The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Sustainable Food Retailing: A Pathway to Reducing Waste and Enhancing Efficiency

Abstract

Food waste arises in the supply chain’s distribution, marketing, and consumption phases. Retailers face problems related to food waste since it increases operating costs, causing savings and loss of profitability. Due to food waste’s environmental, economic, and social impacts, food retailers increasingly incorporating artificial intelligence-based applications into their operations to increase efficiency and ensure sustainability. Demand forecasting, inventory management and optimization, dynamic pricing, supply chain, and order optimization are some of the main artificial intelligence applications utilized to address food waste. In line with this purpose, the paper aims to highlight the importance of artificial intelligence for reducing food waste in retailing. This study focuses on how food retailers increasingly leverage artificial intelligence to reduce food waste and improve sustainability across their operations. This research was conducted through case study and these cases provide applications of artificial intelligence to the food retail industry. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.