European Food SCP Round TablePlenary meeting, 8 December 2011

Eric Poudelet, Director European Commission, DG Health and Consumers

Directorate E – Safety of the food chain

Sustainability of the Food Chain:Food Waste Minimisation

Food Packaging OptimisationConsumer Information Needs

Food waste in Europe- an example of un-sustainability

89 million tonnes/year in EU

179 kg per capita/year

By 2020: 126 million tonnes/year expected

Agricultural waste and fish discards not included

Source: EU funded study « Preparatory study on food waste across EU 27 »

Food waste in Europe

At ALL stages of the food chain

Agriculture and fisheries Food manufacturingRetailers/wholesalers

HouseholdsCaterers

Food waste – possible solutions Preventing food waste = 1st priority

Awareness raising, information & educationFood redistribution programmesLogistical improvementsRole of food packaging

Transforming unavoidable food waste into a resourceFeed & energy recovery separate collection of food waste necessary

Food waste – next steps

The "Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe" announced:

to further assess how to limit food waste throughout the entire food chain;

to investigate incentives to halve the disposal of edible food waste in the EU by

2020.

Food waste – next stepsAnalyse the issue and define best actions at the appropriate level: how to minimise food waste/optimise food packaging without compromising food safety?

with all stakeholders - various EU fora

Inter-service cooperation

FP7 research project

Communication on Sustainable Food in 2013 food waste important part

Consumer information needs and sustainability

• Communicating environmental performance for food = crucial

• Driver of global resource use

• Environmental pressures further increase

• Consumers aware of challenges?

• Encourage consumers and producers – fostering more sustainable choices

Consumer information needs and sustainability

Current challenges:

• New and complex area of information, in particular for food

• Information overload and proliferation of labels

• Reliability of information

• Only information not enough!

green choice should be the easy and affordable choice

Consumer information needs and sustainability

Solutions and ways forward:- Clear, reliable and comparable information- Further consumer research- Exchange of best practices/guidance from multi-stakeholder

platforms Food SCP Round Table key partner Working Group 2 report useful and important step Next steps: implementation and working together on concrete actions

- Consumer Agenda (2012), Communication on Sustainable Food (2013)