In order to reduce China's food waste and loss, the SAVE FOOD conference was held in China on 8 November, 2017. More than 200 delegates from the food processing and packaging sectors attended the meeting and had in-depth discussion on how to reduce food loss and waste through advanced processing and packaging technologies, innovative packaging materials and processing across the entire industry chain.

SAVE FOOD is a joint initiative by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Messe Düsseldorf, and Interpack, the leading trade fair for processing and packaging. Its goal is to fight global food waste and loss. In order to do so, it promotes interdisciplinary dialogue and sparks debate with the goal of generating solutions across the entire value chain “from field to fork”.

Vincent Martin, FAO representative in China, attended the event and delivered opening remarks on the topic of "Reducing global food waste through innovation and partnership". He stressed that innovation is an important way to deal with global challenges. FAO is embarking on an innovation journey in China to find more solutions for the promotion of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The FAO-supported Agriculture Innovation Lab (AgLabCx) works with the private sector to reduce food waste and losses and develop innovative solutions to shape the food system of the future. The third target under SDG12 (Target 12.3) calls for cutting by half per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer level, and reducing food losses along production and supply chains (including post-harvest losses) by 2030. He said, packaging plays an important role in reducing food losses and wastage in terms of food availability.

According to FAO, about one-third of the world's food production is lost or wasted, or about 1.3 billion tons annually. The loss and wastage of food is taking place from agricultural production to final consumption, with about 670 million tons in developed countries and 630 million tons in developing countries each year. A study from FAO and State Grain Administration reveals that 35% of China's annual grain production was wasted.  As a major agricultural producer and consumer in the world, China is facing the problem of food waste that can not be neglected while moving toward urbanization.

SAVE FOOD exhibition was displayed at SWOP 2017– China and Asia’s leading processing and packaging fair. Internationally renowned institutions and enterprises such as Modivik, DuPont, Bailey Group, Dan Belle, Tauranga and many other well-known organizations and enterprises provided their insights on innovative solutions addressing food storage, shelf life extension, sterilization, atmosphere preservation, vacuum packaging, refrigeration technology and.

The SAVE FOOD initiative will continue to organize similar events in China and elsewhere to demonstrate new methods of saving food while raising awareness on the impact of food waste and losses on climate change and food security.