Repeatloaf Upcycling in 24 hours
Did you know that meat has a carbon footprint that is 50 times higher than the CO2 emissions of bread? Fifty times sounds like a lot and makes the bread foodprint seem less serious, but does this relieve and excuse us of our obligation to work on reducing emissions in the bakery business?
Not at all…
Did you know that bread is number one on the list of food waste? The waste figures are staggering. It is not easy to get an overview of the numbers of global food waste, but according to the European Union report (european-union.europa.eu), 15% of the total bread production in Europe is not consumed. This accounts for 15 billion kg of bread per year. Since Europe is home to less than 6% of the world’s total population, what does this mean for the total volume of bread waste? It is certainly much more than very much.
“If we can find a solution for the 15% of food waste in bread production, it would help us enormously in our efforts for more responsible consumption and production.”
By the way… the majority of emissions occur before production in the bakery has even started. The cultivation of grains and raw material production accounts for more than 60% (due to fertilization and deforestation). Together with the baking process (mainly energy consumption), another 26% is added. Saving energy in the bakery seriously contributes to emission reductions (think of Vacuum Cooling & Baking Solutions, which significantly reduces oven energy consumption). However, if we can find a solution for the 15% of waste, it would seriously help us in our pursuit of achieving the goals of more responsible consumption and production, as set in SDG 12.
Repeatloaf is an initiative from the Verhoeven Bakery Equipment Family. It offers an automated solution to create a fermented powder with an increased shelf life from return bread. The fermentation process takes less than 24 hours. The fermented powder is suitable as an alternative to flour, for use as decoration, or to enrich the flavor of baked products.
The final Repeatloaf machine concept will be launched at the upcoming iba.TRADE FAIR exhibition in Düsseldorf.
