Boost Shelf Life, Cut Waste: AI-Powered Quality Control Benefits for Grocery Retailers and Consumers
- Produce Quality Control
- Supply Chain
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that 14% of the world’s food is lost before the grocery retail stage, with another 17% percent (over 900 million tons) becoming waste once it reaches retailers and consumers.
That’s alarming enough. But even more alarming is the fact that the FAO made these findings 5 years ago, so the actual figure is now substantially higher.
By reducing the amount of fresh produce they waste, grocery retailers can play a critical part in securing the global supply of fresh fruits and vegetables. Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) models will be pivotal in this transition, giving grocery retailers a way to spearhead efforts to improve the fresh produce industry without sacrificing their own profitability.
Tackling Produce Loss: Key Challenges for Grocery Retailers & Grocery Stores
Fresh produce quality assurance is a major challenge for fresh fruit and vegetable businesses, for 2 main reasons: perishability and variability. Fresh produce is highly susceptible to spoilage, so grocers need to ensure careful handling, and timely sales. The longer produce stays on shelves, the greater the risk of waste.
The supply chain for fruits and vegetables is also subject to a high degree of variability in terms of weather, harvesting practices and transportation. These further complicate the task of maintaining consistent quality standards. With consumer expectations for fresh, high-quality produce, any shortfall in these standards can lead to dissatisfaction and loss of loyalty. Poor supermarket waste management practices can also harm retailers’ reputations, especially among environmentally conscious consumers.
Traditional Quality Control Methods and Their Limitations
Traditional, manual quality control inspection methods for fruits and vegetables typically involve several steps:
- Visual Inspection: Inspectors manually check for visible defects such as bruises, discoloration, and signs of spoilage.
- Touch and Smell: Inspectors may handle the produce to check for firmness and smell for any off odors indicating spoilage.
- Sampling: A random sample of the batch is selected for more detailed inspection.
- Sorting and Grading: Based on the inspection, produce is sorted and graded according to quality standards.
- Documentation: Inspectors record their findings and decisions manually.
These methods have significant costs in terms of time and labor. For example, visual inspections alone can take several minutes per item, depending on the thoroughness required. When scaled up to large batches, this can result in significant labor hours.
These processes can also be expensive due to the need for skilled labor. The cost includes wages for inspectors, training, and potential losses due to human error. Overall, manual inspection accounts for a substantial portion of the overall cost of quality control in the produce industry.
AI in Quality Control: Transformative Grocery Retail Technology
The good news for grocery retailers – and their customers – is that a large chunk of overall food waste is actually preventable loss. With the right prevention loss strategy, it is possible to achieve significant waste reduction without increasing spending on quality control inspections or personnel.
ML and AI models enable businesses to do more inspections, in less time, and with greater accuracy. There is a growing list of use cases for machine learning in retail, including demand forecasting and inventory optimization. AI algorithms provide precise data on the quality and quantity of available inventory, enabling decision makers to make the right call to keep shelves stocked with the desired quality of produce.
Less Waste, More Accuracy: Key Benefits for Grocery Retailers
Armed with these capabilities, grocery retailers can more accurately forecast how much produce to order from their suppliers, eliminating the risk of stockouts – a major driver of waste. They can also leverage computer vision for quality control, giving their teams the ability to identify defects and match produce quality with their own quality standards to assess the value of each supplier relationship.
These retailers’ customers benefit, too. They gain access to fresher produce that has been accurately evaluated for quality. This leads to less household waste, one of the single biggest contributors to global food loss.
The Integration of AI Into Quality Control Processes
As with any new technology, adopting an AI system in quality control comes with its own difficulties:
- Potentially high upfront costs
- Technical complexity and training demands
- The need for extensive data to train machine learning models
In addition to these, grocery retailers may face resistance from their own employees. These workers may have misgivings about new technologies and prefer to stick to traditional methods, especially if they perceive a threat to their role, or there is a steep learning curve that excludes them from being able to use the technology.
Successful integration can be achieved by starting with pilot programs to demonstrate ROI, in partnership with experienced AI providers. Grocery retail employees should also be made aware that the role of these tools in reducing food waste in supermarkets actually benefits them: it augments, rather than replaces, human personnel.
Powerful, User-Friendly AI in Every Inspector’s Pocket: Clarifresh and the Future of Fresh Produce Quality Control
Clarifresh offers a powerful, user-friendly AI solution that puts advanced quality control tools directly in the hands of inspectors. By leveraging advanced ML and computer vision technology, Clarifresh enables grocery retailers to conduct real-time, AI-driven assessments of fresh produce, improving accuracy, reducing fresh produce food waste, and ensuring that only the highest-quality items reach consumers. This scalable solution not only enhances the efficiency of quality control processes but also contributes to more sustainable practices in the fresh produce supply chain, ultimately benefiting bothgrocery retailers and their customers.
Get started with Clarifresh today to discover how you can instantly improve every aspect of your quality control process, while building a foundation for sustainable growth.