How Albert Heijn’s produce supplier is using AI to reduce strawberry waste

Strawberries are one of the most wasted foods finds the U.K.’s Waste and Resources Action Programme, or WRAP. Aiming to change that, Albert Heijn, the Netherlands largest supermarket chain, and its sole produce supplier, Bakker Barendrecht, have partnered with OneThird, a Dutch food tech company created to address the annual loss of one-third of all food produced due to spoilage.

OneThird has deployed its artificial intelligence-powered scanner technology to provide Albert Heijn, Bakker Barendrecht and their growers with real-time data and information to better estimate the quality and exact shelf life of strawberries, allowing them to optimize “best before” dates and opt to ship locally or within a shorter trucking distance to maintain shelf life, according to a news release.

Combining AI in the form of proprietary algorithms with near-infrared-based scanners to determine the remaining shelf life of produce along the supply chain and provide actionable insights, OneThird’s scanner technology can eliminate up to 25% of waste across the produce supply chain, the company says.

Currently, strawberries receive a standard “best before” date, but external influences during growth, such as weather, often vary and affect harvest conditions and shelf life, the release said.

“We are always looking for opportunities to improve the quality of our fresh products further,” Rob Wessels, research and development specialist at Bakker Barendrecht, said in the release. “We also want to prevent waste as much as possible. Every step in the produce supply chain — from farm to fork — can contribute to waste. The ability to monitor quality — such as shelf life — objectively and at any time enables us to manage our planning and logistics more efficiently.”

More than $37.3 million worth of strawberries are wasted each year in the U.K. alone, while in California — which produces 80% of the strawberries grown in the U.S. — most average strawberries go uneaten, the release said.

While farm issues cause some of these problems, spoilage in the supply chain and at grocery stores is a huge contributor, says OneThird, pointing to the United Nations, which found that up to one-third of the food brought to market annually is wasted at an estimated cost of $1 trillion, and almost half of it — 40% — is fresh produce.

“Making informed and data-driven decisions in the supply chain plays a key role in addressing product loss due to spoilage. We’ve worked hard to create technology that helps address this persistent global challenge that directly impacts food scarcity,” OneThird founder and CEO Marco Snikkers said in the release. “We are proud to have installed OneThird’s AI-powered scanner technology in the Albert Heijn supply chain. Their customers will have the freshest strawberries possible while the supply chain reduces food waste. It’s a win-win.”

Bakker Barendrecht will ultimately use the technology to estimate the shelf life of other fruits or vegetables prone to spoilage, the release said.