Spoiler Alert is an iOS application, soon to be available in web and Android versions, where businesses with surplus inventory can post it and get buyers for what otherwise would have been food wastage, according to reports from Techcrunch.com.
Businesses can donate their supplies to a charitable institution or can choose to sell it at lowered price to other businesses, like fertilizer and animal feed companies, when not edible anymore.
Founders Emily Malina and Ricky Ashenfelter say most companies deal with spoiled food the easiest way - by throwing it to landfills. In a year, the country can waste as much as $ 50 million worth of food. This figure is alarming in the midst of worldwide food hunger.
After its launch, eight organizations signed up, and have since then enjoyed the convenience of having their spoilage benefitting someone else.
The immediate goal of the founders is to create an application on food analytics. It will teach businesses to plan their inventory, and thus avoid having spoilage. The two met in MIT Sloan. Ashenfelter's work background was in a large food and agricultural company. Malina's forte was technology, developing applications for the public sector. Their combined skills and networks created the Spoiler Alert, based in Massachusetts, and available around New England . Their next target is New York.
States have already passed different laws banning and regulating food wastage. The Good Samaritan Food Donation Act encourages donating and protects donors up to certain extent. Worldwide, in France, throwing out of grocery items carries a hefty fee.
The founders state that the problem on wastage needs to be also approached from the economic point of view of the food industry. While many restaurants and fast foods continue to sprout, these companies enjoy but a minimum profit given the food that go to waste. "We offer a secondary market," shares Malina.
