How does the use of IoT in the food supply chain lever a food waste reduction?

Details

Supervisors

Swaen, Valérie

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] en ingénieur de gestion

Abstract

Addressing the global food wastage issue is of increasing importance in a context of climate change and global population growth. Considering that the global food system is accountable for almost one third of all human-driven greenhouse gas emissions, and that approximately one third of the global food production for human consumption gets wasted, the potential to reduce our environmental footprint in this field is significant. The food sector has slowly been transforming itself in line with the fast-paced technology changes and IoT became a milestone in the fight against wastage. This work researches where and why food is discarded along the supply chain. It summarizes the existing IoT applications tackling food waste in the different stages and their benefits. However, despite the promising market studies, the overall adoption rate of IoT-based solutions is still relatively low in the food sector. Through empirical research, the two following questions were addressed: What are the barriers to adoption and challenges during the implementation of IoT-based solutions in the food sector, and what solutions exist or are expected to be developed in the future to overcome these barriers. According to the interviewed experts, the prominent remaining barriers are the high cost, reliability, and controversies around data security and the environmental footprint of these solutions.