Have you ever wondered where all the expired(过期的) food in the supermarket goes? Well, some is given away to food banks and some is used to feed animals. But much of it unluckily ends up as rubbish. A report shows that around 300,000 metric tons of food is wasted per year. That is a quite enormous number, enough to feed millions of people around the world for several days.
To reduce(减少) food waste, many supermarkets in the UK have started using an AI system developed by Wasteless, an Israeli company, to mark the prices of food dynamically(动态地). The system is able to check if a product is going to be expired, and then decide whether to reduce its price or not.
If the amount of the product is still large, the price might be lowered a lot. But if the product is in high demand(需求), the drop in price will be less. The system helps sell the food before it becomes expired.
"The system can help reduce food waste greatly. It can also let stores know what products are not popular. That can prevent them from over-ordering," the company says.
But while the new system means less food waste, it might make it hard for customers to know how much a product costs at first. And uncertain prices can also be a challenge for those who are not that rich. Besides, it may even make some products more expensive in certain areas than in others, if they are in great demand.