Controlling the economic losses caused by food waste has become a strategic focus for Spanish companies. Consumers have also become an active part of this reality.
Stopping food waste has gone from being a tendency to become a strategic axis for the processing industry and the supermarket chains in Spain. As shown by a study carried out by the sectoral organization Aecoc and the Ministry of Agriculture, 71% of companies in the food and beverage sector are aware of the problem and already have at least an internal plan based on prevention to avoid their products from ending up in the dustbin.
"The data shows how companies are increasingly aware of the importance of reviewing all their operations in order to avoid inefficiencies that end up generating food waste and, therefore, economic losses," Nuria de Pedraza, Head of the Aecoc project against waste, stressed.
For every kilo or liter of a given product manufactured in the factories, only 0.002 kilos or liters are now generated which can be used and, therefore, barely 0.0004 kilos or liters are wasted.
The progress in this matter is because corporate awareness has already reached high levels, with 61% of companies promoting good practices to achieve this goal and 51.39% coordinating actions with their suppliers in order to prevent food loss.
Donations to food banks
During the presentation of the study, Mrs. de Pedraza also mentioned data on donations carried out by the food distribution sector during the pandemic. The survey shows that 73.2% of supermarket chains increased the volume of donations since the beginning of the lockdown. A nationwide lockdown took place from 16 March to 21 June, 2020.
The ministry, aware of the importance of combating food waste and its impact on the environment, launched the "Más alimento, menos desperdicio" strategy https://bit.ly/33cPjlt in 2013. Developed through eight action areas, one of the first actions of the strategy is to quantify waste.
Source: ABC