All-atar food consortium using AI to redistribute up to 1.5 million meals
Leading global businesses and food organisations have partnered to test a novel artificial intelligence solution that might redistribute up to 1.5 million more meals. In the UK, 10 billion meals of food, or 4.6 million tonnes of edible food, are wasted annually.
Sustainable Ventures have brought together Bristol Superlight, FareShare, FuturePlus, Google Cloud, Howard Tenens Logistics, Nestlé UK&I and Zest (formerly The Wonki Collective) to develop a solution to help get more of the good-to-eat food that is currently being wasted to people across the UK.
The ground-breaking “AI food redistribution” project is part of Innovate UK’s BridgeAI initiative – which provided a £1.9 million grant which is match-funded for cutting-edge projects intent on harnessing AI to drive productivity and innovation.
The consortium will develop and pilot an end-to-end AI led solution that, over the course of the project, will redistribute up to 700 tonnes of quality surplus food – the equivalent of up to 1.5 million meals. Trials throughout the project are also estimated to prevent up to 1,400 tonnes of CO2 being emitted and deliver up to £14 million of cost savings.¹ Earlier trials of the Zest (formerly The Wonki Collective) technology, delivered an 87% reduction in edible food waste at a single Nestlé factory, over a two week period.
The collaboration sees the development and piloting of Zest’s (formerly The Wonki Collective) integrated AI powered platform that will connect food manufacturers, logistics providers and charities as redefining supply chain efficiency.
The integrated AI powered platform leverages Google Cloud’s BigQuery and Vertex AI platform to streamline and accelerate the process of matching available surplus food, including products and ingredients, to where there is demand. Bristol Superlight’s integrated AI/Machine Learning (ML)-driven logistics system enables the quality of surplus food to be measured and tracked throughout its delivery journey.
Once tested, the AI food redistribution solution could be applied at scale across the food supply chain, and offers commercial and charitable opportunities for the entire sector.
Esra Kasapoglu, director of AI and data economy, Innovate UK said: “This IUK Bridge AI initiative highlights how strategic funding, collaboration, and entrepreneurial spirit bring together innovators from a wide range of industries — food, logistics, tech, climate, charity, and venture building. Together, they’ve developed an innovative AI solution that aims to transform food sourcing and distribution across the UK, cutting waste, reducing carbon emissions, and lowering costs. This pioneering project is just the start, laying the foundation for future innovations that will drive circular economy models and advance sustainability efforts.”
Simon Brown, corporate innovation partner of Sustainable Ventures, said: “We believe in the power of collaboration. Bringing together this fantastic group of stakeholders will reduce the time and risk taken to develop this new AI food supply chain management platform, whilst providing a market ready solution that can be rolled out across the industry. We are here to bring together corporates with climate tech startups, finding ways to derisk the process and enable sustainable, innovative and commercial solutions to enter the market. This project is only the beginning; watch this space.”
Dr Emma Keller, head of sustainability Nestlé UK & Ireland, noted that as the world’s largest food manufacturer, it is important for Nestlé to set an example on food waste.
“This exciting cross-industry initiative builds on work we have undertaken over the last decade to tackle food waste and will enable us to further optimise surplus within our operations,” she said. “With the country suffering from historically high food poverty and food insecurity rates while food waste continues to rise, focusing on this is the right thing for us as a business to do.”
Dini McGrath, co-founder of Zest (formerly The Wonki Collective), said: “Our mission from day one has been to empower food manufacturers to design out food waste, and we’ve always known this vast challenge requires collaboration. We’re ecstatic to be working with some incredible powerhouses to support us in achieving our vision. As with most things in life, collaboration is key—together, we are stronger. This milestone brings us closer to our shared goal of building a more transparent and sustainable food system.”
Simon Millard, director of Food at FareShare, said: “We are enormously grateful to all the partners involved in this exciting project. For 30 years FareShare has been bringing together partners from across the food and manufacturing sectors to help bridge the gap between food insecurity and food waste, and this innovation will make a huge difference. Over 8,000 charities and community groups across the UK already rely on food redistributed by FareShare to help strengthen communities across the UK. By unlocking new efficiencies in systems, we will be able to get more food to those groups and create greater social impact.”
