International Perspectives on Food Waste

5 September 2018, Washington, DC - FAO North America, in conjunction with the House Food Waste Caucus, organized a Congressional Briefing about food waste reduction efforts around the world to highlight success stories of the growing global movement to address this important issue.

The event was moderated by Kai Robertson, Lead Adviser on the Food Loss and Waste Protocol, World Resources Institute (WRI). She emphasized that the Sustainable Development Goals, especially 12.3 on responsible production and consumption, set a target to cut food waste by half by 2030, which motivates counties to take action.

Vimlendra Sharan, Director of FAO North America, underlined that there is no one size fits all solution to food loss and waste reduction. Developing countries mainly face challenges in food loss during post harvest stages, while developed nations face the challenge of food waste at retail and consumer levels.

Giuliana Torta, Counsellor for Environment, Climate Action and Maritime Affairs at the EU Delegation to the U.S., emphasized that the prevention of food waste is a primary action area for the European Union. The European Commission plans to implement legally binding targets for food loss and waste reduction by 2023 for its member states.

Lorenzo Terzi, Minister Counsellor for Health & Food Safety at the EU Delegation to the U.S., underlined that FAO and UN Environment are key agencies supporting intergovernmental work to reduce food loss and food waste.

Andrew Kessler, Senior Commercial Advisor within the Danish Trade Council’s Energy & Environment Team, explained that by making it expensive to do the wrong thing and inexpensive to do the right thing, while working with farmers to promote change, Denmark managed to increase biogas production to divert wasted food from landfills.

Jon Shaw, Director for Sustainability and Communications at Carrier Transicold and Refrigerated Systems discussed Carrier’s refrigeration options along the whole supply chain to protect and preserve food. With urbanization growing, there has never been more interest in cold chains.

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree thanked the panelists and underscored that the US can learn from efforts around the globe to reduce food waste.

Read more about FAOs work on Food Loss and Waste