EU plans to reduce food loss face criticism for falling short

03 Jul 2023 --- New EU draft plans to curb food waste might be less ambitious than initially thought and fail to reach UN goals. Leaked draft legislation signals the EU is considering setting a binding target to reduce food loss by 30% by the decade’s end, compared with the 50% expected by NGOs and UN Development Goals.

The draft EU law is set to be proposed by the European Commission (EC) on July 5 and is causing a stir among food waste and reduction organizations across the continent who says it’s in danger of falling short on expectations.

The draft EU regulation reportedly proposes objectives to cut overall food waste in shops, restaurants and households.

However, previously the EU said it was “committed to halving per capita food waste at the retail and consumer level by 2030.”

“We hope the EC will live up to its commitment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 and propose a legally binding reduction target for food waste of 50% by 2030. It is essential that this target applies from farm to fork and hence includes the production level,” Theresa Mörsen, Zero Waste Europe’s waste policy officer, tells Food Ingredients First.

The EU wastes more food than it imports.Orla Butler, associate policy officer for circular economy at the European Environmental Bureau, also tells us: “If this law only focuses on the food wasted at retail and consumers levels, without including targets for reducing food waste at the primary production stage and without increasing the overall target to 50%, the EU risks failing to meet its climate goals and international commitments.”

Butler also highlights how the EU wastes more food than it imports, causing a “huge financial and environmental cost to European consumers.”

“Halving food waste will help the EU meet its commitments under the European Climate Law, the Global Methane Pledge, the Circular Economy Package and European Green Deal,” she notes.

Draft proposal
The EC proposal will also aim to cut food waste in processing and manufacturing by 10% by 2030. According to Eurostat, production and processing accounts for 31% of food waste – compared to 69% of waste produced by consumers.

In the EU, nearly 57 million metric tons of perfectly good food or 127 kg per person per year, goes to waste. That food is valued at around €130 billion (US$141.54 billion) at a time when over 36.2 million people cannot afford a quality meal every second day, according to Eurostat.

About 5% of the EU greenhouse gas emissions are associated with the EU’s overall food consumption footprint. An estimate from the UN environment program suggests that 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions are associated with food that is not consumed.

Nonetheless, the EU food waste is lower than the global average – 10% compared to the 17% of food waste at the consumer level globally. Although some independent calculations indicate the number might be even higher, the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) says it is approximately one-third of food consumption.

The EC plans to establish legally binding targets for food waste reduction across the EU by the end of this year. 

Industry tackles needless food loss
At a time when many countries in the world experience double-digit food inflation (15.04% in the bloc, according to Eurostat) and record temperatures, food producers are doubling their efforts to cut waste and, therefore, emissions.Halving food waste will help the EU meet its green commitments, according to Butler.

“All actors in the food chain need to work together to find solutions, from farmers, processors, manufacturers and retailers through to consumers themselves. Policymakers, research scientists, food banks and other NGOs also play an important role,” says the EC.

Food waste is a key topic at the forthcoming  IFT First: Annual Event and Expo, taking place July 16-19 in Chicago, US.

Food Ingredients First previously spoke with players who are raising awareness of food waste, on Stop Food Waste Day, in April. They discussed how consumers make purchases based on cost, quality and limited resources.

Meanwhile, manufacturers are saving ingredients and raw materials from being wasted, such as upcycling leftover bread into new foods.

Some F&B industry players also highlight the difficulties of fighting food waste to protect the planet and reduce losses along the food chain. Experts in the field of food waste provide new data and advice, showing that tackling the huge problem is not only a good ethical choice; it also makes business sense, say suppliers.

Notably, upcycling and valorizing side streams is a trend rising among producers. Symrise is one of the companies pioneering upcycling, looking to achieve circularity with ingredients such as chicken and banana peels. Upcycled foods is also leveraging beer brewing grains for muffin dough and Crush Dynamics is upcycling wine ingredients to improve the taste of its plant-based burgers.  

By Marc Cervera