NIFA-Supported Research Innovates to Reduce Meals Decline and Waste: An Job interview with Robert Nowierski

Jan 12, 2021

The Nationwide Institute of Foodstuff and Agriculture (NIFA) is USDA’s extramural science-funding agency in USDA’s Study, Schooling, and Economics mission space. What is NIFA performing to assist minimize meals decline and waste? This job interview attributes insights from Robert Nowierski, NIFA, Countrywide Program Leader for Bio-Based mostly Pest Management.

Buzby: For people who really do not know substantially about NIFA, can you make sure you share the massive image?

Nowierski: Positive, NIFA’s mission is to devote in and progress agricultural analysis, education and learning, and extension to solve societal difficulties, these as how to decrease food reduction on the farm and food items squander afterwards in the source chain, this kind of as extending the shelf lifetime of perishable meals. NIFA does not conduct exploration, training, and extension pursuits, but we enable help them at countrywide, regional, condition, and nearby degrees, even though guiding national leadership and tactic in these important precedence spots. We lover with the Land-Grant University Method, as well as other public colleges and universities, government businesses, and non-public and nonprofit corporations to locate science-driven remedies to the problems going through food items, agriculture, and the surroundings and troubles impacting each rural and city communities throughout the nation.

Buzby: Are these partnerships all via grants?

Nowierski: NIFA supports study, education and learning, and extension routines at spouse institutions by means of aggressive grants, potential funds, and interagency agreements. Noncompetitive potential cash are authorized by Congress to assist investigate, schooling, or extension pursuits at land-grant establishments on subjects of value to a point out or area, in alignment with USDA strategic aims. 1 instance of a NIFA-funded analysis job, which exhibits our early recognition of the food items reduction and squander (FLW) difficulty, was a 2014 meeting held by the College of Pennsylvania titled, “The Final Foods Mile: A Convention on Food stuff Losses and Meals Squander In the United States.” The conclusions had been later on printed in the reserve “Food Squander Across the Offer Chain: a U.S. Point of view on a World-wide Difficulty,” which is accessible on the internet for totally free.

Buzby: Why is innovation so important for cutting down meals decline and waste?

Nowierski: Innovation will be essential in assisting to mitigate our food stuff decline and squander challenges in the foreseeable future. Progressive approaches in investigation, schooling and extension will be essential to decrease foods loss and waste from farm to desk. And and lastly, pursuing EPA’s meals restoration hierarchy will help lessen foodstuff decline and squander: lowering the quantity of surplus food stuff donating excessive food stuff diverting food stuff scraps to animal feed applying squander oils for rendering and gas conversion and food items scraps for digestion to get better electricity composting, and applying landfill and incineration as a past vacation resort.

Buzby: When contemplating about the overall farm-to-table food stuff offer chain, how has NIFA supported improvements that lessen food items reduction and waste?

Nowierski: NIFA has helped assist innovations that lower food items decline and squander through its competitive grant plans and capacity-funded tasks. In reaction to this challenge, NIFA created a Food Loss and Squander Template that delivers a roadmap for which NIFA grant plans could help handle food items losses and squander at the distinctive food items supply chain levels, these as production postharvest, managing and storage processing and packaging distribution and retail and foodservice and buyer losses.

Buzby: What are some illustrations of NIFA-funded investigate and improvements aimed at reducing meals decline and squander?

Nowierski: 1 innovation is what we call ‘functional ice” (‘Functional Ice’ Demonstrates Foods Field How to Retain Amazing and Lessen Decline), which is an additive-increased product or service that extends foods storage and shelf-everyday living by producing reduce temperatures and melting more slowly but surely than conventional water-based ice. Supplemental characteristics allow the gradual-launch of antimicrobial options that secure uncooked food by eradicating the establish-up of spoilage-causing germs. It has been demonstrated to improve shelf lifetime of tray-packed poultry thigh meat by a single to two days. The scientists are now investigating its opportunity for commercialization, this kind of as by hunting at the ideal means to integrate the know-how into professional ice-creating devices.

A further NIFA-funded innovation under development, but showing wonderful assure, is a highly delicate and distinct examination strip for important foodborne pathogens (e.g., Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica). This know-how substantially decreases the time essential to exam pathogens in foods from 24-72 hrs to about 30 minutes. The time saved to exam pathogens might minimize the unfold of pathogens and decrease foodstuff decline and waste.

Buzby: I realize NIFA supplies funds to modest enterprises to assistance them produce and market place new technologies – and this could help food items squander-linked technologies and products and solutions appear to market place. Inform us more.

Nowierski: Indeed, the Little Business enterprise Innovation Research Program (SBIR) from NIFA delivers support to tiny corporations by way of the Stage I Software for them to display proof of thought of an thought that could be perhaps commercialized (funding stage $100,000). NIFA also supplies Section II Plan funding for the effective Phase I candidates to just take their plan to commercialization (funding degree $600,000).

Buzby: So smaller companies with meals squander reduction systems really should get to out to NIFA to discover more about how USDA might aid them carry individuals products and solutions to market place. That potential customers me to my up coming concern. Why is NIFA-supported investigate an critical compliment to non-public-sector analysis?

Nowierski: The meals loss and squander situation is these a sophisticated problem that it will consider analysis investments and accomplishments from the two community and personal sectors to support take care of.

Buzby: How do you see foodstuff decline and waste actions in relation to environmental sustainability?

Nowierski: It is worthy of noting that in 2016, NIFA’s Pilot Science Consequence Committee (SOC) on Environmental Sustainability (led by Nowierski) analyzed NIFA investments throughout the meals decline and waste provide chain throughout 2009-15. This committee identified foodstuff decline and squander as the top science precedence that by added investments, could help handle environmental sustainability.

Buzby: Can you share a couple of a lot more illustrations of exploration that NIFA has underway that show assure for cutting down foods reduction and waste?

Nowierski: Sure, we have all types of interesting and promising analysis underway at the various farm-to-table phases of the meals provide. Some studies focus on enhancing packaging, these kinds of as a little packaging insert or sachet that slows down create ageing and deterioration and boosts shelf-lifetime by at least 40 per cent. For illustration, this know-how can extend the 10-working day shelf-lifetime of Florida avocados by nine times. We have supported other do the job developing price-additional solutions from food marketplace processing squander. For case in point, a single review included large degrees of used grain from the brewing field in diverse recipes and utilizing different cooking procedures to occur up with a tasty sweet potato snack. Other scientific tests discover how to change foodstuff squander into large-benefit chemical compounds, animal feed or renewable vitality in techniques that make feeling economically and can aid commercialization. 1 review is establishing the technology for economical generation of hydrogen from agricultural generation and food stuff processing waste. Hydrogen is viewed as a promising alternative clean strength supply since it doesn’t deliver greenhouse gases.

This blog site collection highlights the perform of innovators in the meals loss and waste earth as component of a federal interagency food items reduction and squander collaboration amongst USDA, EPA, and Food and drug administration and non-public-sector associates to affirm their shared motivation to work to the countrywide objective of minimizing food reduction and squander by 50 % by 2030.

For even further reading:
USDA blogs on food stuff squander