Setting the standard: How to spot and stop specifications baking waste into food manufacturing

The recoverable waste happens at six key moments:

1. Preparation 40%
2. Operations 35%
3. Quality Control 18%
4. Giveaway 4%
5. Changeover 2%
6. Planning 1%

Four of these moments are all affected by one factor: specifications. Quality control and giveaway are directly driven by them, while preparation and changeover are indirectly influenced. This means that nearly two‑thirds (63%) of all recoverable waste in food manufacturing could be contributed to, at least in part, by specifications.

The issue in many cases has cropped up because the specifications agreed between the retailer and manufacturer cause waste, or are set by the product development teams without input from the manufacturing function.

These specifications are necessary in many cases to deliver the products customers want. However, sometimes this reflects a perception that consumers would reject this particular product with these particular cosmetic flaws. But often, it is unintentional: the people signing off the specifications (potentially years ago) weren’t aware that the thresholds for consistent colour, size, finish, weight and so on would cause repeating waste due to operational realities. They didn’t have the data, or a reason, to have a detailed conversation.

• Where is waste created because of specifications, not just process?
• What is the evidence that customers care about each of these specifications? What could be relaxed without causing quality of compliance issues?
• What are the costs of the waste in terms of physical product and labour? Who would need to agree changes?
• What data do you now have that you can use to convince stakeholders of the value of change (and de-risk the decision)?
• How can your team make the change happen and be on the look out for further opportunities?

To gain focus, it’s worth thinking first of the simplest example. Say, oranges being netted up to be shipped to a retailer. Common visual standards mean that a proportion of the oranges won’t be considered acceptable for sale in a premium supermarket but are still edible. These items will be set aside to be sent to a budget chain, to market traders or even a fruit juice company. Specifications can be reset to sell more to the premium supermarket potentially, but the proportion of oranges that are wasted is already relatively low.

More complex products, such as ready meals, are more difficult to redirect into different avenues, wasting both the physical food but also the labour that goes into making them. Here is where specifications can really be altered and perfected.

In action – Industry examples

We worked with a leading ready meal manufacturer to reduce waste by 20% and realise an annualised benefit of £10 million. By redesigning core processes and equipping teams with data and tools, they can now make smarter, faster, in-the-moment and long-term decisions on recipes and quality specifications, top waste reasons and ingredients. With continuous improvement cycles in place, waste is constantly reassessed and addressed.

At an iconic bakery firm, we introduced root cause analysis and causal machine learning. This delivered savings due to operational efficiency and waste reduction. From hundreds of variables, we pinpointed the small number of issues responsible for the majority of waste so the team could make adjustments on the line and when setting specifications. Now, the team is set up to spot trends, track progress and take the initiative to drive change around waste themselves.

Waste is created by hundreds of small decisions and millions of operational realities. But by setting insight‑led specifications for complex products, suppliers can start to unlock effective transformation, faster than they might think possible – cutting waste, unlocking savings and partnering with retailers to build a more resilient food system.