Context and challenges

Food losses and waste have been estimated at 20-30% of production [1,2] in France. These losses are distributed all along the food chain, from production to consumption, with 35% cumulating at the processing and distribution stages for all types of food products combined [3]. The 2016 Garot Law introduced a two-fold obligation: to gradually reduce the quantity of bread waste and to recover it according to a hierarchy that gives priority to food for humans (preventing waste, donating to charities,  reusing for the manufacture of food products, on-site or not), followed by feed for animals, and lastly composting and energy production. The “food first” priority is stressed, and often justified as also a way to minimise the environmental footprint of products [1,2].
The bread-making sector uses 36% of the non-exported wheat flour produced in France [4]. Artisanal production and industrial production represent 57% and 33% respectively. The volume of bread waste has been the subject of few studies along the supply chain; there is an estimate based on national data [4] and a study based on surveys in artisanal bakeries and supermarkets at national level (17 surveys) carried out by ADEME [3]. According to [4], bread waste represents about  500,000 and 270,000 t in industrial processing and distribution respectively (120,000 and 150,000 t from artisanal bakeries and supermarkets respectively). On the one hand, distribution flows may be explained by the limited freshness of bread, which rarely exceeds one day for fresh-baked products and three weeks for so-called long-life breads. On the other hand, bread waste flows at industrial level is highest due to the quantity produced and despite processes that are already highly optimised (around 0.5% of losses for a large production site near the city of Rennes [5]). The sustainable management of bread waste is more apt to a local context, and to our knowledge there is no documentation on the local distribution of these flows.

Goals

CARIBOU brings together skills in social sciences, humanities, environmental assessment and technology to help develop these recovery sectors. The overall goal is to carry out research that fosters a circular breadmaking sector from a socio-economic, organisational and technological standpoint, and that also sheds light on - and even calls into question - the regulatory hierarchy of the uses of bread waste.   It aims firstly to better characterise the flows of this bread waste and especially their territorial specificity. This stage is crucial in order to define the most relevant research topics with a view to future research and action. CARIBOU seeks to reflect on the most appropriate economic model to allow for several uses to co-exist, especially those with a strong social function (donations to charities, local synergies that forge ties in territories). Lastly, CARIBOU questions the hierarchy of uses as laid out in current regulations (Garot law 2016), and calls for a contextualisation of uses before defining such a hierarchy.  As such, the project proposes to explore new recoveries considered intermediate priorities in the regulatory hierarchy. The goal is to test the first feasibility conditions to perhaps follow up with another project in future.

Three research goals have been set by the CARIBOU project:

• establish an estimate of available bread waste deposits and identify the determining factors in order to better shape its future (see point c). BVP production – and therefore the generation of bread waste - is concentrated in urban and peri-urban territories (artisanal bakeries and convenience stores; supermarkets, medium-sized workshops supplying collective catering in cities: schools, hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, etc.). Even large BVP production sites, primarily dedicated to export, are located in the outer ring of big cities, less than 10 km away from centres (eg Château Blanc near Lille, Jacquet near Clermont-Ferrand, Bridor or van de Moertel near Rennes). Bread waste flows, which still need to be accurately mapped, seem both centred in cities (donations, re-use on production sites) and turned toward the hinterland (flour for livestock). Therefore, a better identification of these deposits and a more detailed diagnosis of where they end up in this potential city-hinterland dynamic are essential to shaping the urban and peri-urban metabolism of bread waste
• explore the feasibility of innovative recovery routes. The focus is on the feasibility of two innovative recovery routes: the first contributes to the protein autonomy of breeding territories. The bread waste flows targeted are from supermarkets as they make their way from city outskirts to the hinterland (livestock farms). It involves evaluating the feasibility of optimising the nutritional value of bread waste inspired by the “natural” processing of organic matter by way of fungi [6]. This task echoes axis 1.2 of the Metaprogramme BETTER, even if it does not concern actual residual products but rather a material specific to food. The second aims to study the recovery routes of bread waste flows and associated waste (unfit for consumption). It involves assessing feasibility and identifying conditions for obtaining molecules of interest (platforms or bio-active) on the basis of biological processes (notably fermentation). The scale of the solution can be local or centralised depending on the results obtained in (a). This task contributes to axis 2.2 of the  Metaprogramme BETTER.
• prepare the construction of future organisational plans of potential sectors for recovering bread waste while respecting, and even facilitating, the social function (donations, local synergies) and responding to the needs of territories where bread waste is produced.

Project sheets

Project participants

Coordination :

Tiphanie LUCAS, UR OPAALE , TRANSFORM division, tiphaine.lucas@inrae.fr

The project is made up of people from different INRAE fields, research units and divisions who wish to open up dialogues between their research to rise to the societal and scientific challenges of tomorrow’s cities.

INRAE structures