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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are collaborating to achieve a more sustainable future. The three agencies have released a strategy to reach the national goal of reducing food loss and waste in the U.S. by 50% by 2030. In the U.S., nearly 100 million tons of the municipal waste stream is organic waste and food comprises 66 million tons of that waste. The ‘Draft National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics’ will identify opportunities to reduce food loss and waste across the entire supply chain. Robert M. Califf, FDA Commissioner, said: “The FDA supports the mission to reduce food loss and waste. While we look forward to our continued partnership with USDA and EPA, we also want Americans to feel empowered and confident in their ability to play a part in that mission. We encourage the public to comment on practical ways everyone can play a role in reducing food waste." The draft strategy features four objectives:
Prevent the loss of food where possible.
Prevent the waste of food where possible.
Increase the recycling rate for all organic waste.
Support policies that incentivise and encourage food loss and waste prevention and organics recycling. The FDA and USDA will support the EPA's national consumer education campaign by contributing date labelling and food safety advice. Through the ‘New Era of Smarter Food Safety’ initiative the FDA will support and encourage the adoption of tech-enabled digital tracing technologies which can more rapidly and accurately remove contaminated foods from the marketplace. It will also encourage standardised food donation practices. This effort will also provide social and economic benefits, including the potential to:
Increase food access for food-insecure Americans and increase the recovery rate and donation of wholesome food, such as through the emergency food system.
Create new jobs, industries and sectors of the economy.
Increase supply chain resiliency.
Deliver financial savings to households, which can also help address the needs of underserved communities.