Tech is helping grocery stores waste less food. That’s a problem for food banks

First, the good news: Grocery stores are getting better at cutting food waste. AI tools can help better predict demand for each product, for example, and help a store reduce waste by more than a third. Other tech can help stores sell food before it expires. But there’s a catch—some food banks say that now they’re getting fewer donations. How retailers are getting better at wasting less Demand forecasting software is becoming widely used, with deep learning models that can predict how much of an item might sell based on everything from the weather forecast to the timing of food stamps. Afresh, one tool, is now in use in more than 12,000 grocery departments, and says that it has helped prevent more than 200 million pounds of food waste. Stores are less likely to overorder—in some cases, the AI handles ordering directly—and less food is thrown out. Guac, another AI ordering tool, says that its customers have been able to reduce food waste by as much as 38%. Another startup, Crisp, also forecasts demand to place orders, then uses artificial intelligence to better estimate shelf life, allowing retailers to intervene and change the price on produce, meat, or other perishable food so it …