Top tips for preventing food waste

Food waste is one of the biggest threats to the profit margins of food and drink retailers and convenience store operators.

Products with shorter shelf lives, limited availability and late deliveries caused by logistical issues like driver or fuel shortages and customs delays are increasing the amount of food that expires and goes to waste before sale.

The problem is not just confined to the UK. Globally, more than one-third of all food produced is wasted or spoiled. The retail sector is a key contributor to this problem, in the main because of  unsold food items that retailers throw away, and products that are damaged during production or transportation or spoil before they can be sold.

This places massive cost pressure on producers, who are passing their increases on to wholesalers, retailers and other hospitality and catering professionals. Ultimately, consumers suffer the most, which feeds into rising inflation and the current cost of living crisis, which is hitting many families hard.

In such an uncertain economic climate, C-Store operators need to do all they can to find cost savings and efficiencies. Reducing food waste and ensuring that you can sell more of the produce you purchase is a great way to keep your costs down and increase your profits.

Reliable refrigeration can help you achieve this. Here, we share our top tips for preventing food waste and the role that refrigeration plays in keeping your produce fresher for longer.

How to prevent food waste

Food waste is a massive issue in the UK. It’s estimated that around 10.2 million tonnes of food and drink, worth around £20bn, are wasted annually, equating to £500 a year for the average household. A lot of this food waste happens at retail level, where stores discard perfectly good food because it has passed its sell-by date or doesn’t look perfect.

Refrigeration can help prevent much of this food waste. By keeping food cold, stores can extend their shelf life and reduce the amount of food that needs to be thrown away.

In addition, refrigeration can help retailers keep their produce fresher for longer, which means they won’t have to discard as much due to spoilage.

As a food retailer or C-Store operator, you can do several things to reduce the amount of food and drink products that go to waste, including:

Refrigeration

While refrigeration isn’t the only solution to preventing commercial food waste, it is a key factor. To ensure your refrigeration is best serving your business, bear the following in mind.

Make sure your refrigerated storage and display units are set at the correct temperature. Maintaining a holding temperature range between -2°C and +2°C should be sufficient for most common chilled food types.

Don’t overstock your refrigerators, as this will help ensure that cool air circulates properly and prevent food from spoiling. Check your display fridges for spoilage regularly and discard any food that has gone bad.

Freeze any fresh, chilled items that are approaching their use-by or best before dates, so you can sell them as frozen. This will help reduce the amount of food that goes to waste.

Cleaning your refrigerator and ensuring the vents are clear and clutter-free will keep it working as it should for longer, help it maintain consistent cold temperatures, and keep your ingredients as fresh as possible.

Labelling

Labelling your products and keeping track of their purchase and expiry dates is essential, especially for fresh ingredients with a shorter shelf life. This ensures food safety and helps you take older food off your shelves before it spoils.

Stock rotation

Rotating your best-selling, most popular or fastest-moving products is essential to ensure they are at the front of your displays and get chosen and sold first. If you keep putting products with a shorter shelf life or use-by date at the back of your displays, they may spoil before they’re sold and contaminate your fresher stock. Training your staff on best practice is essential to ensure everyone understands their roles and responsibilities when it comes to rotating your stock.

Overstocking

Be careful of overstocking your display fridges, as this can affect their performance. As a general rule, refrigerators have to work harder to maintain food-safe holding temperatures when they’re fuller, leading to increased energy consumption and running costs. So, if your products have a longer shelf life and don’t need to go on display yet, hold them back in storage until you need to replenish your displays.

Maintenance and calibration

Make sure your refrigerator is properly calibrated and working correctly. This ensures that the temperature of the product you are selling will be the same as it is supposed to be. A regular check-up can ensure that your cooling system is operating correctly, so your food stays at the right temperatures and is safe to eat. It’s also important to regularly service your refrigerator to ensure it is working at peak performance and keep on top of any maintenance issues.

How can TEFCOLD help?

With decades of experience at the cutting edge of the commercial refrigeration industry, we work closely with the world’s leading equipment manufacturers to source and develop the latest products and technologies and bring them to the UK. All the products we supply are known for their performance, reliability and efficiency to help our customers streamline their operations, optimise their workspaces and create dazzling food and drink displays. 

We offer an extensive range of commercial refrigerated display cases appealing to our customers’ budget and operational requirements throughout the UK and Ireland. With an unrivalled stockholding, we can get most of our products to customers quickly, even at short notice, to help you keep your business running smoothly. 

Our products are backed by exceptional installation, customer service and aftersales support, with your satisfaction our number one priority. If you’re interested in finding out more about how our supermarket and convenience store refrigeration can enhance your retail business, call us on 01332 850090 or email sales@tefcold.co.uk. We’d love to hear from you.