EU: Food Waste Fight Rages On

15 May 2017 --- Today sees the food waste debate continue in European Parliament as MEPs discuss a package of measures to reduce it across member states. A report by Croatian S&D member Biljana Borzan, sets out food waste reduction targets in the EU including a 50% cut by 2030.

At the same time, the EU has put together an infographic to illustrate the food waste problem consisting of key facts and figures including how approximately one third of all food produced for human consumption is wasted every year. This equates to around 1.3 billion tons. 

There are different ways food is wasted but this goes right across the entire food chain from agricultural production to final household consumption, which according to the infographic reaches around 53% in European households, while 19% is wasted in food processing, 12% in food service/catering, 11% in primary production and 5% in retail/wholesale. 

Consumers are often unaware of the issue or its causes. According to a Eurobarometer survey, date markings on food products is poorly understood, even though nearly six out 10 Europeans say they always check “best before” and “use by” labels.

MEPs are discussing the future use of labels as part of the measures to try to reduce food waste and according to the data, 60% of consumers do not know the meaning of “use by”. 

Overall figures estimate that 88 million tons of food are wasted in the EU every year, equivalent to 173 kilos per person. It also contributes to climate change and results in water, soil and energy losses. According to the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), food waste has a global carbon footprint of about 8% of all global greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans. For every kilo of food produced, 4.5 kilos of CO2 are released into the atmosphere.

In addition, FAO also says about 793 million people in the world are malnourished. According to Eurostat, 55 million people (9.6% of the EU's population), were unable to afford a quality meal every second day in 2014.

Country by Country
The EU’s infographic breaks down food waste by country with the Netherlands leading the pack with 541 kg per person, followed by Belgium with 345 kg, Cyprus with 327%, Estonia with 365 kg, Poland 247% and the UK with 216%.

The debate continues today following the previous adoption of the food waste objectives that were set out in the waste legislation package in March. There will also be a vote held tomorrow (May 16).

“The European Union, as one of the richest and most prosperous communities in the world, has a moral and political obligation to reduce huge quantities of food wasted every year,” said Borzan.

The report also includes several proposals to reduce food waste such as facilitating food donations. It also calls on the European Commission to propose a change in the current VAT directive to explicitly authorize tax exemptions for food donations. 

In addition the report lists solutions to end the confusion about “best before” and “use by” labeling on food products.