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TCS Research
TCS Research: Inventing to build sustainable futures
Highlights
- Global food systems face a stark paradox where large-scale hunger coexists with massive food waste, driven by inefficiencies across production, storage, and distribution.
- Improving storage and distribution in developing regions and providing clearer information to consumers in other regions can dramatically reduce these losses.
- In the coming times, the biggest consumer target will be Gen Z. Gen Z is hyperconnected, health-focused, sustainability-allied, and deeply engaged through their smartphones. They demand to see where food comes from, value food quality, and support brands that prioritise planet-positive choices.
- A digital food passport can enable instant food traceability, digital confidence, and proof-backed sustainability at consumers’ fingertips.
- By combining AI, food traceability, and circular insights, this initiative can empower producers, retailers, and consumers to reduce waste and comply with regulations while maximising value.
On this page
THE FOOD PARADOX: HUNGER AND WASTE
The rapid rise in global population, coupled with higher food demand, shrinking cultivable land, and increasingly unpredictable climate patterns, is putting immense pressure on agricultural systems. A report published in 2025 indicated that more than 59.4 million people are facing high levels of acute food insecurity, with about 50% of food wasted during the supply chain, and retail households reveal a substantial imbalance between food availability and need.
At the same time, a contradictory challenge persists: nearly one-third of all food produced for human use never gets consumed because it spoils or is discarded before reaching consumers. This problem is especially prominent for fresh fruits and vegetables, which are costly and highly perishable. Their high wastage is driven by multiple factors, including limited shelf life, logistics inefficiencies, poor demand forecasting, surplus stock at low turnover locations, and disruptions linked to geopolitical tensions.
Beyond the economic loss, food waste also carries an environmental burden. Food waste is recognised as a key global priority and is embedded in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim to build robust supply chain food systems. This creates a striking contrast: millions of people lack access to safe, adequate food, while enormous volumes of edible produce are thrown away. Achieving sustainability requires better agricultural practices, smarter supply chain decisions, responsible consumer behaviour, and improved waste management strategies.
WHY OUR FOOD ECOSYSTEM NEEDS A DIGITAL MEMORY
Today’s food supply chains span vast geographical distances and involve several stakeholders, from farmers and traders to retailers and consumers. Maintaining the freshness, safety, and authenticity of every product throughout this journey is a significant challenge. However, many waste streams offer opportunities for repurposing and value creation. For instance, spoiled tomatoes can be transformed into plant‑based leather alternatives, and mango seeds can be processed into nourishing mango butter for the cosmetics industry. By linking small vendors and local markets with startups, biotech innovators, methane digesters, and recycling enterprises, waste generated by one stakeholder can be transformed into a resource for another.
Food packaging waste compounds the problem, with single-use plastics from food products accounting for nearly 70% of this material. Establishing platforms that help recycle this waste using geotagging to match users with nearby recyclers can significantly strengthen waste‑management systems.
Amid ongoing geopolitical instability, building strong, resilient food supply chains is becoming increasingly important. This disruption presents an opportunity for enterprises and their customers to adapt technology to real needs, stay future ready, and create more value while reducing waste across the food ecosystem.
FROM FARM TO DISPOSAL: THE DIGITAL FOOD PASSPORT
A digital food passport is a unique code affixed to the food packaging of fresh fruits or vegetables, carrying comprehensive information about the produce from origin to disposal recommendation. Consumers or supermarkets can decode this information to trace the food's source of production, plucking date, storage conditions, current nutritional value, environmental impact, ripening stage, and potential repurpose options if overripe, or disposal of packaging waste. At TCS, our food research team is integrating physics-based models with a resilient supply chain to make the digital food passport a viable commercial solution.
What implications will this hold for stakeholders across the food value chain?
For food producers
- Branding and trust: Strengthens brand value, builds customer loyalty, and enhances consumer trust.
- Efficient recall management: Enables rapid and precise recalls during food safety incidents, reducing consumer risk.
- Operational efficiency: Streamlines supply chains through real‑time data, enabling more cost‑effective operations.
For supermarkets and retailers
- Improved inventory and pricing: Real‑time insights support smarter pricing decisions, timely stock clearance, including dynamic pricing for near‑ripe produce to reduce food waste.
- Green points and carbon credits: Supports sustainable business practices, helping retailers earn green points and carbon credits.
- Support for SDGs: Directly contributes to the UN sustainability development goals 2, 3, 11, 12, 13, and 17 by minimising food wastage and promoting sustainable consumption.
For consumers
- End‑to‑end traceability: Access to detailed product information, such as source, quality, and optimal consumption time, enabling informed choices.
- Dietary nutrition matching: Combines user profiles with product nutrition data to support personalised dietary decisions.
- Validation of organic and ethical Claims: Builds trust in claims such as organic, vegan, and naturally grown, justifying premium pricing for verified quality produce.
WHAT A DIGITAL FOOD PASSPORT CAN ENABLE
- Transparency
It enables users and stakeholders to make informed, data-driven decisions by providing retailers with the necessary tools to authenticate and verify the provenance of fresh food. This creates transparency throughout the entire supply chain, allowing consumers to trust the quality of food and the origin of purchases.
- Supply chain optimisation
Farmers and intermediaries can significantly enhance food traceability while identifying potential issues within the supply chain. They can gain real-time visibility into the journey of produce from farm to consumer, enabling proactive problem resolution and quality assurance measures.
- AI-powered consumer insights
Consumers can leverage artificial intelligence capabilities to assess shelf life and freshness indicators of fruits and other produce. They can also receive personalised recipe recommendations based on available ingredients, maximising the utility of purchased items and reducing food waste.
- Circular economy integration
Location-based services can help users identify nearby recycling centres for food packaging materials and composting facilities for organic food waste. This promotes environmental sustainability by reducing carbon footprints and encouraging responsible disposal practices.
Figure 1: Benefits of Digital Passport for food traceability and freshness
Why it matters for businesses
- Drives market growth: Empowers farmers and smaller suppliers to compete in premium markets.
- Enables data-driven decisions: Access to real-time supply chain data for smarter forecasting, inventory, and compliance.
- Future-proof: Can easily integrate with future technologies like Internet of Things (IoT) sensors (temperature, humidity tracking), proof for food insurance claims, advanced analytics, responsible disposal of food waste and food packaging, and even international compliance requirements.
- Trust and data security: Built-in safeguards can prevent fraud, ensure tamper-proof records, and protect privacy.
- Scalability: Cloud-based setup ensures reliability even as the network grows.
Digital food passports are likely to become mandatory in the next 5-10 years. With the use of quantum ledger technologies, TCS is well-positioned to gain an early advantage in rapidly scaling the food supply chain, especially as high implementation costs continue to slow adoption across the industry.
We aim to minimise food waste, facilitate better decision-making for buyers and sellers, ensure consumption of climacteric fruit at its peak nutritional value, and foster a sustainable food ecosystem for the future.
Read more about our ongoing research on the digital food passport.