According to the CGF, food waste is an enormous environmental, social and economic problem. Studies revealed that a third of food produced is unconsumed. Wasted food amounts to about 1.3 billion tonnes of food lost each year. It represents an economic cost to the global economy of US$940 billion. Food waste is also responsible for adding 3.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases into the planet's atmosphere annually. For example, if food waste is a country, its carbon footprint would be third only to China and the US, the group said.
Ignacio Gavilan, director of Environmental Sustainability at the CGF, said: "Food loss is a serious global problem. It can only be effectively addressed through committed collective action. The launch of the Coalition of Action on Food Waste is a positive and important step to creating sustainable food strategies and preventing loss, and we look forward to seeing the impact the coalition will have on the issue”.
The new coalition will contribute to the effort to reduce food loss in supply chains worldwide with their ongoing collaboration. It will build off five years of experience that the CGF has on tackling this issue. Dating back to its “ground-breaking” Food Waste Resolution and call for standardised date labelling.
The 14 initial members of the coalition are Ahold Delhaize, Barilla, Bel Group, General Mills, Kellogg Company, Majid Al Futtaim, McCain Foods, Merck Animal Health, Metro AG, Migros Ticaret, Nestlé, Sainsbury, Tesco, and Walmart.
The coalition is also creating regional working groups to drive implementation at the local level and to help engage key stakeholders in those regions. Groups include those in North America, Latin America and China and Japan. (Image from Pixabay)
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