Transforming rescued food into shelf stable meals
The challenge
FareShare utilise rescued food in the development of nutritious, complete meals for vulnerable population groups. Food waste typically has a shelf life of a few days. Due to limited infrastructure and required geographical reach, it is difficult to transport/store fresh and frozen foods in remote communities and those affected by natural disasters. Therefore, there are limited nutrient dense, complete meal options available for people in these areas. There is potential to rescue up to 150,000kg food per annum for use in long shelf-life meals.
Our plan
Fareshare, in collaboration with Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and Fight Food Waste CRC, will develop and optimise formulations and processes to enable the production of nutritious, complete meals with extended shelf life. Product formulations will be developed and optimised, alongside process development and refinement for both retort and freeze drying. The nutrient profile of meals will be monitored through processing, and end products will be assessed from a physicochemical, microbiological and sensory perspective.
The four key aims of this project are:
1. Development of production methodology for freeze-dried and retort meals.
2. Development of flexible, robust and nutritious formulations.
3. Shelf-life validation of end products – physicochemical, microbiological and sensory.
4. Deliver culturally appropriate sensory training for implementation in remote communities.
