European Food SCP Round Table Plenary meeting, 8 December 2011 Eric Poudelet, Director European Commission, DG Health and Consumers Directorate E – Safety of the food chain Sustainability of the Food Chain: Food Waste Minimisation Food Packaging Optimisation Consumer Information Needs

Food waste in Europe - an example of un-sustainability 89 million tonnes/year in EU 179 kg per capita/year By 2020: 126 million tonnes/year expected Agricultural waste and fish discards not included Source: EU funded study « Preparatory study on food waste across EU 27 »

Food waste in Europe At ALL stages of the food chain Agriculture and fisheries Food manufacturing Retailers/wholesalers Households Caterers

Food waste – possible solutions Preventing food waste = 1st priority Awareness raising, information & education Food redistribution programmes Logistical improvements Role of food packaging Transforming unavoidable food waste into a resource Feed & energy recovery separate collection of food waste necessary

Food waste – next steps The "Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe" announced: to further assess how to limit food waste throughout the entire food chain; to investigate incentives to halve the disposal of edible food waste in the EU by 2020.

Food waste – next steps Analyse the issue and define best actions at the appropriate level: how to minimise food waste/optimise food packaging without compromising food safety? with all stakeholders - various EU fora Inter-service cooperation FP7 research project Communication on Sustainable Food in 2013 food waste important part

Consumer information needs and sustainability Communicating environmental performance for food = crucial Driver of global resource use Environmental pressures further increase Consumers aware of challenges? Encourage consumers and producers – fostering more sustainable choices

Consumer information needs and sustainability Current challenges: New and complex area of information, in particular for food Information overload and proliferation of labels Reliability of information Only information not enough! green choice should be the easy and affordable choice

Consumer information needs and sustainability Solutions and ways forward: -Clear, reliable and comparable information -Further consumer research -Exchange of best practices/guidance from multi-stakeholder platforms Food SCP Round Table key partner Working Group 2 report useful and important step Next steps: implementation and working together on concrete actions -Consumer Agenda (2012), Communication on Sustainable Food (2013)