Thai Airways joins Food Waste Management program

[webfact]

Thai Airways joins Food Waste Management program

 

   

BANGKOK (NNT) - Thai Airways International has joined the Food Waste Management program initiated by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MSDHS) to minimize waste in food production, as the world is now faced with 1.3 billion tons of unmanageable food waste each year.

 

The Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Warawut Silpa-archa, and the Minister of Transport Saksayam Chidchob have announced the start of the Food Waste Management program to help reduce waste. The program is supported by Food Innopolis, the National Science and Technology Development Agency, Thai Airways International, and Thai Smile Airways.

 

The Minister of Transport said today that Thai Airways will improve its food production lines and supply chain management to reduce unnecessary waste, starting with ingredient sourcing, meal planning, cooking processes, and cabin loading.

 

The airline is working to reduce cabin waste and regulate the nmber of meals loaded onto each flight to minimize leftovers which often go to waste. Thai Airways has developed a Pre-Selected Menu option for passengers to book their meal preferences in advance, which will be introduced on Thai Airways operated flights to and from European destinations this year, and further extended to all flights next year.

 

The airline expects this new service will help reduce by 20 percent the number of unwanted meals onboard, reduce 400 kilograms of ingredients daily, and saving 20 million baht each year.

 

The Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment says food waste is a pressing social issue yet to be properly managed, and can be a major source of greenhouse gas emission. The United Nations has estimated that 1.3 billion tons or one third of all food manufactured each year goes to waste, leading to one of the Sustainable Development Goals being to cut down of food waste by half by 2030.

 

In Thailand, food waste from consumed and unconsumed food accounts to 33-50 percent of all waste. The MSDHS aims to deploy innovations to help reduce food waste, such as by analyzing the ingredients used by airlines to produce meals and finding suitable technology to improve efficiency and reduce waste during the manufacturing process. Such technologies include a tool that can determine the ripeness of fruit, which can tell acurately at what stage most of the fruit can be used for cooking, reducing the discard rate which would have become waste.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2020-01-24

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[Chazar]

Thatll  fix  the airline, im already  planning to  book with them now  they have seriously dealt  with their  issues................hoorah!

[RJRS1301]

Easy, just become the budjet airline they often feel like, with the exception of the drinks trolley. Food in economy has become pretty average anyway, so reduce prices etc and legitimise what they have been doing for years

[ChipButty]

It's all garbage

[ezzra]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Thai Airways International has joined the Food Waste Management program initiated by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MSDHS) to minimize waste in food production, as the world is now faced with 1.3 billion tons of unmanageable food waste each year.

Boggle the minds that only now Thai found the inclenations and light bulb went on to try to reduce wastage in their operations, i mean controlling wastage is one of the things to do when you run any small or large operations it like Duh, what? you haven't got that under control already? but this is Thai...

[RotBenz8888]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

unwanted meals onboard

Maybe the inedible omelettes can be recycled as sponges?

[RichardColeman]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The airline expects this new service will help reduce by 20 percent the number of unwanted meals onboard, reduce 400 kilograms of ingredients daily, and saving 20 million baht each year.

Of course they could just make meals that people want to finish, instead of opening them and saying 'Meh, just a beer please'

[bluesofa]

I wonder what happens to complete unconsumed meals? Could they not be given to a food bank for the public to collect? Do food banks exist in Thailand?

 

How about food waste from partly consumed meals, where does that go at present? I would have thought it could be given to farm animals to eat. (I do mean those in the fields, not the ones looking after them)

 

[Grumpy John]

3 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

I wonder what happens to complete unconsumed meals? Could they not be given to a food bank for the public to collect? Do food banks exist in Thailand?

 

How about food waste from partly consumed meals, where does that go at present? I would have thought it could be given to farm animals to eat. (I do mean those in the fields, not the ones looking after them)

 

What the h@ll do you have against farm animals?  I for one don't want to  be eating animals that has been feed waste.   It's up to the airlines to start serving food that people want to eat. 

[terryw]

Yesterday on my Thai Airways flight they did not have enough vegetarian meals. Maybe by failing to provide their customers with a meal is their new way of reducing food waste.

[ChrisY1]

1 hour ago, ChipButty said:

It's all garbage

What???....You can't talk about Thai Airways food like that!

[bluesofa]

30 minutes ago, Grumpy John said:

What the h@ll do you have against farm animals?  I for one don't want to  be eating animals that has been feed waste.   It's up to the airlines to start serving food that people want to eat. 

Ah, you only want to eat the ones which were fed the complete first-class meals. That's very ethical.

[bkk6060]

20 minutes ago, terryw said:

Yesterday on my Thai Airways flight they did not have enough vegetarian meals. Maybe by failing to provide their customers with a meal is their new way of reducing food waste.

Did you fail to prebook your special meal?

[Sydebolle]

Best regards to the boys in menu planning and the catering. Look on how much of your <deleted> food is returned when you clear the trays of incoming flights, where you provided the food. 

Less could be more, be it food as well as the avalanche of waste. Flew domestically on a TG flight operated by WE (Thai Smile), was given a solid paper bag with proper string handles containing a refreshment towel, a plastic bottle (specially packed) of RO water, a specially packed and inside plastic wrapped funny little blueish toast. Nobody left and right ate it and returned it with a disgusting look into the paper bag. Don’t tell me that you recycle the paper - all waste, from food to packaging! 

[bluesofa]

10 minutes ago, Sydebolle said:

Best regards to the boys in menu planning and the catering. Look on how much of your <deleted> food is returned when you clear the trays of incoming flights, where you provided the food. 

Less could be more, be it food as well as the avalanche of waste. Flew domestically on a TG flight operated by WE (Thai Smile), was given a solid paper bag with proper string handles containing a refreshment towel, a plastic bottle (specially packed) of RO water, a specially packed and inside plastic wrapped funny little blueish toast. Nobody left and right ate it and returned it with a disgusting look into the paper bag. Don’t tell me that you recycle the paper - all waste, from food to packaging! 

Didn't some airline staff used to ask if you wanted a towel, then if confirmed proceeded to give you a warm towel?

That would reduce waste, but be slightly more time consuming.

[Sydebolle]

4 hours ago, bluesofa said:

Didn't some airline staff used to ask if you wanted a towel, then if confirmed proceeded to give you a warm towel?

That would reduce waste, but be slightly more time consuming.

Those were the days indeed. I remember the real crockery with real cutlery in coach class - took dishwashing at destination though. 

On short distances in Europe you sometimes get a appetizing sandwich of various choices, hygienically wrapped in cling wrap which you can choose to take - or to leave = zero waste. Soft drinks are served in plastic or paper cups from a 2 liter bottle = limited waste. 

But yeah, it is slightly more time consuming and more personal - something the low cost carriers (which does not apply to Thai Airways in pricing only but certainly in lousy service) are definitely not known for. 

Wondering where all that waste ends ultimately .......... 

[RJRS1301]

7 hours ago, bluesofa said:

I wonder what happens to complete unconsumed meals? Could they not be given to a food bank for the public to collect? Do food banks exist in Thailand?

 

How about food waste from partly consumed meals, where does that go at present? I would have thought it could be given to farm animals to eat. (I do mean those in the fields, not the ones looking after them)

 

They have been heated mostly, and therefore would not suitable for consumption after a short period of time.

Probably find health authorities woud not allow recycling to farm animals due to risk of bacterial growth and contamination and infecting animals.

 

[bluesofa]

1 minute ago, RJRS1301 said:

They have been heated mostly, and therefore would not suitable for consumption after a short period of time.

Probably find health authorities woud not allow recycling to farm animals due to risk of bacterial growth and contamination and infecting animals.

Is that serious? I'll stand corrected, but I seem to remember animals being fed slops years ago?

[RJRS1301]

1 minute ago, bluesofa said:

Is that serious? I'll stand corrected, but I seem to remember animals being fed slops years ago?

 

1 minute ago, bluesofa said:

Is that serious? I'll stand corrected, but I seem to remember animals being fed slops years ago?

Not sure I said "probably" as that is what occurs in some of the countries I am aware of about food being recycled to animals

[ChipButty]

21 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Is that serious? I'll stand corrected, but I seem to remember animals being fed slops years ago?

A friend of mine when we were kids his family had a pig farm and they used to go around the local schools in the afternoons collecting left overs from diner and they used to have these big vats and boil the waste and give it as pig feed

[JustAnotherHun]

TG? Food waste managment program? For what? Don't their customers eat it anymore?

[RJRS1301]

32 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

A friend of mine when we were kids his family had a pig farm and they used to go around the local schools in the afternoons collecting left overs from diner and they used to have these big vats and boil the waste and give it as pig feed

Yeah used to happen from supermarkets and bakeries, but not allowed in a lot countries, seems like a lot of waste to compost or landfill, but liability issues from insurance companies I guess

[overherebc]

11 hours ago, RotBenz8888 said:

Maybe the inedible omelettes can be recycled as sponges?

They can be easily inflated and used as a flotation aid.

[overherebc]

2 hours ago, ChipButty said:

A friend of mine when we were kids his family had a pig farm and they used to go around the local schools in the afternoons collecting left overs from diner and they used to have these big vats and boil the waste and give it as pig feed

Strangely enough some british army units in germany had a piggery and the left overs from the cookhouse went to the pigs. They had some of the biggest pigs and best tasting meat you could find out there.

[Orton Rd]

Theirs is honestly the worst food I have eaten on any airline

[PhilAtUbon]

1 hour ago, Orton Rd said:

Theirs is honestly the worst food I have eaten on any airline

I LOVE IT!!!

I always ask for seconds ????

[White Christmas13]

2 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Theirs is honestly the worst food I have eaten on any airline

Well you must have been flying a different TG then me, I fly every few

months because it's the only direct flight from Perth to BKK, and I always

had a decent meal and a few free drinks.

[shy coconut]

19 hours ago, terryw said:

Yesterday on my Thai Airways flight they did not have enough vegetarian meals. Maybe by failing to provide their customers with a meal is their new way of reducing food waste.

Among their plans is to allow customers to pre order their food choices, so if you

fly with them again then perhaps you will be able to order a vegetarian option.

 

This, I imagine will be a good thing for you.

[shy coconut]

18 hours ago, Sydebolle said:

Best regards to the boys in menu planning and the catering. Look on how much of your <deleted> food is returned when you clear the trays of incoming flights, where you provided the food. 

Less could be more, be it food as well as the avalanche of waste. Flew domestically on a TG flight operated by WE (Thai Smile), was given a solid paper bag with proper string handles containing a refreshment towel, a plastic bottle (specially packed) of RO water, a specially packed and inside plastic wrapped funny little blueish toast. Nobody left and right ate it and returned it with a disgusting look into the paper bag. Don’t tell me that you recycle the paper - all waste, from food to packaging! 

I thought the food on Thai smile was ok for free, certainly not Michelin worthy, but for a snack

on a short flight was ok, when I have paid extra to sit up front, the food was good

for a budget airline, again not award winning, but more than adequate.

 

I always finish everything on my plate anywhere I eat, it comes from having 9 siblings

and being raised in the 60's where my parents had memories of war time rationing,

so to waste food was frowned upon.

[Chazar]

2 hours ago, shy coconut said:

Among their plans is to allow customers to pre order their food choices, so if you

fly with them again then perhaps you will be able to order a vegetarian option.

 

This, I imagine will be a good thing for you.

I always   pre  order my  kosher halal vegetarian gluten free bland meal  before  flying.......guess if  any of those  nut  jobs  were somewhere starving to death religion (fantasy bs) might not  be too  important to them then