Food Safety Week – Food Waste
Monday 4 to Sunday 10 July 2016
In the UK we throw away 7 million tonnes of food and drink from our homes every year, the majority of which could have been eaten. Wasting this food costs the average household £470 a year. If we all stopped wasting food the benefit to the planet would be the equivalent of taking 1 in 4 cars off the road.
There are two main reasons why we throw away good food: we buy or make too much or we don’t use it in time.
Our research tells us that people can be confused about the difference between ‘Use By’ and Best Before’ dates, that they don’t always know what can be safely cooked or frozen, and that some people are taking risks with their health and that of their loved ones to make food go further.
So this year the FSA will focus its Food Safety Week (Monday 4 to Sunday 10 July) on ways in which we can all waste less food – safely.
But there’s also a bigger picture. With the global population set to rise to over 9.5 billion by 2050 there are huge pressures facing the world’s food system. We do not yet know what the future will bring for food, but we do know that business as usual is not an option. And we know that we can all contribute to a better food future by reducing the amount of food we waste.
Food waste is a global issue; according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) about one third of the global food production is lost or wasted annually.
So this is an issue that the FSA wants to play an active role in addressing – not just by helping people reduce what they waste in their homes but by adding our voice to the global conversation.
In March 2015 the FSA was a founding signatory in WRAPs Courtauld 2025 agreement, which aims to reduce the resource intensity of the UK’s food and drink by one-fifth, saving £20 billion in 10 years and bring together leading organisations from across the food chain to work together to tackle food and drink waste, greenhouse gas emissions and water intensity.
Small changes will make a big difference, and everyone can play their part. Almost 50% of the total amount of food thrown away in the UK comes from our homes. We’ll highlight how we can all reduce waste, save money and provide safe food for our loved ones. We will be providing a selection of hints and tips on what to do with leftovers and by looking at ways to eat, cook or freeze food by the ‘Use By’ date.
Links
1 http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/content/facts-about-food-waste-1
2 2015 Revision of World Population Prospects, United Nations http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/
3 http://www.fao.org/save-food/resources/keyfindings/en/
4 http://www.wrap.org.uk/content/courtauld-commitment-2025
We will be focusing particularly on meat. Meat and fish waste together cost £2.1 billion a year. Meat and fish contributed to 570,000 tonnes of waste. Around 300,000 was avoidable (200,000 tonnes was unavoidable e.g. bones).
Businesses also have a role to play in reducing food waste. WRAP research shows that the UK manufacturing and retail sector wastes 1.9 million tonnes of food and drink a year, 1.1 million tonnes of which is avoidable. Which is why we will be speaking to businesses to find out what they are doing to reduce food waste and what more can be done.
And we’ll be looking at what we in Government can do to help. The FSA will be hosting an event on Wednesday 6 July to bring together retailers, charities, innovative thinkers and grassroots organisations to discuss the challenges that they face with regards to food redistribution.
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