The food industry has set itself a new target for the amount of food it 'redistributes' to charities and other recipients, which is to be welcomed -- although it leaves systemic problems with oversupply and food poverty unaddressed.
Companies signed up to the Courtauld Commitment -- the food industry's sustainability plan -- are working with the recycling charity WRAP to double the amount of edible but unsellable food they redistribute by 2020. Redistribution involves keeping the food in the human food chain -- for example by donating it to food banks. The increase equates to enough food for an additional 60 million meals, which would otherwise be wasted.
Signatories to the Courtauld Commitment include many of the UK’s largest food retailers, manufacturers and food service businesses. Part of the objective is to raise wider awareness amongst business partners and along supply chains, to encourage action across the sector.
Read more on the initiative here.
Sustain welcomes all efforts to prevent food from going to landfill, but also campaigns for food companies to tackle systemic issues of oversupply, on one hand, and the large number of people dependent on food handouts on the other. See the Food Research Collaboration's paper on this subject here, and find out more about Sustain's Food Poverty campaign here.
Published Friday 3 February 2017
Sustain: Sustain The alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity.
