Microbial spoilage originating from sources throughout the food chain represents an issue for many food categories, in this proposal we elected to focus on dairy, and specifically, fluid milk as a model system, because fluid milk spoilage alone is estimated to represent a value of $6.4 billion per year in the US (Buzby et al., 2014). Reducing the volume of dairy wasted at the distribution, retail and consumer levels thus represents an opportunity with potential for considerable economic and environmental impact. In addition, we selected fluid milk as a model system because (i) our team has significant foundational knowledge and data on sources of spoilage organisms on the farm and at the processing plant level and (ii) some potential interventions to reduce fluid milk spoilage are already available and can be utilized and evaluated in validation studies.  Domestically, the greatest percentage of waste in many food categories, including dairy, occurs at the post-processing levels (distribution, retail and consumer). Notably, a considerable amount of food is wasted due to consumers discarding high quality products simply because product they are past the “sell-by” or “best-by” dates. Therefore, the most transformative solutions to reducing food waste demand a systems approach, in which innovative technologies are integrated across each stage of the farm-to-fork (F2F) continuum to reduce the volume of food wasted at the distribution, retail and consumer levels, including providing consumers with better decision making tools on product shelf life and quality. Importantly, implementation of technological interventions in upstream F2F stages can significantly influence reduction in waste downstream. For example, psychrotolerant sporeforming bacteria present in raw milk can survive pasteurization and subsequently germinate and grow to spoilage levels during refrigerated storage of fluid milk. Therefore, the most transformative solutions to reducing food waste will be achieved with a systems approach, in which interactions and feedback among technological interventions, along with routine stakeholder input, will enable effective alignment of research approaches toward our ultimate goal of reducing fluid milk spoilage and waste. Consequently, our overall goal is to develop & implement transformative prediction models and intervention technologies with the greatest impact in reducing waste and loss of fluid milk. To achieve that goal, we have assembled a transdisciplinary team with expertise in microbiology, food science & engineering, applied economics, and systems modeling, who will use a systems approach to complete the following three aims:
Aim 1: Prediction - Development and validation of systems-based stochastic simulation models to predict fluid milk spoilage and shelf life as well as effects of interventions on the timing and magnitude of spoilage.
Aim 2: Intervention - Design and implementation of farm, processing, and consumer-level nterventions that reduce fluid milk spoilage and consumer waste.
Aim 3: Implementation – Pilot industry implementation of selected interventions and assessment of implementation hurdles and unintended consequences, with a focus on interventions that reduce consumer food waste behavior and avoidable in-home waste.