Food Standards Agency calls for new labels to reduce freezer waste

The Food Standards Agency (FSA), in collaboration with government department Defra, is to conduct a review of guidance provided to the food industry in relation to freezing and date labelling in an attempt to reduce the UK’s annual 7m tonnes of food wastage. Consumers may be provided with clearer instructions on freezing and storage after it was found that many are ill-informed on the subject. In addition to the environmental impact, wasting food costs the average UK household £470 annually. This figure rises to £700 for those with children.

Overview of report:

New research reveals that over half of the food waste generated by the UK manufacturing and retail sectors is avoidable. WRAP’s Food Surplus and Waste Quantification report aims to improve the understanding of food surplus and food waste in the grocery supply chain.

The report highlights that a combination of preventing food waste being generated, redistribution of food surplus and diverting surplus to animal feed could lead to a 42% reduction in avoidable food waste, saving businesses millions of pounds a year.

Providing business relevant insights, the report quantifies for the first time avoidable food waste by manufacturing sub-sector and examines the reasons why food surplus and waste arise, and how this can be addressed. It will be instrumental in the delivery of Courtauld 2025 which aims to make UK food and drink production and consumption more sustainable.

Updated Food Waste Figures

More recent headline data on food waste for this sector was published by WRAP in May 2018, which can be found here

Following publication of the main report on food surplus and waste at retail and manufacture, WRAP initiated supplementary work to update estimates for wholesale grocery food surplus and food waste in order to give a more complete picture for the grocery supply chain. The relevant components of the wholesale sector include cash and carry and specialist wholesale markets. A short research note detailing the results of this work was published in November 2016