11 June 2024

The D2N2 LEP staff team joins the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA)

Read Article

07 June 2024

Becky Rix, Marketing Director at Roadgas, explains why Roadgas is a proud member of the East Midlands Hydrogen Consortium

Read Article

05 June 2024

Spotlight on our Board: D2N2 LEP Board Member Natasha Johnson, Director of Partnerships at Global Entrepreneurs UK

Read Article

05 June 2024

Free Expert Business Advice and Support available through East Midlands Chamber’s Accelerator Programme

Read Article

03 June 2024

Spotlight on our Board: D2N2 LEP Board Member Professor Edward Peck CBE, Vice-Chancellor and President, Nottingham Trent University

Read Article

24 May 2024

Focus on the East Midlands: our time is NOW!

Read Article

24 May 2024

D2N2 LEP CEO, Will Morlidge, shares our East Midlands Hydrogen ambitions at UKREiiF

Read Article

24 May 2024

East Midlands Freeport and Freeport East Sign Green Freight Corridor Initiative at UKREiiF

Read Article

Get in touch.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up
Address

D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership
8 Experian Way
Nottingham
Nottinghamshire
NG2 1EP

Social

Our Partners