Analysis of Global Retail Food Waste: Proposal for Developing a Mobile Application

Food supply chains refer to complex processes describing how food arrives from farm to fork. Inevitably, food is wasted and lost over the supply chain, with a clear distinction between the two. The purpose of this paper is twofold. To begin, an analysis of multiple relevant papers is presented in a brief literature review, identifying possible causes, solutions and the economics of the food supply chain. Based on information from these papers, a proposal was drafted for addressing food loss at the retail level. This proposal comes in the form of a mobile application facilitating retailers to sell suboptimal products at a discounted rate. Key beneficiaries include food insecure people. Retailers would be incentivized to offer such discounts to promote greater profitability, reduce food waste, and improve internal environmental, social and governance goals. Limitations on the proposal’s effectiveness were described along with recommendations for further research.