EU Food Loss and Waste Prevention Hub

August 2023

EU Food Safety

Dear readers,

Welcome to the Summer edition of the Hub’s newsletter!

We hope you had a great summer!

This newsletter brings you the latest news and resources from July and August, which show that work to prevent and reduce food losses and waste has not stopped during the summer season.

Get ready for the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (IDAFLW) on 29 September! Let us know how you are planning to mark the day: share your activities through the Hub by 16 September and we will include them in a special edition of the newsletter for the international day. Don’t miss the Get involved guide prepared by FAO for activity ideas and key messages!

In case you missed it, you can apply for an EU grant for actions to address consumer food waste (both in- and out-of-home) by 21 September! Find out more information here.

Happy reading and stay tuned for more information on IDAFLW 2023!

Save the date!

Food 2030 conference: Green and Resilient Food Systems

Are you interested in how R&I can drive the transitioning towards sustainable, resilient and inclusive food systems? Mark your calendar for the Food 2030 conference on 4-5 December in Brussels (in-person and online) hosted by DG Research and Innovation.

News

11,5 million portions of food saved and redistributed in 2022 by Boroume

Read the 2022 annual report of Boroume, celebrating the results and 10 years of food waste prevention activities in Greece.

The Prague Food Waste project will measure the amount of food waste in Czech households and public mass catering

Four organisations are behind the state funded project taking place in Prague between 2023 and 2025 measuring food waste in households and in schools, care homes and hospitals.

New survey in Denmark: More focus on food waste today than 15 years ago

A Gallup survey shows that 94 % of Denmark’s population think that there is more focus on food waste today than 15 years ago.

The IKEA Food Waste Initiative: "Food Is Precious"

Since 2017, IKEA has cut the production of food waste by 46%, which equals close to 15 million meals not thrown away. The goal is to cut production food waste in all IKEA restaurants, bistros and Swedish Food Markets around the world by half by the end of 2022.

HelloFresh co-initiates alliance for innovative time-temperature indicators to minimize food waste

Misunderstanding of “Best Before” and “Use By” expiration dates lead consumers to dispose of supposedly spoiled food. HelloFresh has announced a push for regulatory change towards innovative food labelling to address this.

Resources (highlights)

International Food Waste Coalition publishes food waste measurements and reporting methodology

International Food Waste Coalition (IFWC) publishes its food waste measurement methodology, tailored to the hospitality and contract catering sectors and aligned with international standards.

DNV - Group R&D Innovation Food Loss and Waste survey

As part of their Innovation project, DNV - Group R&D invites all stakeholders from the food industry, retail, food services, or logistics sectors to participate in their survey by 29 September.

Opinion on food donation and food waste from the Fit for Future Platform (F4F)

The Fit for Future Platform suggests a better integration and definition of food use hierarchy in some relevant European laws to help further facilitate in food donation.

Does cash really mean trash? An empirical investigation into the effect of retailer price promotions

Wageningen University & Research (WUR) research into price promotions found no evidence of a positive relationship with food waste. Promotion-induced over-buying seems to trigger a concern that encourages waste prevention.

Jointly Reducing Food Waste: the Experiences of the German Discussion Forum for Wholesale and Retail

The study contributes to filling the research gap in food waste studies and provides valuable insights for achieving SDG Target 12.3 in the German wholesale and retail sectors.

Swedish Board of Agriculture: Climate impact and economic losses due to food losses at farm level are significant

The results of two recent Swedish studies on food losses of milk, pork and beef at farm level are captured in a poster (in English), giving an overview of facts and recommendations to avoid losses at farm level.

This is the monthly newsletter of the EU Food Loss and Waste Prevention Hub, incorporating information on the latest activities of its members. The newsletter is created and disseminated by the Platform’s Secretariat, within the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety.

The contents of the newsletter do not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the European Commission. For more information about EU actions on food loss and waste prevention, please visit the European Commission’s Food waste website.

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ISSN: 2600-092X | EW-BP-20-001-EN-N