Ensuring Sustainable Safety With Food-Grade Materials
By Jack Shaw
Solving the climate change puzzle raises issues that many people haven’t previously considered. One is food safety. Products need to travel from farmers to your local grocery store free from contamination and rot. That means getting food to the store as quickly as possible and packing it in a manner that prevents germs and debris — both of which come at an environmental cost.
However, human ingenuity is hard at work devising solutions and finding ways to make operations greener and packaging less wasteful. Here’s what manufacturers, food transport companies and grocery stores are doing to ensure sustainable safety through food-grade materials, greening their footprint without sacrificing the quality of your dinner.
Reducing Single-Use Plastic and Embracing Alternatives
Imagine a bushel of apples grown in Washington and headed to Southern California. It crosses hundreds of miles in trains and trucks, possibly sharing cargo space with insects and bacteria. Contamination can mean losing the whole shipment to the landfill, where it contributes to methane emissions — how can those in the supply chain protect it?
For years, the answer was plastic wrap. However, this material takes hundreds of years to decompose and harms countless animals along the way, leading countries like France to ban its use for packaging fruits and veggies. Although the United States has no such federal ban, many consumers concerned about sustainability intentionally choose products with less plastic packaging.
Alternatives to Single-Use Plastics
Fortunately, eco-friendly alternatives to single-use plastics exist — the challenge is getting businesses to implement them. Three eco-friendly alternatives to single-use plastic include:
- Flexible pouches made from recyclable materials: These also feature a lower shipping weight, which reduces transportation emissions.
- Biodegradable plastic alternatives: Polylactic acids (PLAs) and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), for example, break down more readily in the environment and are made from plant-based materials instead of fossil fuels.
- Edible packaging: Packaging solutions made from seaweed or rice paper dissolve as you cook it.
Good old-fashioned tin cans, paper bags and cardboard boxes also offer alternatives to single-use plastic packaging. While the latter two aren’t quite as insect- or contamination-proof as metal or plastic, they work well for dry goods such as rice, noodles, cereals and legumes. The heavy shipping weight of glass makes it an unwieldy choice for long-distance shipping but perfect for filling up at retailers who sell flour and trail mix in bulk.
Improving Warehousing and Storage Facilities
Warehousing and storage facilities also play crucial roles in improving food sustainability and reducing waste. For example, food-grade safe warehouses must meet several criteria, including:
- Complying with local, regional and federal storage regulations.
- Monitoring and controlling temperatures throughout the facility.
- Following daily cleaning and sanitation processes.
One way that companies can ensure sustainable safety is by harnessing renewable energy to maintain their warehouse temperatures instead of relying on fossil fuels. Solar and geothermal energy immediately come to mind, but other organizations take a more creative but equally eco-friendly approach.
For example, one Kansas City warehouse makes use of KC’s underground caves. This facility uses far fewer utilities and resources than above-ground models. It uses the natural cool temperatures under the earth to maintain consistent temperatures with little need for AC.
Eliminating Unnecessary Waste at POS Retailers
Grocery store and restaurant workers have long noted issues with organizations they work for throwing out usable food because of outdated policies. This food waste does more than create unnecessary methane emissions in landfills — it means people who might otherwise eat instead go hungry.
California has taken the initiative to address this food waste. Senate Bill 1383 first affected grocery stores in 2022 and applies to various other venues, such as state cafeterias and hotels, in 2024. The law requires such entities to donate their unused food to food recovery organizations, such as food banks.
Food bank and grocery store partnerships aren’t new — what shifts is the legal quagmire such entities must go through to establish them. According to Patty O’Connor, Chief Operating Officer at Feeding San Diego, volunteers now pick up approved donations directly and bring them straight to needy communities, reducing waste by up to 76%.
Another up-and-coming improvement could make use of those food scraps that aren’t suitable for donation. Researchers at Sacramento State have developed a new “digester,” a machine that uses the same bacteria found in cow stomachs to break down such waste into two products. One is a liquid fertilizer to encourage new crop growth, and the other is methane, which is not released into the environment. Instead, it’s converted into electricity and stored in batteries.
Imagine powering such a machine via renewable energy. It takes the food scraps thrown away by grocery stores and restaurants, converting them into fertilizer and fuel to power devices, perhaps even an electric car. In a few years, this green fantasy could become a reality.
Sustainable Food Safety
One little-discussed problem in addressing climate change is preserving food safety while reducing emissions and plastic waste. Fortunately, scientists have worked hard to develop alternative, greener solutions. While the benefits of their implementation may take years to manifest, they offer hope for a continued safe environment on Earth.
Jack Shaw is the senior editor of the men’s lifestyle magazine Modded and has written extensively about electric vehicles, sustainable practices and maintaining a green lifestyle through your everyday actions. His writing can be found in Green Living Journal, Packaging Digest, EcoHotels and more. Connect with him via his LinkedIn.