Daniela Saunyama, 24, an immigrant to Israel from New Jersey and veteran of the Israeli military’s Search and Rescue Brigade, is a third-year nutritional sciences student at Ariel University.
She first presented the idea for the app during a course on nutrition and technology. Saunyama was then accepted into the university’s entrepreneurship accelerator program to further develop her idea together with co-founder and fellow student Avichai Shapiro.
People were throwing out so much food and not realizing that they have food in their house before going out to buy [more]
New Phone App Seeks To End Food Waste
The app, called SustainEat, is set to launch in Israel in the coming months before reaching the United States and other countries, Saunyama said.
“I just saw that there was a problem in the kitchen: People were throwing out so much food and not realizing that they have food in their house before going out to buy [more], ” she told The Media Line. “People are not only endangering their health by having old food in their fridge but are also wasting a lot of money in general.”
SustainEat helps cut food waste in several ways. Firstly, it keeps an inventory of the food in a person’s home by scanning shopping receipts (or via manual input) and by providing an estimated expiration date for each product. The app notifies users of any items that are approaching expiry and offers personalized recipes that are based on a user’s unique dietary preferences.
Food Waste In America In 2024: Statistics & Facts
“This [personalized shopping list] is created from all kinds of information that you put into the app so it’s using AI technology in order to make this personalization happen, ” Saunyama explained.
The goal, the budding entrepreneur said, is to make nutrition, shopping, and cooking more efficient. Unlike other food waste apps, SustainEat is entirely personalized and learns what to recommend to users based on their input.
“We’re an end-to-end solution because we help you from grocery shopping to when you’re throwing things out and cooking your food, ” she said. “We want to use specialized technology in order to customize the whole way. In addition to that, we also have a focus on sustainability.”
Too Good To Go: End Food Waste
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Dr. Shiri Sherf-Dagan, who teaches the course on nutrition and technology that Saunyama attended, noted that food loss is a major problem around the globe. In fact, the UN estimates that nearly half of all produce goes to waste each year.
“Roughly 35% of food in Israel goes to waste, ” Sherf-Dagan, who works both at Ariel University and Assuta Medical Centers, told The Media Line. “There are significant environmental and economic repercussions to food loss in Israel and the world.”
Food Waste Statistics In America
Sherf-Dagan recommended a two-pronged approach to address the issue: implement legislation and taxation policies, as well as educate people regarding best practices for food consumption and storage. She also believes that apps like the one developed by Saunyama can help.
“At the moment there is a significant need to advance technologies that will help individuals and communities better manage their buying and use of products in order to reduce food waste, ” Sherf-Dagan said. “Similarly, by preventing good food from getting thrown away and with the help of donations to those in need, we can also reduce food insecurity in Israel and the world.”The biggest hunger relief organization in the U.S. is using technology to help restaurants, grocery stores, and other businesses fight food waste.
In honor of Earth Day on Saturday, Feeding America launched a new tech platform called MealConnect. As its name implies, the free service taps into the organization's large network, connecting businesses that have surplus food with thousands of food banks and other meal programs.
America Has A Massive Food Waste Problem. This New App Could Help.
The goal is to advance the organization's mission of solving hunger in the country by 2025 by tackling the persistent yet often overlooked problem of food waste caused by businesses and food chains.
MealConnect lets stores and other donors — whether it's a Starbucks, local butcher, grocery store, or farmers market — to post when they have food that would otherwise go to waste. Then, the platform's algorithms figure out the best local food pantry or program to pick up the extra food and distribute it quickly to those in need.
The platform is a web-based app, which means employees at food businesses of any size can use it on a desktop, laptop, or smartphone with any web browser. All you have to do is sign up with your name, email address, and ZIP code. It's still rolling out across the U.S., so it might not yet be available in your community, but you have the option to sign up for updates.
Diverting Food Waste
Feeding America received an initial $1.5 million grant from Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org, to develop MealConnect. It also received an additional $1 million from General Mills, which will help scale the program to communities around the country.
With help from partners, Feeding America CEO Diana Aviv said in a release that the organization saves more than 2.8 billion pounds of food each year for people facing hunger.
MealConnect will allow us to supplement these great national efforts with donations captured from regional and local donors who may not have a consistent donation stream, she added.
Tossed Out Food Waste In America
Feeding America also launched a partnership with Starbucks in 2016 to help the coffee chain donate 100 percent of unsold food in its U.S. stores to families in need. Starbucks will use MealConnect to help achieve that goal.
By using MealConnect, we're able to track our donations in real time, allowing for more streamlined reporting by store and food bank, said Jane Maly, program manager at Starbucks, in a release.
But the platform isn't just helpful for big chains like Starbucks. In fact, it's specifically designed for places that don't regularly have excess food. MealConnect's real-time model was developed for sporadic food donations, so businesses can donate food whenever necessary. And while it's supposed to be user friendly, Feeding America also offers training for the platform and tips for implementing it successfully among employees.
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A recent report from ReFED, a nonprofit that aims to fight food waste through data, found that Americans waste an estimated 72 billion pounds of food every year — 52 billion pounds of which is wasted by manufacturers, grocery stores, and restaurants. Meanwhile, 20 billion pounds of fruit and vegetables are thrown away or left in fields.
With over 2, 500 hunger relief organizations regularly using MealConnect, we are in a position to nationally scale this solution and help end hunger in America, the platform's website reads. And with your partnership, we will.
Matt Petronzio was the Social Good Editor at , where he led coverage surrounding social impact, activism, identities, and world-changing innovation. He was based at the New York City headquarters from January 2012 to April 2018, and previously worked as the assistant features editor.
The Too Good To Go App Has Cut Food Waste In Europe. Now It Could Do The Same In The Us
This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.Consumers get the chance to buy leftover meals, expiring or misshapen food at discount prices, and aim to encourage consumers to effect policy change in their communities
If food waste were a country, it would be the third-highest greenhouse-gas emitting nation behind the US and China. That’s because 40% of all food grown in the world goes uneaten each year, according to a World Wildlife Fund report from last year. And when food ends up in landfills, it produces huge amounts of greenhouse gases.
So it’s no surprise then that apps designed to combat food waste – by giving consumers the opportunity to purchase leftover, expiring or misshapen food at discount prices – have become increasingly popular in recent years. Some of these apps have millions of users in the US, and are growing internationally. TikTok users often post videos of the food they have salvaged from restaurants through the apps, and a Reddit community with more than 12, 000 members shares photos of their hauls.
From Farm To Kitchen: The Environmental Impacts Of U.s. Food Waste
“For me, the most impactful way to make a difference was really to enable every one of us to make a difference, ” said Lucie Basch, co-founder of the app Too Good to Go. “The idea of the app, of technology in the digital world today, is that it connects each other to one another, and that’s your chance to really make a difference.”
Laurel McConville, founder and CEO of Nectar & Green in Charlestown, Massachusetts, packs fresh pressed almond milk and almond pulp into surprise bags to sell on the app Too Good to Go in 2021. Photograph: Boston Globe/Getty Images
Food waste happens at many points along the supply chain – from spoilage on semi-trucks to overproduction on the farm – and food waste experts note that those losses are
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