As organizations grapple to find solutions to the twin problem of resource shortages and food waste, technology used by NASA could provide a timely solution.

Hyperspectral imaging — a form of technology which uses images to measure chemical information — has been used by the U.S. space agency for decades. But now, thanks to cost reductions, its applications have become more widespread and are impacting a variety of industries including the food sector.

California-based ImpactVision uses that technology to help producers conduct tests more accurately and manage their supply chains without wasting food, the company's co-founder and CEO, Abi Ramanan, told CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, China on Tuesday.

Using photographs, its software is able to assess a range of information about a food item ranging from its ripeness to the presence of contamination. All that is done without taking any physical samples or probing them, as most traditional methods require.