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Food Sustainability as a Global Challenge

As the global population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050,[1] the demand for food has never
been higher. As the challenge of feeding the population grows each year, engineers from different
disciplines collaborate to find new solutions and increase the efficiency of current solutions to meet such
challenges. It is judged that a sustainable food supply can be met through a general solution of either
growing more crops or preventing the wastage of food generated. It is the developments in technologies
in a large and small scale which will lead to the success of the solutions. Thus, an analysis of each solution
will be made.
Firstly, the shelf life of food can be increased to aid the sustainability of food supply. This in turn
reduces wastage due to short expiry dates of food. However, outdated techniques such as heating of
containers before sealing of food and adding more salt or sugar to food have to be improved through new
and better technologies. The general public have grown to be more health conscious and realized that
high salt or sugar content can lead to high blood pressure and more potently diabetes. New directions to
food shelf life such as using polydextrose, a high intensity sweetener which reduces water-activity in food
while also preventing total metabolism in the body and rosemary extract as a fat antioxidant with
enhanced protein functionality in meat.[2] From this, the continuous development of ways to lengthen
shelf life is an essential part of sustainable food supply.
Furthermore, the wastage of food can be further reduced through improved cold chain technology
in developing countries. According to figures from the UNs Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), up
to 40% of food produced in the developing world is wasted before it reaches the market. As an example,
despite India being the worlds largest banana producer holds just 0.3% of the global banana market.[3]
The use of cooling systems during the transport of harvest could notably reduce the spoilage of food.
Small scale technology such as using liquid air technologies engines which have zero emissions during
transportation of food.[4] However, the root of the issues do come from the lack of investment to scaling
up such technologies to aid farmers with such solutions. Consequently, the transport of food by keeping
them cold is as important as the alteration of the food into preserving its consumability.
Next, the view that we need to produce more food globally to ensure continuous food supply can be
achieved through precision agriculture. It is basically the use of machines to increase the efficiency and
yield of crops. This is achieved by identifying the specific needs of crops through spectroscopy and using
GPS to track the distribution of fertilisers. For example, the amounts of nitrogen used on crops were
based on the yield maps from the previous season but is now based on the measurements of crop canopy
status to understand the growth stages of the crop.[5] These kind of techniques have significantly
reduced damage to the environment like preventing the leakage of residual nitrogen and herbicides from
the soil to any nearby rivers. Hence, precision agriculture is vital to the sustainable food supply and
supplements the need to protect the environment with increased yield of crops.
In addition to increasing crop production, genetically modified (GM) crops are also used to generate
a more efficient food supply. Every organism has a specific code in the form of genes. The sequence of
the genes of crops are altered to produce crops that have more favourable characteristics like higher
yields and being resistant to herbicides. For example, in Romania, yield of herbicide tolerant soybeans
have increased on average by 31 percent.[6] In spite of the vast advantages, GM crops are also viewed
to be relatively unknown in terms of the long term effects of consumption although GM crops contain a
greater amount of nutrients. Ethical and religious issues related to the combination of genes of different

species inhibit the progress of researchers. Therefore, the contribution of GM crops to the sustainable
food challenge is highly significant but the problems associated with it must be overcome first.
For both the solutions of preventing wastage and growing more crops to work out in the long term,
governments need to take the initiative of recognizing the problems of food shortage and place an
emphasis of preventing it from happening. Developing countries need to build the right infrastructure for
the supply of food to reach their citizens. Government in some countries take the initiative of charging
higher taxes on unhealthy food[1] which promotes good eating habits. It is also not unknown that food
wastage do come from customers who have leftovers in restaurants. [7] Such simple cases are often
taken lightly as it does involve the responsibility of restaurants to provide the right portions for customers.
As a result, will the main solutions work if the governments and restaurants around the world fail to
recognize their responsibilities towards food and the well-being of people?
As a conclusion, the solutions of increasing crop production and preventing wastage are executed
through technologies in agriculture, biotechnology, transportation and food production. It is judged that
a change in mindset towards the importance of food sustainability is needed as the massive responsibility
of feeding the world falls on the entire population.

Reference
1. Helen T. 2015. Feeding the 11bn. tce(the chemical engineer), issue 893, November 2015, pp. 32-34
2. Frances
Katz.
24
February
2006.
Formulating
for
Increased
Shelf
Life.
http://www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2006/039/
3. Katharine Earley. 18 December 2014. How technology can prevent food waste in developing
countries. http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/dec/18/technology-preventwaste-food-developing-countries
4. Birmingham Energy Institute. December 2014. The prospects for liquid air cold chains in India.
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/news/The-prospects-for-liquid-air-cold-chains-inIndia.pdf
5. Professor
Richard
Godwin.
September
2015.
Precision
farming.
http://uclengins.org/external/precision-farming-explained-2/view/
6. Monsanto.
26
November
2012.
Do
GM
Crops
Increase
Yield?
http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/pages/do-gm-crops-increase-yield.aspx
7. Geoff King and Sara Giorgi. 28 March 2014. Food waste in restaurants: out of home, out of mind?
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/food-waste-eating-out-restaurants
Bibliography

Helen T. 2015. Feeding the 11bn. tce(the chemical engineer), issue 893, November 2015, pp. 32-34
Samuel K. Moore, Eliza Strickland. 20 May 2013. GM Foods Grow Up.
http://uclengins.org/external/gm-foods-grow-up/view/
Justine Alford. 26 August 2014. What You Need To Know About Genetically Modified Organisms.
http://www.iflscience.com/environment/myths-and-controversies-gmos-0

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