Quantificação do desperdício de leite UHT integral em função do tipo e design das embalagens

Abstract

Nowadays, where thousands of people worldwide suffer from hunger, wasting food is a sign of disrespect and indifference to others. Some milliliters of UHT milk, a food with a great nutritional value, have been wasted to be retained within its packaging. If we consider the general consumption of milk, the sum of these milliliters becomes very significant and worrying values. In addition, when in contact with the environment, especially with the waterways, that milk can cause great harm to the nature, due to its high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). There are no data available in the literature concerning the amount of this waste and the legislation on packaging does not determine the maximum allowed limit. Thus, the present study evaluated the UHT milk waste in different types of packaging through a created methodology based on preliminary tests, in order to generate real data to serve as a basis for public policy development on packaging. The samples of UHT milk were collected from food trades from Juiz de Fora and analyzed at the Laboratório de Análises de Alimentos e Águas of Pharmacy Faculty of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora. Nineteen different brands from UHT whole bovine milk and ten different kinds of packaging clustered according to manufacturing material, ring-type and dimensions, were found from food trades from Juiz de Fora. These ten different kinds of packaging are produced by four different manufacturers. The developed methodology was used to determine the volume of UHT whole milk that was wasted by each their packaging in two different conditions (without or with agitation of packaging). The first is independent of the movement made by the consumer to try to remove all the milk from its packaging, called waste without final agitation, with the average volume of waste between different kinds of packaging, ranging from (0.51 ± 0.04) mL to (14.7 ± 0.4) mL. The second situation is aimed to simulate the movement performed by consumers, called waste with final agitation, with the average volume of waste between different kinds of packaging, ranging from (0.43 ± 0.03) mL to (7.7 ± 0.4) mL. This waste also demonstrates that the consumer is being injured because he can not remove all the milk which has been purchased, part of it is retained inside the packaging. The large variation found among average volumes of waste milk between different kinds of packaging strengthens the influence of the packaging design on this waste. There is room for improvement, and the need to include clear guidelines on the packaging on how to serve the milk, in order to contribute to reduce this waste. The growing volume of consumption of UHT whole milk in one liter packaging should be considered to make efforts in order to reduce this waste and also contribute to food security and environmental protection.