As Europe’s largest manufacturing sector, comprising over 300,000 companies of which 99% are SMEs, the food and drink industry plays a vital role in the European economy. Agricultural raw materials are essential components for the food processing industries and their costs can represent an important share of the food and drink manufacturer’s operating costs.
The CIAA (Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries of the EU) welcomes the study published November 24 by the European Commission on food waste, and is ready to further actively cooperate with policymakers and other stakeholders to identify and implement solutions to this increasingly critical situation.
According to the findings of the study, annual food waste across the EU 27 Member States is estimated at approximately 89 million tonnes (MT). This represents 179 kg per capita for the four sectors combined, i.e., household, food service, wholesale/retail and manufacturing sectors. From a food manufacturing perspective, this means that all of the resources that were put into the production of a food, such as the raw materials, water and fuels, are also wasted including any sustainability measures taken to improve the environmental performance of the product. On top of that, 89 MT waste produced also needs to be managed, placing further environmental, economic and social burdens on society and national authorities.
Resource efficiency is one of the top priorities of Commissioner Potocnik and food and drink manufacturers in general. The industry has put in place practices to avoid the production of waste and to utilize 100% of their agricultural raw materials by using parts that do not go into the main food product, for example, to produce valuable by-products or bio-energy. However, these efforts are seriously weakened if the food product is wasted by the end consumer.
Pascal Gréverath, Nestlé AVP for Environmental Sustainability and Chairman of the CIAA Environmental Sustainability Committee, stated, “Wasting food is unacceptable at a time when natural resources become increasingly scarce. Rather than banning specific food categories from our diets, preventing food waste, indeed, has one of the largest potentials for improving the sustainability of consumption habits and the production of food and drink products. Food manufacturers are ready to further collaborate towards finding solutions to curb the depletion of resources together with all members along the food chain, policy-makers, members of the scientific community and civil society.”
Several options could be used to tackle the issue, such as education of consumers regarding the proper storage and preparation of food and on the interpretation of ‘Best before’ and ‘Use by’ labels. Another option is to ensure that the products thrown away because of quality and cosmetic standards by super-markets are maintained on the shelves if they are still good enough to eat. Here the ‘polluter pays’ principle needs to be taken into account in accordance with current EU environmental legislation. The overall aim should be to avoid food waste at every stage of the value chain and in ways that does not compromise food safety.
The CIAA looks forward to continuing to provide input and to engaging in constructive discussions with key stakeholders on this matter.
Earlier, on November 18, the European Commission released the Communication “The CAP towards 2020: Meeting Food, Natural Resources and Territorial Challenges of the Future”.
- As regards the upcoming challenges, the CIAA welcomes that the Commission identifies food security as one of the main issues to tackle.
- The CIAA also welcomes pursuing the overall market orientation of the CAP, in the framework of a common policy across all Member States.
- The past has shown that, in global markets, extreme price instability can become a problem. Therefore, there needs to be tools to address extreme price volatility in view of ensuring security of supply by preventing crisis situations and remedies for temporary market imbalances. The CIAA looks forward to a detailed Commission proposal.
- The CIAA supports Commission’s efforts to further promote a sustainable European agriculture. All three pillars of sustainability are the basis for a competitive European agricultural production in the years to come, which is essential for the viability of the food and drink industry, its largest customer.
- A number of additional issues set out in the Communication are seen as a step in the right direction by the CIAA:
– Supporting agri-food research and innovation can indeed contribute to meeting upcoming challenges.
– A more ambitious EU promotion policy will play a role in supporting the reputation of European agri-food products.
The Communication logically focuses on CAP-related issues in view of meeting upcoming challenges. Therefore, the CAP will only be addressing some of them. However, there are an increasing number of other policies[1] which are impacting farming activities and the supply of raw materials. The CIAA calls on policy makers to ensure a more holistic approach between policies driving supply, which is essential for ensuring the availability[2] of raw materials needed by the food and drink industry.
Notes:
[1] Policies such as food safety, new technologies, trade, development, environment, consumer and social policy
[2] The food and drink industry relies on access to adequate supply of safe and sustainable produced agricultural raw materials that correspond to specific and high quality criteria and which are competitively priced.
About CIAA
The CIAA (Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries of the EU, more commonly known by its official French name “Confédération des Industries Agro-Alimentaires de l’UE” in its abbreviated form “CIAA”) provides technical research services to its members and carries out studies which aim to promote and represent the interests of the Food and Drink Industy in the EU and beyond. Based in Brussels, it works in close collaboration with other public and private organizations that deal with matters of interest for the food and drink sector. For more information, visit www.ciaa.be.
Source: CIAA.
