The news keeps coming through of initiatives and activities designed to combat the loss of food throughout the supply chain.
FoodDrinkEurope’s Every Crumb Counts event being held on 25 June will see the launch of two documents: a Joint Stakeholder Declaration on Food Wastage entitled Every Crumb Counts and FoodDrinkEurope’s novel online toolkit entitled Maximising food resources: a toolkit for food manufacturers on avoiding food wastage.
According to a study from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in Europe alone nearly 50% of all fresh produce never makes it to the plate, and according to a 2011 study of the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology commissioned by FAO (Food & Agriculture Organisation), about a third of food for human consumption (around 1.3 billion tonnes) is lost or wasted globally each year. This is all with the backdrop of a world where 830 million people are chronically malnourished, and where the main food-producing nations are the ones being affected by food shortage every day.
This all has a substantial environmental impact in terms of wasted resources, but also carbon emissions, according to FoodDrinkEurope. Interestingly, it’s also costly for consumers, setting the average household back around €58 per month.
Food is wasted throughout the whole food chain, from farmers to consumers, but it generally doesn’t happen at the same level of the food supply chain. In developing countries, over 40% of food losses happen after harvest and during processing, while in industrialised countries, over 40% occurs at retail and consumer level.
The Save Foods initiative aims to raise awareness in the food industry, politics and civil society and help the populations that face food and water deprivation by engaging in ‘new ways to safe food’.
As transportation time is just one of many reasons why food goes to waste worldwide, Maersk has decided to join the action by sharing its expertise. The company operates SupoTec and Star Cool CA Technologies (which reduce energy consumption by up to 20%) and make it possible, for instance, to ship food from South America to Central Asia and maintain the nutritional value and freshness of the products.
Maersk Containers Industry will now organise workshops and seminars to engage the food industry and the public on the procedures of shipping goods, and try to raise awareness.
News like this always nudges me to think personally about my own food waste, and makes me proud to write about an industry that’s doing so much to make a difference in this important area. It’s thought-provoking stuff, and with the initiatives taking place at all levels of the industry, it’s hopefully something that we can all become involved in.
We will be covering more news of FoodDrinkEurope’s activities in the area of food waste in the next issue of Food & Beverage International, and I’d be interested to hear what you’re doing about food waste, so do get in touch. Email me here.
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