Stop Food Waste Day 2025: How IMS Evolve Empowers Retailers to Reduce Food Waste

Greenhouse gas emissions from food loss and waste account for 8% of the global output, a direct result of a third of all food produced globally being wasted or spoilt. A quarter of the food wasted globally could feed the world’s undernourished population.

Stop Food Waste Day is just one of the action and awareness days that focuses on the damaging impact of food waste. Started in 2017 by Compass USA, an American food service provider, it aims to inspire and educate people on the issue. And this is an issue being taken up at the top tables of society, with the United Nations developing a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) that aims to half global food waste across consumer and retail by 2030 and reduce food losses in production and supply chains.

Stop Food Waste Day’s tips focus on how consumers can stop food from spoiling at home – from learning the art of freezing to making a meal plan. But what part can technology play in mitigating the spoilage of food and how is IMS empowering retailers to support the fight against food waste?

The food industry is already taking meaningful steps to tackle the damaging impact of food waste. In March, Tesco announced the launch of a trial to distribute food approaching its expiry date for free at the end of each day. Other retailers, such as M&S, have also committed to redistributing surplus food through organisations like FareShare. These initiatives highlight a clear commitment from leading retailers to collaborate in reducing food waste.

Another step retailers are taking to reduce food waste is the use of technology. Internet of Things (IoT) and AI-powered solutions are being deployed by retailers to closely monitor refrigeration performance, provide real-time insights for demand forecasting, and enable a greater understanding of the complex temperature profiles of fresh produce.  

IMS Evolve’s IoT technology can autonomously and continuously monitor, manage, analyse, and contextualize data collected from refrigerators and the products within them. This alerts retailers when a refrigeration unit is operating at an incorrect or inefficient temperature, elongating the shelf life of fresh food and putting the power to reduce food waste into retailers’ hands.

IMS Evolve also facilitates retailers’ food waste reduction initiatives by automatically adjusting refrigeration settings based on specific produce, making informed and precise decisions about temperature control for each item in every unit, without adding more pressure to staff.

This IoT-driven continuous, real-time monitoring, and optimisation of equipment and processes prevents spoilage from temperature fluctuations, extends the freshness and quality of perishable items, and reduces waste. It also significantly increases energy efficiency, lowers operational costs, and enhances overall performance across operations.

At IMS, we are proud to partner with retailers as we collectively strive to reduce the global impact of food waste, help reach crucial UN targets, and deliver fresher produce.