Guiyang, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- On the one hand, there is a high premium, and on the other hand, there is a high loss report -- a survey of the waste phenomenon of bakeries.
Xinhua News Agency "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporters Xiang Wenhao, Jiang Cheng, Yang Xin.
A piece of bread costs tens of yuan, a piece of toast costs hundreds of yuan, and a cake costs a few hundred yuan ......In recent years, the topic of "bread assassin" has been on the hot search many times. At the same time, some bakeries can fill a sack of bread in a day, and some report a loss rate of more than 50%.
Xinhua Vision" reporter recently found in some bakery stores that some businesses adopt marketing methods such as high pricing, large packaging, and filling shelves, resulting in an abnormally high loss rate and serious waste.
Some stores discard unsold bread directly.
It's so sad to have to throw away so much elaborate bread every night after 10pm! A bakery clerk in a western city said that he was responsible for counting and packing the bread that was not sold that day, putting it in a black bag and discarding it. The bread will go to the wet waste treatment plant. The clerk said that the bread discarded every day from Monday to Thursday can fill a sack, and from Friday to Sunday it can also be filled with half a sack every day.
Similar sights are not unique. At around 9 p.m., the shelves of a variety of steamed buns and bread were left over in the Chinese pastry sales area of a large supermarket in the city; Compared with the number of pastries that the reporter saw at noon, there was still nearly half left. "If the discount is not sold at noon the next day, the noodles will have to be reported as lost. The clerk said.
Ms. Wen, a consumer in Guiyang City, usually likes to eat bread, and sometimes when she goes to buy bread at night, she encounters the store and throws away a large amount of unsold bread, which is a pity. "On the one hand, it is expensive, and on the other hand, there is a lot of waste, is there no way to balance? She said.
The lifeline of a bakery product is only 4 hours at most, and the taste changes as soon as the time passes. There is a risk of expiration after 24 hours. Tang Yungu, a food sales manager in Guiyang, told reporters that how to deal with unsold products is a big problem.
There are two types of loss reporting, one is to return to the factory for reuse, for example, we will cooperate with breeding enterprises to convert unsellable products into feed; The other is to throw it away quietly. Tang Yungu said.
The person in charge of a number of baking companies told reporters that a daily margin of 5% to 10% means that the loss rate is in a healthy range. The reporter recently visited 20 bakery stores in a provincial capital city in the west and found that more than half of the stores had a product loss rate of more than 10% of the industry average; Thirteen stores chose to bagged and discarded directly, while the remaining seven stores said that the remaining goods would be shipped back to the manufacturer for damage or used as animal feed.
A brand bakery chain will throw away the food that is not sold out on the same day. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xiang Wenhao.
The leader of a catering loss reduction team in Shanghai recently visited 10 bakeries and found that thousands of breads were thrown away half an hour before closing, and the loss rate of some stores even exceeded 50%.
Why is there a high rate of loss reporting and a lot of waste?
Industry insiders believe that it is an industry practice to report and dispose of unsold bread, but some business strategies that ignore social benefits exacerbate waste in the baking industry.
A bakery clerk said that during the baking process of bread, there were some defective products that were not very good-looking, made a little smaller, and baked a little burnt, which were not good, so they had to be thrown away.
Blindly pursue "big" packaging and "full" shelves. In recent years, large warehouses have become popular, and bakery products have repeatedly "gone out of the circle". However, some large supermarkets only sell bread in large packages, and almost do not provide small portion options, making it difficult for ordinary consumers to eat all of them within the expiration date.
Some supermarkets and bakeries pursue the visual impact of full shelves. "The variety must be complete and the windows must be full, so as to arouse consumers' desire to buy. If customers see that the windows are empty, they will turn around and leave, and there are even shops that bake bread at night. The head of operations of a large chain supermarket said.
The brand premium is high, so it is "impossible to lose" if the loss is high. Industry insiders told reporters that the baking industry is a traditional high-premium industry, even if the loss and waste are added, the gross profit margin still has a large space.
In order to promote the so-called 'extreme' brand image, many chain bakery companies would rather throw away products that cannot be sold than discount** to reduce waste. Mr. Xu, the person in charge of a baking company, said.
A bakery clerk admits that if the remaining products are discounted**, the discount is too large, it may affect the normal sales of bread, and some customers may deliberately wait until the discount is made before buying.
Take multiple measures to reduce food waste.
Shu Sheng, a lawyer at Beijing Mengzhen Law Firm, said that in accordance with the anti-food waste law, if food producers and traders seriously waste food in the process of food production and operation, local people's market supervision and management, commerce and other departments at or above the county level can interview their legal representatives or main responsible persons. The interviewed food producers and traders shall immediately make corrections.
In 2021, a bakery in Nanjing was interviewed by the local market supervision department for violating the anti-food waste law for scrapping a large number of "unsightly" bread, and the store was ordered to rectify.
Interviewed industry insiders believe that in addition to regulating the behavior of businesses in accordance with the law, enterprises should also be guided to enhance their sense of social responsibility and sustainable development, and reduce the loss and waste caused by business strategies such as high premiums, "greed for perfection" and "visual impact".
Shan Zhiming, executive deputy secretary general of the Baking Industry Association of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, suggested that large supermarkets and baking enterprises can be encouraged to do a good job in market research and front-end data analysis, so as to produce and sell in a targeted manner and reduce unnecessary waste.
At present, the baking industry is still relatively weak in logistics, retail system construction and preservation technology, which virtually increases the cost of reporting loss products. Industry experts believe that baking enterprises should be encouraged to invest in research and development and improve technology in relevant links, so as to facilitate enterprises to report loss products.
Tang Yungu said that the company currently uses a five-fold sales method of blind boxes to deal with the damaged products on the same day. "By measuring the sales volume of each product, pre-selecting products with sales potential, and scientifically combining products at different prices into blind boxes to ensure the balance of cost and profit. In this way, the loss rate can be reduced by two percentage points per store. ”
Maintaining product quality cannot be an excuse for waste. A bakery clerk in Beijing suggested that the store should distribute defective products that meet food safety requirements and unsold food to employees as free benefits for internal "digestion".
Shu Shenglai believes that market supervision and other departments should not only implement the requirements of the anti-food waste law, urge relevant enterprises to improve management and reduce waste, but also help enterprises reduce the cost of remaining food disposal and reduce worries by building a platform and creating conditions.