Corporate

ZUMEX® commercial juicers are an effective solution to combat food waste

Food waste is an “inefficiency” in the food chain, with economic, social and environmental consequences. In response to food wastage, Spain passed the Food Waste Law (Ley de Prevención de las Pérdidas y el Desperdicio Alimentario“), which encourages good practices throughout all stages of the chain, from the initial food harvesting and collection phase, to consumption in homes, bars or restaurants.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that “approximately 30% of the food produced in the world is wasted, equivalent to about 1.3 billion tonnes per year”, and that “almost half of this wastage occurs at the post-harvest and retail stage”.

In Spain, waste is highest among fresh produce, such as fruit (30.8% of the wasted volume of unused products), followed by vegetables (13.5%) and dairy products (12.6%).

How does ZUMEX® contribute to the fight against food waste?

At ZUMEX® we have been helping to minimise food waste for years through our juicing solutions.

Our commercial juicers have proven to be an effective tool to promote fruit and vegetable consumption in the form of juice, and to avoid food waste of millions of fruits and vegetables considered as “ugly foods”, rejected in the market for aesthetic reasons.

ZUMEX® solutions help supermarkets, restaurants, cafeterias and schools to comply with regulations to address food waste.

  • Unsold foodstuffs in optimal conditions for consumption should be processed into juices and jams.
  • Retail establishments should encourage such sale lines for products that are considered “ugly”, “imperfect” or “unaesthetic” and can be consumed.
  • Schools, nursing homes and hospitals with catering or canteen services should also have food waste prevention programs in place.

By using our commercial juicers such as the Speed and Versatile Pro range, our Multifruit juice extractor or the Cold Press Zumex Mastery solution, companies will be able to comply with these measures and transform unsold fresh food into juices and jams. These solutions also encourage the sale of “ugly food” products in retail establishments.

In addition, our new generation of Top Performance commercial juicers deliver maximum performance and profit, getting more juice per squeezed fruit.

  • Undisputed leader in performance
  • Up to 10% savings on fruit costs
  • Increased profits per liter of juice squeezed

A global reality

Germany, France and Italy are examples of countries where a law was passed prior to the Spanish law.

In the case of France, the law “anti-gaspillage” regulates supermarkets which are required by law to have an agreement with various charities to donate unsold food in good condition, and failure to comply is punishable.

Intermarché in France “is turning fruit and veg that’s too ugly to sell into a range of new products.”. More info here

In Italy, the “Zero Waste” law seeks to encourage food donation by making it easier to donate food.

The German Ministry of Agriculture has stated the goal of halving food waste by 2030, so they have launched a new initiative: “toogoodforthebin”, which aims to change people’s mindset about food waste with information.

Regardless of national laws, this is an “ethical imperative” for all states globally, and is part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.