Steve Beasant

Liberal Democrat MEP for London Sarah Ludford has welcomed the call by the European Parliament for the European Commission to propose an EU plan to halve food waste by 2025. It is estimated that almost 50% of edible food gets wasted each year.

The report on food wastage, being presented in Parliament today and voted on tomorrow, has recommendations on improving the efficiency of the food supply chain from the production stage to storage, processing, distribution, management and consumption. It advocates the introduction of food waste prevention targets for all EU states.

Sarah Ludford commented: “The figures in the report are shocking. Almost 90 million tonnes of perfectly edible food gets wasted each year despite the fact that 70 million people in the EU live below the poverty line and 16 million people depend on charitable food handouts.”

“Parliament is rightly highlighting the urgent need for smarter decisions to be made not just by retailers and manufacturers, but also by consumers. Better purchasing, consumption and disposal will curb this wastage.”

“An EU strategy getting all states and suppliers on board is essential. There are many ideas worth pursuing, such as encouraging retailers to give food past its ‘best before’ to groups for the homeless etc – as some shops in the UK already do – and discounting food close to expiry dates.”

Notes:

The report can be seen here: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&reference=A7-2011-0430&language=EN&mode=XML