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**IoninnyHaro** · 06-22-2006, 07:00 AM

Japan's convenience stores waste tons of food

One convenience-store chain in the Kanto area checks for expiry dates three times a day, at 12 a.m., 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Items such as rice balls and sandwiches that are fresh for 24 hours or less are thrown out if they come within two hours of their use-by limit. Bread whose expiry date is set several days away is discarded 24 hours before the expiry date, while milk is thrown out four days in advance.

In this way, stores designate "pull dates" for various products. Little difference is seen between major convenience store chains.

"We do this because we're taking into consideration the period in which the products will actually be consumed after they are taken home," explains an official from the Kanto convenience store. As a rule the store is not permitted to discount products approaching their expiry date in the same way as supermarkets do.

The convenience stores have been applying a stricter standard of supplying fresh foods by discarding perishables before the expiration dates, not after. While the disease preventive policy must have kept the customers happy and healthy, the costs or wastefulness of it must be borne by someone; the management or the customers. "In the dozen or so years this store has been running, we've never sold all of our packed lunches," the head of the store says. It's because the store stocks up about 10 percent more goods than it expects to sell.

"We don't want to throw stuff out, but customers will desert us if we run out of stock," the store official says. It seems that this harsh view by consumers is creating a mountain of garbage. If pampered customers and the combinis' willingness to please lie at the base of the problem, why is the combini whining about its reason of being ? It would be nice to find better ways to prevent waste, but if one were found, it would probably go to fattening the combini industry. How about quick freezing the nearly-expired food stuff and donating them to a food drive for the starving people anywhere ? Quick dry/purify for longer storage as nutirients with longer expiration dates ? In a way the rendering / live-stock feed business has been partially recycling useable organic wastes, but the outdated recycling system has also been criticized for its shady practices of unsanitary, substandard processing, raising serious concerns about the 2,000 some products employing such rendered ingredients, jelly candies being one of them. "The food can still be eaten and I think it's really wasteful," confesses the head of the store. "We hear that there are lots of starving children in the world, so can't anything be done ?"

Figures released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries show that about 600,000 tons of unsold food from retailers such as convenience stores and supermarkets nationwide was created in fiscal 2003. Roughly calculated, this food could fulfill the dietary requirements of about 3 million people each day.

"While convenience stores do offer convenience, we have thrown out a lot of products, Takeshi Niinami, president of the Lawson chain of convenience stores, placed second in Japan, tells the Mainichi. "We've got to change this system that is producing a flood of waste."

Last year, Lawson stores threw out 40 billion yen worth of expired food products, exceeding its working profit in fiscal 2003 of about 36.6 billion yen. "It's time to think seriously about cutting waste," says Niinami.

Japan, the country that came up with the word "mottainai," meaning "wasteful" has about 40,000 convenience stores nationwide. Products are supplied day and night. On the flip side of this convenience is a mountain of wasted food. As Japan looks to the future, calls for store operators to start fighting this wastefulness are rising. A more equitable food consumption across the world not only involves investment and development, but the uneven profits concentrating around the richer countries, and around the powerful (& corrupt) leaders of the struggling countries. When enough of the underdeveloped 3rd world is indeed developed, and the job markets are scalable wherever one lives, will the former citizens of the 'Western' countries be ready to accept a less profitable economy in comparison ? Just as the move from plundering the billion-year-old reserve of fossil fuels towards a sustainable, sun-based energy consumption pattern is one long, struggling process for anyone used to the cheap fossil fuels, the peaceful transition to a more equitable world economy will not be an easy one for all involved. Let's hope that charity for the time being can feed and save enough lives. View more random threads same category:

06-22-2006, 07:00 AM	#2
IoninnyHaro Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 377 Senior Member	Combinis: Wasteful or Wise ? Japan's convenience stores waste tons of food One convenience-store chain in the Kanto area checks for expiry dates three times a day, at 12 a.m., 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Items such as rice balls and sandwiches that are fresh for 24 hours or less are thrown out if they come within two hours of their use-by limit. Bread whose expiry date is set several days away is discarded 24 hours before the expiry date, while milk is thrown out four days in advance. In this way, stores designate "pull dates" for various products. Little difference is seen between major convenience store chains. "We do this because we're taking into consideration the period in which the products will actually be consumed after they are taken home," explains an official from the Kanto convenience store. As a rule the store is not permitted to discount products approaching their expiry date in the same way as supermarkets do. The convenience stores have been applying a stricter standard of supplying fresh foods by discarding perishables before the expiration dates, not after. While the disease preventive policy must have kept the customers happy and healthy, the costs or wastefulness of it must be borne by someone; the management or the customers. "In the dozen or so years this store has been running, we've never sold all of our packed lunches," the head of the store says. It's because the store stocks up about 10 percent more goods than it expects to sell. "We don't want to throw stuff out, but customers will desert us if we run out of stock," the store official says. It seems that this harsh view by consumers is creating a mountain of garbage. If pampered customers and the combinis' willingness to please lie at the base of the problem, why is the combini whining about its reason of being ? It would be nice to find better ways to prevent waste, but if one were found, it would probably go to fattening the combini industry. How about quick freezing the nearly-expired food stuff and donating them to a food drive for the starving people anywhere ? Quick dry/purify for longer storage as nutirients with longer expiration dates ? In a way the rendering / live-stock feed business has been partially recycling useable organic wastes, but the outdated recycling system has also been criticized for its shady practices of unsanitary, substandard processing, raising serious concerns about the 2,000 some products employing such rendered ingredients, jelly candies being one of them. "The food can still be eaten and I think it's really wasteful," confesses the head of the store. "We hear that there are lots of starving children in the world, so can't anything be done ?" Figures released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries show that about 600,000 tons of unsold food from retailers such as convenience stores and supermarkets nationwide was created in fiscal 2003. Roughly calculated, this food could fulfill the dietary requirements of about 3 million people each day. "While convenience stores do offer convenience, we have thrown out a lot of products, Takeshi Niinami, president of the Lawson chain of convenience stores, placed second in Japan, tells the Mainichi. "We've got to change this system that is producing a flood of waste." Last year, Lawson stores threw out 40 billion yen worth of expired food products, exceeding its working profit in fiscal 2003 of about 36.6 billion yen. "It's time to think seriously about cutting waste," says Niinami. Japan, the country that came up with the word "mottainai," meaning "wasteful" has about 40,000 convenience stores nationwide. Products are supplied day and night. On the flip side of this convenience is a mountain of wasted food. As Japan looks to the future, calls for store operators to start fighting this wastefulness are rising. A more equitable food consumption across the world not only involves investment and development, but the uneven profits concentrating around the richer countries, and around the powerful (& corrupt) leaders of the struggling countries. When enough of the underdeveloped 3rd world is indeed developed, and the job markets are scalable wherever one lives, will the former citizens of the 'Western' countries be ready to accept a less profitable economy in comparison ? Just as the move from plundering the billion-year-old reserve of fossil fuels towards a sustainable, sun-based energy consumption pattern is one long, struggling process for anyone used to the cheap fossil fuels, the peaceful transition to a more equitable world economy will not be an easy one for all involved. Let's hope that charity for the time being can feed and save enough lives. View more random threads same category: Best cities to visit in Asia Is McDonald's evil? What would you do if you were drafted? How far do you think computers will advance?... Abortion: Pro-life or Pro-choice? Water Fluoridation: Is it Moral?
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