European NGOs Ask the Commission to Address Food Waste Holistically

Slow Food Europe is among organizations asking the European Commission to address food waste holistically in the newly published Farm to Fork Strategy.

Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

In a joint letter, signatory organizations among other suggestions, recommend:

• Put forward binding targets committing to a 50% reduction by 2030 of all food waste from farm to fork;
• Provide financial support for the comprehensive measurement of unharvested food and food ploughed back into the field at primary production;
• Introduce food waste prevention as a central element of mandatory criteria for sustainable food procurement.

European organizations regret that the Farm to Fork Strategy does not pay enough attention to food waste occurring at the primary production level and the early stages of the supply chain. Studies estimate that 30% to 59% of Europe’s total food waste occurs at the pre-retail stage, and these numbers are likely to be underestimated.

The full letter is available here.

More about our work on food waste, here.