How Hilton cuts food losses with Essence Food?
Taste Tomorrow Today
Essence Food is an innovative proposal that applies advanced food technologies to upcycle fruit and vegetable surpluses by manufacturing functional foods with a high nutritional value and long shelf life.
Essence Food is ushering in a new era in the food industry with a vision committed to sustainable development. In addition to moving towards zero food waste, we’re also providing transparent data about origin, quality, nutrients, and effects on consumers, along with the life-cycle ecological impacts of each bite of our foodstuffs.
Waste prevention, recycling, and food upcycling and donation are all key components of a greener hospitality industry.
Hilton has pledged to reduce their waste, including food waste, by 50% by 2030.
The partnership between Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona and Essence Food provides an excellent example of how transforming leftover fruit stock into crunchy amenities and smoothies can prevent lots of food waste.
WHY DO WE DEHYDRATE?
Fruits and vegetables contain essential dietary nutrients, like vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber, that are all important for a balanced diet. These nutrients minimize the risk of potential deficiencies and help us to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
However, their high water content (over 80%) makes them highly perishable products. Drying them is an adequate method to preserve these foods in safe and stable conditions, by reducing the activity of the water, thus extending their shelf life to even 10+ years.
But most drying methods don’t retain Vitamin C, aroma, cell structure and other important qualities.
With Essence Food’s technologies and know-how, these things are all maintained, along with the extracted water. Our dried foods are flavourful, nutritious, well-balanced, and easy to store and use.
Achievements of the Hilton trial period
Before engaging in a partnership, we ran a trial period of 5 freeze-drying cycles. Essence Food’s cloud solutions were received, analyzed, and certified by FAIR Food Data, and these are the results of the Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona trial:
- Number of cycles: 5
- Raw Product/cycle (kgs): 14
- Average % water extracted: 88%
- Freeze Dried Product (kgs): 9
- Saved CO2e (kgs): 171
- Water saved (l): 61 418
- Electricity consumed (kWh): 135 (51.3 kg CO2e gas burned in Barcelona Power Plant)
The advantages of our drying method
Easy storage and transport
- Less weight and volume
- No refrigeration needed
- No risk of mold
- Kills almost all germs and bacteria in the process
- The material can be stored for up to 20 years
No quality loss
- Drying in low temperatures better retains vitamins, nutrients and active ingredients
- Aromas are better preserved than with other drying processes
- Better taste and consistency
- Original shape and structure is retained in a crunchy format, and is easy to powderize
- Can be rehydrated
Drying can be accomplished in 12 hours
By matching the supply and demand, Hilton uses the machine to lyophilise berries, peach, mango and pineapple.
Find the related entries from our Food Library:
Water footprint (l/kg): 255
Carbon footprint (CO2-equivalent kg/kg): 1.8
Main values in edible part: Fibre, vitamin C, manganese
Main values in seeds/core: Bromelain, lipids, dietary fibre, vitamin C, vitamin E and hemicellulose, β-carotene, carotenoids (lutein,cryptoxanthin), calcium
Main values in skin: Pectin, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, bromelain, vitamin C, A and E, phenolic compounds, bromelain
Other values in crown: dietary fiber, calcium, potassium and manganese
Benefits:
Bromelain → Antioxidant, digestion improvement, and cardioprotective agent
Vitamin C → Delaying osteoblast aging and monitoring diabetic progression
Dietary fiber → Healing bowel movement, constipation, and gastrointestinal function
Manganese → alleviation of skeletal defects, blood glucose level control, and aids in insulin resistance as well as Type 2 diabetes
Pectin → prebiotic agent
Vitamin E helps maintain healthy skin and eyes, and strengthen the body’s natural defense against illness and infection (the immune system)
Lignin → Good colonic fermentability
Cellulose, Hemicellulose → Decrease postprandial plasma glucose levels
Bromelain → promoted as a dietary supplement for reducing pain and swelling, especially of the nose and sinuses, gums, and other body parts after surgery or injury
Cryptoxanthin → roles in antioxidant defense and cell-to-cell communication. Most importantly, beta-cryptoxanthin is a precursor of vitamin A, which is an essential nutrient needed for eyesight, growth, development and immune response.
Magnesium→it is needed for muscles and nerves to work properly, to keep blood sugar and blood pressure at the right level, and to make protein, bone, and DNA. Low levels of magnesium over time can lead to low calcium and potassium levels.
Vitamin B1→ anti- metabolic diseases
β-carotene (provitamin A) → nutrient that the body readily converts into vitamin A, supports eye health and prevents eye diseases.
Lutein→prevent eye diseases, including cataracts and a disease that leads to vision loss in older adults
Calcium → regulates blood pressure, decreases serum cholesterol and in combination with vitamin D enhances bone health
fiber → Healing bowel movement, constipation, and gastrointestinal function
Water footprint (l/kg): 1800
Carbon footprint (CO2-equivalent kg/kg): 4.4
Main values in edible part:vitamin A, B3, C, phenolic compounds, carotenoids, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium
Main values in seeds/core: phenolic compounds, carotenoids, vitamin C, dietary fibre, essential amino acids, oleic and stearic acids, potassium, copper, zinc, manganese, iron, selenium
Main values in skin: vitamin C and E, phenolic compounds and carotenoids
Benefits:
Essential amino acids→ which you must get through your diet, they play a role in preventing muscle breakdown and maintaining body mass
Stearic acid→ an emulsifier, emollient, and lubricant that can soften skin and help to keep products from separating
Copper→it helps maintain healthy bones, blood vessels, nerves, and immune function, and it contributes to iron absorption
Potassium→it helps maintain normal levels of fluid inside our cells and muscles to contract and supports normal blood pressure
Iron→ anti anemia, it needs for growth and development
Manganese → alleviation of skeletal defects, blood glucose level control, and aids in insulin resistance as well as Type 2 diabetes
Oleic acid→ it works to fight free radical damage, reduce inflammation and boost your immune system
Selenium→ it helps boost immune function, improving hair and nail health, and supporting a healthy thyroid
Zinc→ helps your immune system and metabolism function
Vitamin C → Delaying osteoblast aging and monitoring diabetic progression
Vitamin E→ helps maintain healthy skin and eyes, and strengthen the body’s natural defense against illness and infection (the immune system)
Vitamin B3→ anti- cardiovascular diseases
Phenolic compounds→ it helps in avoiding chronic hyperglycemia, enhances carbohydrates metabolism and has antimicrobial effects
Carotenoids→natural colorants, antioxidants
Magnesium→it is needed for muscles and nerves to work properly, to keep blood sugar and blood pressure at the right level, and to make protein, bone, and DNA. Low levels of magnesium over time can lead to low calcium and potassium levels
Phosphorus→ It plays an important role in how the body uses carbohydrates and fats, because it helps the body to make ATP, a molecule the body uses to store energy. It is also needed for the body to make protein for the growth and repair of damaged cells and tissues and keep the bones strong and healthy
Water footprint (l/kg): 347
Carbon footprint (CO2-equivalent kg/kg): 0.7
Main values in edible part: Vitamin C, A, E, K, B6, folate, flavonoids and phenolic acids
Benefits:
Vitamin C→ acts as an antioxidant and helps in improving the skin texture
Vitamin E→ antioxidant and anticancer
Vitamin A→ anti- eyesight diseases
Vitamin K → helps to make various proteins that are needed for blood clotting and the building of bones
Vitamin B6 → immune system
Folate → reduces blood cholesterol concentrations and reduces risk of heart diseases
Flavonoids → antioxidants
Phenolic acids → antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunoregulatory, anti-allergic, anti-atherogenic, anti-microbial, anti-thrombotic, cardioprotective, and anti-cancer activities and anti- diabetic properties
Water footprint (l/kg): 910
Carbon footprint (CO2-equivalent kg/kg): 1.1
Main values in edible part: phenolic compounds, vitamin C, A and E, carotenoids, vitamin K, iron, potassium, fluorine
Main values in seeds/core:phenolic compounds, antioxidant essential oils, essential fatty acids (oleic, linoleic)
Main values in skin:phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, iron, copper
Benefits:
Vitamin C→ acts as an antioxidant and helps in improving the skin texture
Vitamin E→ antioxidant and anticancer
Vitamin A→ anti- eyesight diseases
phenolic compounds→ it helps in avoiding chronic hyperglycemia, enhances carbohydrates metabolism and has antimicrobial effects
Copper→it helps maintain healthy bones, blood vessels, nerves, and immune function, and it contributes to iron absorption
Vitamin K→ helps to make various proteins that are needed for blood clotting and the building of bones
Potassium→helps maintain normal levels of fluid inside our cells and muscles to contract and supports normal blood pressure
Iron→ anti anemia, it needs for growth and development
Magnesium→it is needed for muscles and nerves to work properly, to keep blood sugar and blood pressure at the right level, and to make protein, bone, and DNA. Low levels of magnesium over time can lead to low calcium and potassium levels
Phosphorus→ It plays an important role in how the body uses carbohydrates and fats, because it helps the body to make ATP, a molecule the body uses to store energy. It is also needed for the body to make protein for the growth and repair of damaged cells and tissues and keep the bones strong and healthy
Fluorine→essential for the maintenance of solidity of our bones, protect us from dental decay
Oleic fatty acid→ It works to fight free radical damage, reduce inflammation and boost your immune system
We upcycle food into a format that can have a decades-long shelf life without refrigeration, while retaining its nutritional properties. A closed-loop system in the food chain additionally creates huge environmental, social and economic savings.
If we could utilize half of the current global food losses and waste, it would be enough to end world hunger!
Follow Essence Food on Social Media!
More about Essence Food
Essence Food holds an optimistic vision of the future where technology will help humanity to overcome the environmental and social crisis. Our solutions are evaluated according to ethical, social and environmental requirements for targeted interventions for current business processes.
In particular, Essence Food aims to become the number one company globally for the upcycling of food losses through freeze-drying and dehydration. We support operations of all sizes, from small-scale R&D pilot projects to large-scale manufacturing facilities.
Uncompromising in our commitment to fundamental principles, Essence Food takes a a broad view that enables us to identify several win-win scenarios, such as the brewery inside a beer factory that uses furniture manufactured from fiber sediment that was previously discarded after fermentation, or the hydroponic farm that uses water produced as a consequence of lyophilizing its own food waste.
Similarly, hotels can utilize their high quality fresh leftovers from their buffets to create their own products. Product possibilities are limitless, ranging from sachets with healthy snacks made from berries or exotic fruits to vegetable chips and nachos to powdered produce used for ready-to-mix smoothies, shakes, soups and sauces. Further applications include colorings and flavorings for desserts, cocktails, and ice cream, to name a few.
A noteworthy example is the use of freeze dried powder in 3D printing cartridges to print custom swag or branded food decoration.
To measure the outcome of the freeze-drying process and its environmental impact, Essence Food has developed software that is integrated into the machines and potentially provides remote control and monitoring of their operation. As a result, the company has digitized records of every cycle of production. Chains can combine these indicators from all of their locations and include them in their CSR reports.
Champions of a circular economy, Essence Food also aligns with the current shift towards sustainability, transparent supply chains and global open free markets. With connections to pioneers of web3, Essence Food solutions intend to join the emerging infrastructure for a FAIR data economy.
Users can access all operating data and follow production metrics or trace ingredient sources for batches through a customized page in our app. Customers can also view this information, which includes a complete nutritional analysis, by scanning QR codes located on the product package.