Sustainable Future Foods: Revolutionizing the Sourcing and Procurement of Sustainable Raw Materials.
SFF digitizes sustainable European ingredient sourcing & procurement through its online marketplace. It allows the food industry to effectively compare ingredients through standardized and verified information. They can source ingredients based on specification, sustainability goals, and food application, enabling sustainable product development. Small to big ingredient producers gain market visibility and access. Standardization ensures equal chances to grow and market sustainable ingredients.
Who are the people behind the project and what is your background?
Nathalie: Food ingredient & plant-based product development professional, specialized in sourcing sustainable raw materials. Entrepreneur with 9 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and food industry providing a wide network of contacts and customers.
Sandro: Data science expert with 7 years of experience in commercial and academic data analysis to turn data into actionable insights. Thorough understanding of the entire data collection, management, and analysis structures in an enterprise.
How did your idea come into being?
The demand for sustainable food is driven by the public & new laws. Comprehensive product information is needed to meet this demand. However, the current practice of collecting raw material data, especially sustainability data, is resource-intensive and prone to errors due to obscure supply chains and outdated communication channels. The current system relies heavily on professionals with market knowledge, data collection & compliance expertise. This makes it difficult for small & medium-sized businesses to produce sustainable products. Especially in the emerging protein market, where new products are developed and the food industry intensively explores plant-based alternatives, there exists a significant mismatch in information on both ends. These obstacles were identified based on our previous work experience. To promote equal opportunities and expedite the transformation toward a sustainable food system, a new up-to-date approach is needed for sourcing and procuring raw materials.
What is your idea to impactfully design a climate positive FOODprint for Switzerland?
SFF designs a climate-positive FOODprint by:
1) Promoting the use of sustainable raw materials, technologies, and innovations in the alternative proteins sector. This is achieved by streamlining the screening process for appropriate raw material procurement, facilitating efficient identification and purchase of goods at competitive rates. Clearing innovation barriers paves the way for permanent improvements in Switzerland's foodprint.
2) Enhancing sustainability evaluation, such as measuring CO2 emissions of food, through reliable and verifiable data. This data creates an incentive for green procurement. End products with comprehensive information have a positive influence on consumer awareness and their behavior towards sustainable products.
3) Closing the communication and knowledge exchange gap between raw material suppliers and food manufacturers. The alignment of supply and demand leads to a more efficient use of resources in the agri-food industry, thus reducing food waste.
How do you define the positive impact of your solution on the problem described above?
1) The data collected by SFF marketplace provides a detailed view on the size and the dynamics of the alternative proteins market. The number of delivered samples, orders, and re-orders enables us to quantify the level of innovation and its prevalence.
2) The collected procurement data allows us to measure the positive impact of alternative protein nutrition replacements on Switzerlands foodprint, e.g. through the estimate of CO2 emission reductions over time. The one-year assessment provides a snapshot of the immediate environmental benefits achieved by replacing meat-based proteins. The three-year assessment offers a comprehensive analysis of the long-term environmental impact.
3) Tracking the conversion of queries into orders allows us to measure the success rate of matching between suppliers and buyers, i.e., the market efficiency, and to perform an inventory waste analysis.
