In recent years, prices of freshly made bakery products have been surging. A netizen from Beijing complained that she spends at least 100 yuan ($13.9) for just a few baked goods every time she visits a bakery.

At the same time, bread and cakes that are not sold are often thrown away by bakeries and supermarkets at the end of the day, causing great waste.

The hashtag "How serious wastage is in bakeries" has gone viral online recently.

According to a report by Xinhua News Agency, one bakery in west China throws away unsold bread after 10 p.m. every day. The bread is sent to a facility that treats wet waste.

This bakery is not alone. In a bakery in Beijing's Fengtai District, staff members continue loading the shelves with freshly made bread even at 6 p.m. The bread that remains unsold at the end of the day is trashed.

In addition to unsold bakery products, baked goods that don't meet quality standards, such as those that are slightly overbaked or are misshapen are also thrown away.

A resident named Wen in Guiyang, Guizhou Province loves eating bread and sometimes sees bakeries throw away unsold bread at night."On the one hand is the high price, on the other hand is the huge wastage. Isn't there any way of striking a balance?" she said in an interview with Xinhua.

Business strategies

"Freshly baked bread lasts only 24 hours, while packaged bread lasts three days," explained a bakery manager in Wan'an, Jiangxi Province, in an interview with Xinhua.

The short shelf life means less food additives and a fresher taste. But it also increases the chance of wastage.

Some bakeries and supermarkets' business strategies have exacerbated wastage. "Some businesses have chosen to produce an excessive amount of bread to make the shelf look full so as to stimulate consumers' desire to purchase," Liu Xin, a researcher with the Research Institute of Market Economy of the Development Research Center of the State Council, told China Newsweek.

A manager of a chain supermarket told Xinhua that a shelf with a wide variety of products can spur consumers' desire to buy, while a shelf with little bread will leave consumers with fewer options and turn them away. That's why some bakeries are baking bread even late in the evening.

Many bakeries have chosen not to sell bread at a discounted price.

"Businesses have chosen to dump excess bread rather than sell them at a discounted price for fear that consumers will wait to buy discounted bread only, affecting daytime sales and profits," Liu said.

"To compensate for the increasing cost caused by the high proportion of bread wasted, the businesses will increase the price of their products to guarantee profits," Liu added.

Possible solutions

Since production of bakery products can never be precisely matched to sales, surplus bakery products are inevitable. However, finding better solutions to deal with surplus bakery products is worth more attention.

Shu Shenglai, a lawyer with Beijing Mengzhen Law Firm, told Xinhua the need to curb these wasteful practices is included in the Anti-Food Waste Law, passed by the National People's Congress, the top legislature, in 2021. According to the law, the market regulation and commerce departments of the local people's governments at or above the county level should contact the legal representatives of food producers and operators who seriously waste food in the process of food production and operation, and ensure they immediately rectify their practices.

Industry insiders say in addition to regulating business behavior by law, businesses should also be guided to improve their sense of social responsibility and adopt a sustainable development mentality to avoid excessive production and waste.

Food banks represent a possible solution to the problem. Food banks are nonprofit food distribution organizations that connect wholesome surplus food to people facing hunger. These organizations are common in Europe and the U.S.

However, in China, food banks are still in a nascent stage of development.

Li Bing, founder of Green Food Bank, a Shanghai-based nonprofit organization that distributes excess food to families with financial difficulties in local communities, told China Newsweek that her organization had attempted to cooperate with bakeries to distribute unsold products. However, as bakery products have a short shelf life, there is little time for volunteers to collect and distribute them. By the time the bread reaches the beneficiaries, it may have expired.

Li said that some businesses would rather use freshly made food for charity than donate unsold products which are nearing their expiry date for fear of damaging their reputation. That's part of the reason why bakery products are seldom donated. Additionally, many beneficiaries don't like bakery products, considering them to be expired food.

The more important concern is food safety. Li said checking the expiry date of food products is the only way for her organization to decide whether the food they donate is safe, as they don't have the capacity to carry out product testing. Therefore, her organization donates mostly well packaged rice, flour, oil and snacks.

Although challenges remain for donating excess food, a lot can be done to find a solution to food waste.

Liu suggested reducing excess food at the source. Businesses should use big data to predict consumer demand and plan production accordingly. Chain bakeries should share inventory between their outlets to reduce production and waste. Businesses can also strengthen the research and development of preservation technologies to extend the shelf life of bakery products.

Moreover, she suggested making full use of excess food. "First, regulatory standards regarding excess food should be formulated to guarantee the quality of such food. Also, the public should be educated to realize that well-regulated excess food is safe and can contribute to a low-carbon lifestyle," Liu said. 

(Print Edition Title: New Haste to End Bread Waste)

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson

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