Dr. Mike von Massow, a food economist with U of G, shared his thoughts on a new app that aims to reduce food waste with Wired.

The app, called Too Good To Go, alerts users to nearby restaurants, bakeries or grocery stores with discounted food that would otherwise end up as food waste.

Von Massow called the app “a really cool idea” that will help restaurants save time and money since the app doesn’t tell customers what they’ll receive. But he added: “Are we going to solve the problem of hunger and food insecurity by just diverting food waste? No.”

Von Massow is a professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics in the Ontario Agricultural College. He researches retail and restaurant food demand, supply chain management, and value chain structure and performance.