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Demonstration Tests to be Held for Food Waste Reduction Taking Advantage of IoT Technologies

Effort for reducing food waste in three food chain areas

January 11, 2022

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has been advancing the FY2021 Project for Establishing Infrastructures for Enhancing Efficiency of Distribution and Creating Value Added Therein (Project for Food Waste Reduction Taking Advantage of IoT Technologies), which has been commissioned to the Japan Research Institute, Limited. As part of this project, METI will conduct demonstration tests for food waste reduction taking advantage of electronic tags equipped with radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology in production areas, supermarkets, and consumer households.

1. Background and purpose of the project

The distribution industry has been facing the advancement of serious labor shortages caused by the aging of society with fewer children being born, soaring labor costs in accordance with such shortages, and diverse consumer demand. In addition, as the industry embraces many businesses in its consumer goods supply chains, overall optimization of the industry is difficult, resulting in food waste and returned goods.

In light of this situation, METI published the "Plan to Introduce 100 Billion Electronic Tags for Products in Convenience Stores*" in April 2017 in cooperation with operators of convenience store chains, and the "Approach to Implementations of Electronic Tags (RFID) toward the Implementation of Smart Stores**" in March 2021 in cooperation with the Japan Association of Chain Drug Stores (JACDS) based on the "Declaration of Initiatives for Making Drug Stores Smarter***." Since then, METI has been advancing enhancement of efficiency in related supply chains taking advantage of RFID and other technologies.

In this project, METI will divide the food supply chain into three areas and conduct demonstration tests on them. Those areas are: from the production area to the retail store (demonstration test 1), in the retail store (demonstration test 2), and from the retail store to the consumer (demonstration test 3). Through these tests, METI will endeavor to enhance the efficiency of supply chains and improve productivity thereof, e.g., making information on supply chains visible, reducing food waste and providing value added products.

2. Outlines of the demonstration tests

Demonstration test 1 (production area to retail store)

METI will conduct sales promotions in stores offering new value to consumers through information that has seldom been used, and examine the effects on the reduction of food waste.

Location:

Ito-Yokado Hikifune Store

Period of the tests:

From January 12 (Wed.) to January 31 (Mon.), 2022

Target products:

Aiko tomatoes, nameko mushrooms, and spinach

Operators:

Japan Research Institute (contractor), Ito-Yokado, and Toppan

Cooperating companies:

IY Foods and its suppliers and partnered production areas

Demonstration test 2 (retail store)

METI will make inventory visible by expiration date, introduce dynamic pricing using electronic shelf labels, and examine their effects on the stores' operational efficiency and reduction of food waste.

Location:

Ito-Yokado Hikifune Store

Period of the tests:

From January 12 (Wed.) to January 31 (Mon.), 2022
From February 9 (Wed.) to February 28 (Mon.), 2022

Target products:

10 SKUs from items that are delivered daily (the chosen products are placed on the same shelves as items with the same SKU and have varying expiration dates)

Operators:

Japan Research Institute (contractor), Ito-Yokado, SATO

Demonstration test 3 (retail store to consumer)

METI will utilize data on purchases, consumption, and disposal to provide a consumer service that supports the purchase, cooking, and storage of food with the aim of encouraging healthy living, and examine its effect on reduction of food waste in the home.

Location:

Ito-Yokado Hikifune Store, participants' homes

Period of the tests:

From January 12 (Wed.) to January 31 (Mon.), 2022
From February 9 (Wed.) to February 28 (Mon.), 2022

Participants:  

About 100 men and women in their 20s to 60s

Operators:

Japan Research Institute (Contractor), Ito-Yokado, Imamura Shoji, SATO, SIRUTASU, Hitachi Solutions West Japan

Related Materials

Division in Charge

Consumer Affairs, Distribution and Retail Industry Division, Commerce and Service Industry Policy Group

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