Episode 67: Reducing Global Food Waste with Aidan Mouat
Sep 25, 2019
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The Produce Moms Podcast
“Companies like Hazel Tech are a part of the solution to the global food waste crisis.” – Lori Taylor (17:26 – 17:33)
Aidan Mouat is the CEO and co-founder of Hazel Technologies, a company passionate about saving resources and reducing global food waste, and they’re doing it in an eco-friendly way.
Food Waste is a Global Crisis
How can we produce enough food to give everyone around the world enough calories and adequate nutrition? With advancements in technology and agriculture, it’s still troubling to hear that there are people who don’t have access to enough food.
“Even though agriculture touches everyone on the planet, hasn’t been much progress in reducing pollution and waste when compared to other industries.” – Aidan Mouat (2:02 – 2:26)
But did you know we already produce enough food to give everyone enough nutrition? The issue isn’t production, it’s the amount of food goes to waste. Approximately one-third of all the produce that’s harvested perishes before reaching the local market, the grocery store, or your dinner table.
Hazel Technologies Offers a Solution
Hazel Technologies is a Chicago-based company developing biotechnology for reducing waste in the agricultural supply chain. This extends the shelf life of perishable produce. The company is dedicated to solving the problem of food waste in an eco-friendly and sustainable way. Hazel Technologies is funded by the USDA, and they’re growing fast.
Hazel Technologies creates active packaging inserts that can be inserted into standard commercial packaging for produce. They’re placed in big produce storage units as they’re transported through the supply chain from the growers to the retail stores. While in the box, the insert time releases active materials into the atmosphere to increase the shelf life of the produce, significantly reducing the amount of food that is unnecessarily wasted each day.
The technology works with items like apples, pears, cherries, melons, okra, leafy greens, herbs, and even avocados. Hazel Tech plans to bring their products all the way to your kitchen countertops and refrigerators. How awesome would it be if you could eat half an avocado and store the rest with a tiny sachet and keep it fresh for days?
That’s precisely what they’re working on. Hazel Technologies recognizes that if they want to spread their technology through every level of the supply chain to extend shelf life for perishables, then they need to have a product that works at every level, from the grower to the consumer.
“If we want to reduce waste throughout the supply chain, from the growers to the consumers, then we need to have a product that works at every part of that chain.” – Aidan Mouat (15:17 – 15:30)
Food waste is a global crisis. Millions of people around the globe don’t have access to adequate nutrition, causing significant harm to the economy. Hazel Technologies wants to bring waste down to zero through innovative solutions, and we can only hope more companies will follow their lead.
How To Get Involved
- Join The Produce Moms Group on Facebook and continue the discussion every week!
- Check out Hazel Tech!
- Share this episode with your family and friends!
[bctt tweet=”Aidan Mouat is the CEO & co-founder of @HazelTechUSA, a company passionate about saving resources & reducing global food waste in an eco-friendly way. He joins Lori on this week’s episode of #TheProduceMoms #Podcast ” username=”@theproducemom”]
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