A feast of ideas – FAO Brussels Director talks about food loss and waste at FoodDrinkEurope celebration

With a series of inspiring talks from its partners, FoodDrinkEurope celebrated its 40th anniversary in Brussels. To mark the event, three parallel sessions were held by the organization, which represents the European food and drink industry. Dedicated to the topics of climate change, sustainable packaging and nutrition, each session explored solutions to make food and drinks fit for the future.

FAO Brussels Director Raschad Al-Khafaji was invited to address a large gathering in the garden of the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels. During his TED-style talk entitled “Food waste: The urgency of peeling the onion”, Al-Khafaji explained why it is now more urgent than ever to address the issue of food loss and waste. “Just like an onion, food loss and waste has several layers, including ethical, social, cultural, technical and commercial,” he told the audience. “We need to address them all to feed the world sustainably.”

Addressing food loss and waste is a priority area of FAO’s work. It was also the theme of an interview Al-Khafaji gave to FoodDrinkEurope last September, during the #FoodFuture Exhibition, an interactive initiative aimed at attracting policy-makers and the public to informally discuss the future of food and the transition to more sustainable food systems.

You can read more about the work of FAO on food loss and waste here.