60 | Agricultural Innovation in Developing East Asia
BOX 5.10
Recent innovations to improve product traceability and food safety testing Antifraud solutions. Demand has increased for anticounterfeit packaging, which consists of smart packaging such as radio-frequency identification technology, near field communications, and holograms to enhance food security. Radio-frequency identification tags can be used by companies to track food products from the factory to the supermarket. Food diagnostic technology. Food safety testing services cover a wide range of testing methods for different strains of pathogens. For instance, polymerase-chain-reaction testing identifies major pathogens such as E. coli. Service providers can also check for allergens on behalf of food companies. These technologies are used mainly in the European Union and North America. Antibacterial proteins. Certain proteins have antibacterial properties that neutralize produced food that is prone to infection. Such applications can target specific strains of bacteria and improve food safety at the mass market level. AvidBiotics is currently developing Purocin, which has food safety applications including against salmonella. Mobile-based system for tracking products. The Shouguang Municipal Bureau of Agriculture in
China has created a quality tracing system for vegetables, which farmers can use for free. Using a mobile app to scan the quick response or QR code, customers can access information such as cultivation base, sampling time, results of pesticide concentration, test planting (pruning, splitting, and watering), harvest, and sales transaction data (ADB 2018). Sensors, such as near-infrared spectrometers and hyperspectral imaging. These sensors are increasingly being used to conduct nondestructive analysis of food. This application combines spectroscopy with computer vision. Images are analyzed via the cloud using machine learning and imaging-processing algorithms to interpret the data, resulting in actionable information such as quality, safety, and authenticity of food. The information generated from scanning technologies can determine the freshness of food and could replace the need for sell-by and use-by dates. If sensing technologies could reach 30–50 percent of the consumers in developed markets, domestic food waste could decline by 10–20 million tons by 2030. At present, sensors are not used on a large scale (WEF 2018).
Alternative packaging The food and beverage packaging industry is undergoing a revolution to respond to consumers’ and society’s needs. Apart from catching the eye of consumers, packaging is expected to protect the product, prolong the shelf-life of fresh produce (for example, through use of modified atmosphere packaging), and satisfy various requirements for traceability, sustainability, and reduction in food loss and waste (FLW) (see box 5.10). Over the years, plastic use in food and beverage has increased in parallel with urbanization and consumer demand for convenience, food safety, freshness, and e-commerce (World Bank 2019a). Consumer concern about plastics has grown considerably, however. Although using recyclable materials for packaging is one way to address sustainability concerns, some companies ensure their packaging is made from biodegradable or compostable materials11 (Burrellon 2019; European BioPlastics 2018; Kemira 2020). Advanced technologies, such as ultrasonic sealing, can also be used to minimize seal sizes, which in turn reduces material use. Today, alternatives to plastic packaging (for example, fiber and plant-based materials) and bioplastics12 (for example, bio-based, biodegradables, and fiber composites) are already in use or in various stages of development in many high-income countries (HICs) (European BioPlastics 2018; Kemira 2020; Korhonen, Koskivaara, and Toppinen, n.d).
