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Ways to cut food waste

Annually, the FAO celebrates on 29th September the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste. Here are a few tips to help reduce food waste all through the year.

 

Don't over buy. Make sure you know you've bought and use it.

 

Check the use-by dates of fresh food when you buy it. These are the dates to take notice of, and remember that most of the times you can still eat the product a few days after this date.

 

Plan ahead. Think about what you're going to cook and how you'll use the leftovers.

 

Shop in small quatities but more often. We all lead hectic lives and have not much time but this is a good way to really throw away less food

 

Love your freezer. If you cannot eat your left-overs, or if you see that products will soon lose their freshness, do not hesitate to freeze them.

 

Revive bread. If your bread has gone stale, you can put it back in the oven for a few minutes to crisp up again.

You can also make stale bread into breadcrumbs (for example, mix them with garlic, herbs and onions) as a stuffing for chicken or to top baked fish, or freeze the breadcrumbs for later use. 

 

Compost rotten food. If really you cannot eat some of your food at home, rather than throwing it away, compost it, This unedible food will then be valued. The food will then go back to the soil, and you can use the compost for your garden. If you live in a flat, there are other odourless solutions such a the Bokashi.

 

If you have a garden and space, why not thinking of having hens? They would eat your unwanted leftovers and give you local eggs.

 

You can use food dryers to, for example, dry excess garden fruit and vegetables that you cannot eat. This will increase their shelf-life.

 

The involvment of agrifood companies against foodwaste : a few examples among so many already existing actions

Now, as far as companies are concerned, many initiatives are in place. For example, the LOWINFOOD EU Project.

Its objective is to co-design, together with actors of the food chain, low-waste value chains by supporting the demonstration of a portfolio of innovations in the fruits & vegetables, bakery products and fish value chains as well.

 

If you run a food company, a supermarket, a retail shop, a restaurant, you can reduce food losses thanks to the application called Too Good To Go that exists in many countries. Via the app you can sell to your customers the food that will shortly expire and that you will soon not be able to sell.

 

Irish initiative Foodcloud. FoodCloud is a social enterprise with a mission to transform surplus food into opportunities, by connecting retailers with local charities, allowing them to donate food on a daily basis. They also organise gleaning of apple orchards after harvest. Quantities of apples remain there becuse they cannot be sold. Foodcloud gleans them, redistributes them or has them transformed into apple juices.  Read more.

 

The International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste  

Around 14 percent of the world's food is lost after harvest, up to - but not including the retail stage of the supply chain, and an estimated 17 per cent is wasted in retail and at the consumption level. 

Based on these unbearable figures, the FAO organises every year on 29th September the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste 

Read more about the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste  

 

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