Globally, over 800 million people struggle with frequent hunger even as about one-third of all the food produced in the world is wasted, much of it due to spoilage. Wasted food accounts for about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions and causes economic losses of over $930 billion each year.

With that in mind, scientists in DuPont’s Nutrition and Biosciences (N&B) business have been working on new techniques to increase the shelf life of food staples like bread and cheese. Recent successes include our POWERFresh® anti-staling enzymes and DIMODAN® HP 75 SG emulsifiers, which extend the shelf life of baked goods like breads and rolls while improving taste and texture. Another N&B breakthrough is HOLDBAC® Protective Cultures, which help keep white cheeses fresh up to three times longer, without compromising taste.

If applied on a global scale, HOLDBAC® cultures could reduce waste in this category by as much as 50–60%, saving about 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂e). That's the same as taking about 170,000 cars off the road for a year. Our scientists have also developed similar solutions for extending the shelf life of yogurt and other food products.

 ^{https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/11-09-2018-global-hunger-continues-to-rise---new-un-report-says}

 ^{http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/mb060e/mb060e.pdf}

 ^{http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/nr/sustainability_pathways/docs/FWF_and_climate_change.pdf}

 ^{https://www.dupontnutritionandbiosciences.com/product-range/food-enzymes/bakery-enzymes/powerfresh.html}

 ^{https://www.dupontnutritionandbiosciences.com/products/dimodan.html}