Cool innovation targets zero food waste
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on many aspects of our lives. Lockdown has influenced not only how we make purchases, but also how we prepare and consume food. This has led to an increase in demand for certain domestic kitchen appliances. Italian start-up Mashcream has identified homemade ice cream as a potential growth sector. The company believes that enabling consumers to make products at home can also help to cut energy use, reduce food waste and encourage healthier eating. “In the ice cream industry, ice cream is produced at the beginning of the value chain,” explains project coordinator Giacomo Bizzarri, CEO and founder of Mashcream, Italy. “The product must then be stored all along the cold chain, from production through transport to storage at home. This uses an enormous amount of energy.” In addition, ice cream parlours have to prepare ice cream with the risk that it might not be sold and so thrown in the trash. “We thought we could cut the ice cream ‘cold chain’ with on-demand production at home,” adds Bizzarri. “We also wanted to offer a kit of healthy and organic ingredients.”
Ice cream on a plate
The Mashcream concept was inspired by a trip to Thailand, where ice cream is often made on a flat plate instead of on a concave surface, like in Italy. “I immediately thought that this was pretty cool,” says Bizzarri. “I wanted to develop something similar for Europe." Bizzarri and his team successfully designed a patented refrigerating unit. This device chills a flat plate upon which the Italian-style gelato is made. The system is designed to make home-made ice cream production simple and straightforward. A 6-month EU-funded project was launched in October 2019 to refine the technical aspects of the refrigerating unit. This work focused on reducing the size of the prototype. Bizzarri and his team were able to reduce the weight of the unit by at least 50 %. “We now think that the shell design is modern, but also classic, so that the machines will continue to look attractive in the future,” he explains. Target markets were also analysed, along with international consumption trends. “Market assessment and competitive benchmarking revealed several potential risks,” notes Bizzarri. “We were able to frame these according to their likelihood and degree of impact, and to develop contingency plans.”
Fighting food waste
Since completion of the project, Mashcream has established an important partnership with an Italian ice cream manufacturer. The manufacturer will prepare ice cream ingredient kits for Mashcream’s recipe, containing only 3 % fat. The company is also in the process of applying for small domestic appliance patents in Italy, the EU and the United States, and seeking interest from other industrial partners and potential investors to bring their innovation to market. “This project really helped us to confirm our concept and our objectives,” adds Bizzarri. “We want to further develop our business ideas and apply for further funding once there is more certainty surrounding the COVID-19 epidemic.” The Mashcream concept, Bizzarri believes, is fully in line with growing concern over food waste and energy consumption, and provides a novel solution that empowers consumers. “Bringing sustainable innovation and responsibility to how we make food is a critical element in this,” he says.
Keywords
Mashcream, ice cream, gelato, refrigerating, organic, ingredients, kitchen, food waste, COVID-19
