FAO Food Security High Level report June 2014

Food losses and waste in the context
of sustainable food systems
A report by
The High Level Panel of Experts
on Food Security and Nutrition
June 2014
8HLPE
R E P O R T

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HLPE Reports series
#1 Price volatility and food security (2011)
#2 Land tenure and international investments in agriculture (2011)
#3 Food security and climate change (2012)
#4 Social protection for food security (2012)
#5 Biofuels and food security (2013)
#6 Investing in smallholder agriculture for food security (2013)
#7 Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture for food security and nutrition (2014)
#8 Food losses and waste in the context of sustainable food systems (2014)
All HLPE reports are available at www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe

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HLPE Steering Committee members (June 2014)
Per Pinstrup-Andersen (Chair)
Maryam Rahmanian (Vice-Chair)
Amadou Allahoury
Marion Guillou
Sheryl Hendriks
Joanna Hewitt
Masa Iwanaga
Carol Kalafatic
Bernardo Kliksberg
Renato Maluf
Sophia Murphy
Ruth Oniang’o
Michel Pimbert
Magdalena Sepúlveda
Huajun Tang
HLPE Project Team members
Vishweshwaraiah Prakash (Team Leader)
Jane Ambuko
Walter Belik
Jikun Huang
Antonius Timmermans
Coordinator of the HLPE
Vincent Gitz
This report by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) has been
approved by the HLPE Steering Committee.
The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Committee on World Food
Security, of its members, participants, or of the Secretariat.
This report is made publicly available and its reproduction and dissemination is encouraged. Non-
commercial uses will be authorized free of charge, upon request. Reproduction for resale or other
commercial purposes, including educational purposes, may incur fees. Applications for permission to
reproduce or disseminate this report should be addressed by e-mail to copyright@fao.org with copy to
cfs-hlpe@fao.org.
Referencing this report:
HLPE, 2014. Food losses and waste in the context of sustainable food systems. A report by the High
Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security,
Rome 2014.

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Contents
FOREWORD ...............................................................................................................9
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................11
Main findings ....................................................................................................................................11
Recommendations ...........................................................................................................................16
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................19
1 FOOD LOSSES AND WASTE AND SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS:
DEFINITION, EXTENT AND IMPACTS ..............................................................21
1.1 What are FLW along food chains and how to measure them? ..........................................21
1.1.1 FLW concepts and definitions ......................................................................................21
1.1.2 FLW and FQLW metrics...............................................................................................24
1.1.3 Current evaluations of the extent of food losses and waste ........................................25
1.1.4 Towards harmonized methodologies and protocols to describe and measure FLW...28
1.2 What are sustainable food systems?....................................................................................29
1.3 FLW, sustainable food systems and food security .............................................................31
1.3.1 FLW and SFS...............................................................................................................31
1.3.2 FLW and food security .................................................................................................35
2 CAUSES AND DRIVERS OF FOOD LOSSES AND WASTE ............................39
2.1 Stage-specific causes of FLW along the food chain ...........................................................39
2.1.1 Pre-harvest factors and produce left unharvested .......................................................41
2.1.2 Harvesting and initial handling .....................................................................................42
2.1.3 Storage.........................................................................................................................43
2.1.4 Transport and logistics .................................................................................................44
2.1.5 Processing and packaging ...........................................................................................45
2.1.6 Retail ............................................................................................................................46
2.1.7 Consumption ................................................................................................................47
2.2 Meso-causes of food losses and waste................................................................................49
2.2.1 Lack of support to actors for investments and good practices.....................................50
2.2.2 Lack of private and public infrastructure for well-functioning food chains....................50
2.2.3 Lack of integrated food chain approaches and management ......................................51
2.2.4 Confusion around food date labelling...........................................................................52
2.3 Macro-level causes of FLW ....................................................................................................54
2.3.1 Impact of policies, laws and regulations on FLW .........................................................54
2.3.2 Systemic causes...........................................................................................................55
3 OPTIONS TO REDUCE FOOD LOSSES AND WASTE.....................................57
3.1 Single actor, technical or behaviour-driven solutions to reduce food losses
and waste.................................................................................................................................58
3.1.1 Good practices in crop and animal production.............................................................58
3.1.2 Storage and conservation solutions .............................................................................58
3.1.3 Technical solutions in transport, processing and packaging........................................60
3.1.4 Solutions for the hospitality sector................................................................................62
3.1.5 Solutions for households ..............................................................................................63
3.2 Concerted and collective solutions to reduce FLW ............................................................64
3.2.1 Adopt a food chain approach to FLW reduction actions ..............................................64
3.2.2 Invest in infrastructure ..................................................................................................65

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3.2.3 Invest in adapted cold chain developments .................................................................66
3.2.4 Develop food processing..............................................................................................67
3.2.5 Ensure proper capacity building, education, training and extension services .............68
3.2.6 Unleash the crucial role of women to reduce FLW ......................................................70
3.2.7 Give a role to corporate social responsibility................................................................71
3.2.8 Promote consumer behaviour change .........................................................................71
3.2.9 Give value to surplus “saved” food...............................................................................72
3.2.10 Valorize by-products, side streams and non-used food...............................................74
3.3 Promoting and enabling individual and collective change.................................................76
3.3.1 Consider costs and benefits to overcome “winners and losers” constraints................77
3.3.2 Integrate FLW concerns in policies ..............................................................................79
3.3.3 Mobilize all actors and consumers for awareness and action......................................83
4 ENABLING THE CHANGE: A WAY FORWARD TO FOOD LOSSES AND
WASTE REDUCTION STRATEGIES .................................................................89
4.1 A way forward to reduce FLW in different contexts ............................................................89
4.2 How to construct the way forward? ......................................................................................91
4.2.1 Improve data collection and knowledge sharing on FLW ............................................91
4.2.2 Diagnose and develop effective strategies to reduce FLW..........................................92
4.2.3 Take effective steps to reduce FLW.............................................................................93
4.2.4 Improve coordination of policies and strategies in order to reduce FLW .....................95
REFERENCES ..........................................................................................................97
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................105
APPENDICES .........................................................................................................107
A1 Causes of FLW by stages in the food chain.......................................................................107
A2 Solutions at different stages of the food chain..................................................................109
I) Solutions that can be implemented by individual actors (micro level) .................................109
II) Concerted and collective actions to reduce FLW (meso level)...........................................110
III) Enabling the change: solutions at macro or systemic level, towards FLW policies and
towards consideration of FLW in other policies ......................................................................112
A3 The HLPE project cycle ........................................................................................................115
List of Figures
Figure 1 Schematic representation of the definition of FLW along the food chain ..........................23
Figure 2 FLW per capita in the different world regions ....................................................................27
Figure 3 Distribution of FLW along the food chain in the different world regions.............................27
Figure 4 Schematic representation of the conceptual links between SFS. FSN anf FLW...............32
Figure 5 Losses along the food chain and organization of causes of FLW .....................................40
Figure 6 Schematic representation of agricultural production and destinations .............................75
Figure 7 A food-use-not-waste hierarchy to minimize FLW .............................................................80
Figure 8 The way forward to food losses and waste reduction strategies .......................................90
Figure 9 HLPE project cycle...........................................................................................................116

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List of Definitions
Definition 1 Food loss and waste ......................................................................................................22
Definition 2 Food system...................................................................................................................29
Definition 3 Sustainable food system ................................................................................................31
List of Tables
Table 1 Examples of potential impacts of FLW on the sustainability of food systems ...................33
Table 2 Categories of solutions to reduce FLW by levels (micro, meso, macro)............................57
List of Boxes
Box 1 The methodology of the FAO (2011a) study..........................................................................28
Box 2 Calorie losses along the food chain, including food losses and waste..................................35
Box 3 Valorization of tuna by-products: an example linking FLW reduction and FSN.....................36
Box 4 Meso-causes along the tomato supply chain in Cameroon ...................................................50
Box 5 A multitude of different date labels.........................................................................................53
Box 6 Use of metal silos to reduce post-harvest losses in grains....................................................59
Box 7 Improving fruits conservation in India ....................................................................................60
Box 8 Promoting a two-stage grain drying technology in Southeast Asia........................................61
Box 9 Improving drying technology for omena fish on lake Victoria ................................................61
Box 10 Plastic Food Containers Bank in Brazil..................................................................................62
Box 11 An experience of tray-less catering in the United States of America.....................................63
Box 12 Food chain approaches to minimize losses in the dairy sector in Kenya ..............................65
Box 13 Warrant experiment in China: a financial innovation to reduce post-harvest loss.................66
Box 14 Cold chain intervention in India..............................................................................................67
Box 15 Modified atmosphere packaging in the fresh meat supply chain ...........................................68
Box 16 Capacity building initiatives for food loss prevention in Latin America ..................................69
Box 17 Training of trainers in post-harvest handling of perishables ..................................................69
Box 18 Sharing knowledge and competencies on post-harvest losses.............................................69
Box 19 In Kenya Ukambani women reaping profits by processing fruits ...........................................70
Box 20 Transparency and actions of retailers on food losses and waste reduction ..........................71
Box 21 Cozinha Brasil (Kitchen Brazil)...............................................................................................72
Box 22 Examples of side stream valorization ....................................................................................75
Box 23 Transforming waste in nutritious food and feed: the potential of worms and insects ............76
Box 24 Impacts of FLW reduction along the chain: an economic modeling exercise........................78
Box 25 The German National Waste Reduction Programme of 2013 ...............................................81
Box 26 Collaborative project in Scandinavia......................................................................................84
Box 27 Alliance for supply chain collaboration, joint strategy, action plans and R&D .......................84
Box 28 Campaigns against food waste..............................................................................................85
Box 29 SAVE FOOD, a Global Initiative on food loss and waste reduction.......................................86

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FOREWORD
Although accurate estimates of losses and waste in the food system are unavailable, the
best evidence to date indicates that globally around one-third of the food produced is lost or
wasted along the food chain, from production to consumption.
This policy-oriented report from the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and
Nutrition (HLPE) presents a synthesis of existing evidence about the causes of food losses
and waste and suggests action to reduce them in order to improve food and nutrition security
and the sustainability of food systems. The aim of this report, given the diversity of contexts,
is to help all concerned actors to reduce food losses and waste by identifying the causes and
potential solutions that may be implemented, alone or in a coordinated way, by the relevant
actors in the food system, including the public and private sectors, civil society, individual
producers, wholesalers, retailers and consumers. Successful reduction of food losses and
waste will save resources and has the potential to improve food security and nutrition, goals
shared with the Zero Hunger Challenge and the post-2015 sustainable development agenda.
The HLPE was created in 2010 to provide the United Nations’ Committee on World Food
Security (CFS) with evidence-based and policy-oriented analysis to underpin policy debates
and policy formulation. While specific policy interventions should be based on context-
specific understanding, HLPE reports provide all stakeholders with evidence relevant to the
diversity of contexts, and recommendations expected to be useful to guide context-specific
policy interventions.
The HLPE works on topics identified by the CFS. This is the eighth HLPE report to date. Past
reports have covered seven topics related to food security and nutrition, considered by the
CFS for their importance in relation to world policy agenda, including price volatility, land
tenure and international investments in agriculture, climate change, social protection,
biofuels, investment in smallholder agriculture and, most recently, sustainable fisheries and
aquaculture. Work is underway for an HLPE report on water and food security to feed into
CFS’s policy debates in 2015.
The Steering Committee of the HLPE consists of 15 members including a Chair and a Vice-
Chair. In addition, the HLPE includes a wide range of researchers who work on the various
reports. A large number of experts, including many peer reviewers, contribute to our work.
The tenure of the first Steering Committee ended in the fall of 2013. I praise the wisdom of
the CFS for having reappointed four of the outgoing members, including the Vice-Chair, Ms.
Maryam Rahmanian, to provide the necessary continuity.
It was an honour and a pleasure to be elected by the Steering Committee members to
succeed M. S. Swaminathan as chair of the Steering Committee. I want to take this
opportunity to express my great appreciation to M. S. Swaminathan who, before leaving his
seat, marked the first 1000 days of the HLPE with his vision and energy.
I would like also to pay my tribute to all the members of the first HLPE Steering Committee,
as well as to the many individuals who contributed to the high quality of the work by HLPE. I
also wish to thank my colleagues currently serving on the Steering Committee for their
dedication, hard work and the successful contributions they have made. In particular, I would
like to highlight the exceptional commitment and the tremendous contributions made by the
HLPE Coordinator, Vincent Gitz, and his colleagues at the HLPE secretariat.

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I am grateful to a large number of experts who contributed to this report including the
members of the first and the current HLPE Steering Committees, in particular Renato Maluf
who convened the Steering Committee’s oversight for this report, and to the Project Team
leader V. Prakash (India) and the Project Team members Toine Timmermans (Netherlands),
Walter Belik (Brazil), Jikun Huang (China) and Jane Ambuko (Kenya). The report also
benefited greatly from comments and suggestions by the external peer reviewers and a large
number of experts and institutions who commented extensively both on the terms of
reference and on a first draft of the report. Last but not least, I would like to thank the
resource partners who support, in a totally independent way, the work of the HLPE.
Per Pinstrup-Andersen
Chair, Steering Committee of the HLPE, 21 May 2014

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SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The issue of global food losses and waste has recently received much attention and has been given
high visibility. According to FAO, almost one-third of food produced for human consumption –
approximately 1.3 billion tonnes per year – is either lost or wasted globally: their reduction is now
presented as essential to improve food security and to reduce the environmental footprint of food
systems.
In this context, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), in its Thirty-ninth Session (October
2012) requested the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) to undertake
a study on “Food losses and waste in the context of sustainable food systems” to be presented to the
CFS Plenary in 2014.
The very extent of food losses and waste invites to consider them not as an accident but as an integral
part of food systems. Food losses and waste are consequences of the way food systems function,
technically, culturally and economically. This report analyses food losses and waste in a triple
perspective: a systemic perspective, a sustainability perspective, including the environmental, social
and economic dimensions of sustainability, and a food security and nutrition perspective, looking at
how food losses and waste relate to the various dimensions of food security and nutrition.
Main findings
Scope and extent of food losses and waste
1. Food losses and waste have been approached by two different angles: either from a waste
perspective, with the associated environmental concerns, or from a food perspective, with the
associated food security concerns. This duality of approaches has often led to confusions on the
definition and scope of food losses and waste, contributing to unreliability and lack of clarity of
data.
2. This report adopts a food security and nutrition lens and defines food losses and waste (FLW) as
“a decrease, at all stages of the food chain from harvest to consumption, in mass, of food that was
originally intended for human consumption, regardless of the cause”. For the purpose of
terminology, the report makes the distinction between food losses, occurring before consumption
level regardless of the cause, and food waste, occurring at consumption level regardless of the
cause. It further proposes to define food quality loss or waste (FQLW) which refers to the
decrease of a quality attribute of food (nutrition, aspect, etc.), linked to the degradation of the
product, at all stages of the food chain from harvest to consumption.
3. There are numerous studies on FLW with diverse scopes and methodologies, making them
difficult to compare. At the global level, recent studies use the data compiled for the FAO report
published in 2011, which estimated global FLW at one third of food produced for human
consumption in mass (equivalent to 1.3 billion tonnes per year), or one quarter as measured in
calories.
4. The distribution of FLW along the food chain varies greatly by region and product. In middle and
high-income countries, most of the FLW occur at distribution and consumption; in low income
countries, FLW are concentrated at production and post-harvest. Per-capita FLW peaks at 280–
300 kg/cap/year in Europe and North America and amounts to 120–170 kg/cap/year in sub-
Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia.
5. Different definitions, different metrics, different measurement protocols and the lack of standards
for data collection adapted to different countries and products, makes it difficult – and sometimes
impossible – to compare studies, systems and countries. There is also no agreed method to
evaluate the quality of data, method and numbers produced. This situation is a huge barrier to
understanding and identifying the causes and extent of FLW, the potential for solutions, the
priorities for action and the monitoring of progress in reducing FLW. This is why there are currently
strong calls for the development of global protocols to measure FLW, taking into account the large
number of variables and country specificities, towards a harmonization of definitions and
measurement methods, with a view to improve the reliability, comparability and transparency of
data.

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Impacts of FLW on food security and nutrition and on the sustainability of food systems
6. FLW impact both food security and nutrition and the sustainability of food systems. This report
looks at FLW in the context of sustainable food systems, and adopts the following definitions, as
adapted from a range of other definitions.
7. A food system gathers all the elements (environment, people, inputs, processes, infrastructures,
institutions, etc.) and activities that relate to the production, processing, distribution, preparation
and consumption of food, and the outputs of these activities, including socio-economic and
environmental outcomes.
8. A sustainable food system (SFS) is a food system that delivers food security and nutrition for all in
such a way that the economic, social and environmental bases to generate food security and
nutrition for future generations are not compromised.
9. FLW impact food security and nutrition by three main ways. First, a reduction of global and local
availability of food. Second, a negative impact on food access, for those involved in harvest and
post-harvest operations and who face FLW-related economic and income losses, and for
consumers due to the contribution of FLW to tightening the food market and raising prices of food.
Third, a longer-term effect on food security results from the unsustainable use of natural resources
on which the future production of food depends.
10. Two additional relationships between FLW and food security and nutrition are less explored in the
literature. One relates to quality and nutrient losses all along food chains, including at consumer
level, which negatively impact nutrition. The second relates to the characteristics a food system
should have to assure the “stability” dimension of food security, especially given the “variable”
nature of food production and consumption. FLW may be indissociable from the need for
appropriate “buffering” mechanisms – and some degree of redundancies – to handle the
sometimes very high variability of production and consumption in time and in space.
11. FLW also impact the sustainability of food systems in all the three dimensions: economic, social
and environmental. They induce economic losses and reduce return on investments. They impede
development and hinder social progress. They have an important impact on the environment both
from the superfluous use of resources used to produce the food lost and wasted, and from the
local and global environmental impacts of putting food waste at disposal in landfills, including the
emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
Organizing the description of causes of food losses and waste: micro, meso and macro causes
12. Identification of causes of FLW is primordial to identification of solutions to reduce FLW, and
priorities for action. FLW can result from a very wide range of antecedents, ranging from
biological, microbial, chemical, biochemical, mechanical, physical, physiological, technological,
logistical, organizational, to psychological and behavioural causes – including those induced by
marketing, etc. The importance of these antecedents vary greatly according to the produce and
the context, and the stage of the food chain considered. Some studies have identified as much as
several hundreds of different individual causes of FLW.
13. Identifying the causes of FLW requires an integrated perspective along the food chain, and to
consider any action at one specific stage not in isolation but as part of a whole. Just as in a
conveyor belt, actions at one stage of the food chain can affect the whole chain. It is important not
to confuse “where” a specific loss or waste is occurring, with its “cause”. FLW happening at one
stage of the food chain can have their cause at another stage. For instance, some part of FLW
happening at retail and consumption stages can be traced back to causes at harvest or even pre-
harvest stages. Lack of care in the manipulation of fruits during harvest and packaging, which in
turn can be related to poor work conditions, can reduce their shelf-life and cause retail-level loss
or consumer waste. Conversely, fruits can be left to rot in the field because of a retailer’s decision
to lower its buying price or interrupt a contract.
14. Causes are often interrelated: rarely a loss or a waste appearing at one stage of the chain, for a
particular reason, is solely dependent on one specific cause.
15. This report proposes to disentangle the complexity and diversity of causes in organizing their
description amongst three different levels

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i. First, “micro-level” causes of FLW. These are the causes of FLW, at each particular stage of
the food chain where FLW occurs, from production to consumption, that result from actions or
non-actions of individual actors of the same stage, in response (or not) to external factors.
ii. Second, “meso-level” causes of FLW. These include secondary causes or structural causes of
FLW. A meso-level cause can be found at another stage of the chain as to where FLW
happen, or result from how different actors are organized together, of relationships along the
food chain, of the state of infrastructures, etc. Meso-level causes can contribute to the
existence of micro-level causes.
iii. Third, “macro-level” causes of FLW. This higher level accounts for how food losses and waste
can be explained by more systemic issues, such as a malfunctioning food system, the lack of
institutional or policy conditions to facilitate the coordination of actors (including securing
contractual relations), to enable investments and the adoption of good practices. Systemic
causes are those that favour the emergence of all the other causes of FLW, including meso
and micro causes. In the end, they are a major reason for the global extent of FLW.
Micro level causes of food losses and waste along food chains
16. Micro-level causes can be found all along the food chain, and are the direct, immediate reasons
for FLW taking place at a certain point of the chain, resulting from actions (or non-action) at the
same point of the chain, on how individual actors deal with various factors potentially leading to
FLW.
17. Poor harvest scheduling and timing, and rough, careless handling of the produce, are both major
contributors to FLW.
18. All along the food chain, inadequate or lack of storage conditions and, for perishable products,
poor temperature management are key factors leading to FLW.
19. Transport can be a major cause of FLW: by introducing a time span between production and
consumption, of particular importance for fresh products and by bringing additional risks of
mechanical and heat injury. Time spent because of transport can also lead to decrease of
nutritional contents.
20. Conditions within the retail outlet (temperature, relative humidity, lighting, gas composition, etc.)
and handling practices have an effect on quality, shelf-life and acceptability of the product.
21. FLW at consumer stage, at household level but also in catering and other food services, are
particularly important in developed countries. They are mainly driven by behavioural causes,
including habits of food buying, preparation and consumption, as well as time planning and
coordination. They are influenced by marketing techniques which encourage consumers to buy
more than they need.
Meso and macro-level causes of FLW
22. Very often causes of FLW are found at “higher” meso- and macro-levels, which lead to FLW (and
their micro-causes) happening at various stage of the chain.
23. At meso-level, the lack of equipment and/or of good practices, inadequate organization,
coordination and communication between food chain actors (e.g. transformation that renders the
product useless at a later stage of the chain, etc.), inadequate infrastructure, maladapted
economic conditions along the food chain (product unmarketable, etc.) are major causes of FLW
at various parts of the food chain. More macro-level, systemic causes include the absence of a
good, enabling environment to support coordination between actors, investment and improvement
of practices.
24. Pre-harvest conditions and actions in the field can indirectly lead to losses at later stages in the
chain, as production and agronomic practices influence quality at harvest, suitability for transport
and shipping, storage stability and shelf-life after harvest.
25. The retailers influence the activities of supply chains by dictating the quality of the produce to be
supplied and displayed in their outlets. Quality standards (as to shape, size, weight) imposed by
the processors, retailers or target markets can lead to produce not meeting them remaining un-
harvested.

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26. Inadequate information and bad anticipation of market conditions (level of demand, prices) can
also lead to produce remaining unharvested.
27. In many low-income countries, there is considerable food loss due to lack of storage capacity and
poor storage conditions as well as lack of capacity to transport the produce to processing plants or
markets immediately after harvesting. There are also too few wholesale, supermarket and retail
facilities providing suitable storage and sales conditions for food products. Wholesale and retail
markets in developing countries are often small, overcrowded, unsanitary and lack cooling
equipment.
28. Poor transportation infrastructure is another important meso-cause of FLW.
29. Even with adequate equipment, lack of implementation of good practices all along the food chain
is a major cause of food losses and waste.
30. Confusion arising from the existence and poor understanding of different food date labels are a
major, indirect cause of FLW at the retail and consumer levels. Consumers tend to assume that
these dates are linked to food safety when in reality they are more often based on food quality
(which will deteriorate over time without necessarily becoming a health hazard). Many kinds of
date labels coexist, some of them not intended to inform consumers but rather to help retailers
manage their stock. Other date labels are directed to consumers, but their purpose can be very
different whether the indicated date is related to food safety rules, or related to marketing
strategies to protect consumers’ experience of a product in the view to safeguard its reputation,
often with a huge food safety margin. Consumers get lost in this multitude of date labels.
Furthermore, date labeling is a major cause of FLW and economic loss at the retail level as
retailers often anticipate dates to preserve their good image.
31. At macro-level, the ability of the actors of the food chain to reduce FLW depend on the
surrounding policies and regulatory frameworks. Many regulations affect FLW, including policies
that control the use of surplus food for humans or for animal feed; policies or bans on fish
discards; food hygiene regulations; food labelling and packaging regulations; waste regulations
and policies. Other regulations might not have a direct impact on FLW, but on the potential to use
them as feed or energy.
Micro solutions to reduce food losses and waste
32. The identification of broad categories and levels of causes enables to design pathways for all
stakeholders to identify and implement solutions to reduce FLW.
33. The review of “micro” causes of FLW at each stage of food chains leads to the identification of
potential solutions and of actors to implement them. At each stage of the food chain, some
solutions can be implemented by single actors to address specific causes of losses and waste.
34. Micro-level solutions at harvest and post-harvest stages involve improved practices, adoption of
technical innovations, investments, or a combination of these. When appropriately applied, good
agricultural practices and good veterinary practices at the primary stage of production as well as
good manufacturing practices and good hygienic practices during food processing can protect
food from contamination or damage. A key intervention all along food chains is to improve storage
conditions. Various solutions have been already successfully implemented in many places.
35. Modifying consumers’ behaviour is also important. It involves direct communication and
awareness raising on the importance of reducing food waste. Stressing the civic responsibility for
reducing FLW is important. Consumers may also need technical options, such as better, smart
packaging adapted to different conditions of use, or the promotion of the “doggy bag” practice in
restaurants. It also requires the support and cooperation of the food industry and retailing, for
instance to improve the clarity of food date labelling and to provide advice on food storage, or to
ensure that an appropriate range of pack or portion sizes is available to meet the needs of
different households
Meso-level solutions
36. Micro-level solutions can be supported and enhanced by actions at meso-level, often involving
several actors altogether, public and private.

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37. They often require investments, both public and private. This is particularly the case when the
main solutions reside in improvement of logistics. For perishable products, management of
temperature and absence of delays are two vital issues that require investments in infrastructures
(energy for cold chains, roads for transportation). Innovation and adaptation of technical solutions
to local conditions are essential for success. Cold chain management in perishable foods supply
chains offers a very good example of potential solutions and what is needed to implement them in
locally adapted ways.
38. For many products, particularly for perishable ones, transformation can be a way to reduce FLW
and improve resistance to transport and storage, and increase shelf life. Investment in food
processing infrastructure, including packaging, can be seen as a huge opportunity to contribute to
improved situations of food security, especially in sustainable ways to fulfil the growing demands
of metropolitan areas.
39. Capacity development in the form of education, training and extension services for farmers and all
actors across the food chain is a key tool for reducing food losses and waste.
40. There are initiatives from government and development partners in developing countries to
improve the livelihoods of women farmers through value addition and marketing of perishables
food crops such as fruits and vegetables. These initiatives have two-pronged benefits – economic
empowerment of rural women and reduction of post-harvest losses in the perishable commodities.
41. The increasing inclusion in annual corporate businesses reports of a section detailing the
environmental and social impacts of their activities could lead to more sustainable food systems
and less FLW. Businesses can commit and report (i) on monitoring of food losses and waste in
their activities, (ii) on reducing food losses and waste in their activities, (iii) support activities which
lead to reduction of FLW, with their suppliers, at consumer level or elsewhere.
42. The standardization of the products offered to consumers is a major cause of FLW in modern
retailing systems. In traditional systems products gradually lose their economic and exchange
value along with their quality, as defined by the FLWQ concept. They are generally still sold or
exchanged, but at gradually lower prices. In modern, standardized systems, products are rather
defined as marketable or not. They “suddenly” lose all their economic value when they are no
more of the minimum quality considered as marketable – which is often not linked to their edibility
– as illustrated by the confusion on date labelling. Alternative distribution systems such as food
banks preserve them an edible value.
Macro-level (systemic) solutions
43. Solutions at micro- or meso-level can be enabled, supported and enhanced by action at macro-
level. Some solutions can only be implemented if they are accompanied by action at “macro” level.
This includes specific policies against FLW or considering FLW in other sets of policies. As
mentioned above, reducing FLW often involves improving infrastructures, particularly transport,
energy and market facilities. This requires government action, with often involvement of local
authorities and also of the private sector. Decisions and policies would deserve to be based on
sound cost-benefit analysis, so as for example to ensure that the right incentives or corrective
measures are put in place.
44. Many of the causes of FLW – and therefore the appropriate solutions – are due to behavioural or
economic choices, which seem rational at one stage of the chain, but may lead to FLW when the
rest of the food chain is considered. For example, the decision of a farmer to plant a larger field at
the expense of not necessarily harvesting the whole of it depending on market conditions; the
decision of food chain agents to overbuy food with respect to potential sales and their variability;
supermarkets needing to show a situation of abundance of products to attract clients, etc. Tackling
these causes of food losses and waste will imply addressing their underlying economic and
behavioural drivers, understanding their reasons, and finding a “substitution” to the different
“functions” that these actions (which may end up in creating FLW) “ensure” for the different actors.
45. Solutions to be implemented at meso and macro level generally require concerted and collective
action and measures. Prior identification of potential winners and losers across the whole food
system, and the design of appropriate incentive or compensation mechanisms, is key to the
success of implementation. This includes in particular assessing whether the poor producers and
consumers gain from FLW reduction. It should also consider how the “FLW-to-be-reduced” was
originally used (e.g. was it used as feed for animals or thrown away?). To avoid unintended

16
consequences of FLW reduction strategies, policy makers and stakeholders should consider all
the impacts of the proposed changes.
A growing set of initiatives towards coordinated actions to tackle FLW
46. There are a growing number of initiatives around the world that focus on reducing FLW, at
national, regional and local levels. They have all as common denominator the perspective of
gathering public and private actors, in a multistakeholder setting, often with a significant
engagement of the private sector.
47. Some governments have started to define specific targets for FLW reduction. However few
governments have put in place specific policies to reduce FLW, less even with a systemic
approach and integrated programmes. To date, main drivers for FLW targets are generally found
outside the perimeter of food policies, such as in waste management policies leading to reducing
the volume of waste, including packaging waste, and in resource use efficiency policies leading to
optimize, in analogy to the energy sector, the amount of inputs and resources (including raw food
products) in production and consumption.
48. Reducing food losses and waste requires identifying causes and selecting potential solutions
adapted to local and product specificities. It includes evaluating potential costs and benefits of
various options for different actors along the chains. The implementation of the selected solutions
generally requires the support or involvement of other actors, inside the food chain or at broader
levels. This often calls for coordinated action of multiple stakeholders. It also calls for actions at
policy level, to improve policies having an impact on FLW, or to build specific FLW reduction
policies.
Recommendations
Food losses and waste (FLW) impact both food security and nutrition and the sustainability of food
systems, in their capacity to ensure good quality and adequate food for this generation and future
generations. It calls for all stakeholders – States, international organizations, private sector and civil
society – to recognize food security and nutrition as a central dimension of sustainable food systems
and to address collectively FLW to improve the sustainability of food systems and to contribute to food
security and nutrition.
According to FAO, nearly one-third of food produced for human consumption – approximately 1.3
billion tonnes per year – is either lost or wasted globally. The HLPE makes the following
recommendations as a way of making serious progress to reduce this figure.
The HLPE recommends that States and international organizations better integrate food chains and
food systems perspectives in any food security and nutrition strategy or action. Reduction of FLW
should be systematically considered and assessed as a potential means to improve agricultural and
food systems efficiency and sustainability towards improved food security and nutrition. Direct and
indirect causes of FLW in a given system should be analysed to identify hotspots where it would be
most efficient to act.
The HLPE recommends undertaking four parallel mutually supportive tracks, in an inclusive and
participatory manner:
1. Improve data collection and knowledge sharing on FLW.
2. Develop effective strategies to reduce FLW, at the appropriate levels.
3. Take effective steps to reduce FLW.
4. Improve coordination of policies and strategies in order to reduce FLW.
1) Improve data collection and knowledge sharing on FLW
All stakeholders should
1a) Agree on a shared understanding, definition and scope for FLW.
1b) Improve the collection, transparency and sharing of data, experiences and good practices on FLW
at all stages of food chains.

17
FAO should
1c) Consider developing common protocols and methodologies to measure FLW and analyse their
causes. This should be done through an inclusive and participatory process, taking into account
product, country and all stakeholders’ specificities and building upon FAO’s experience.
1d) Invite all stakeholders, international organizations, governments, private sector and civil society to
collect and share data on FLW in a coherent and transparent manner at all stages of food chains.
2) Develop effective strategies to reduce FLW, at the appropriate levels
States should
2a) Convene an inclusive process to identify hotspots, causes of losses and waste at different levels
(see Appendix 1), potential solutions (see Appendix 2) and levels of intervention. This requires
identifying the actors who will directly implement solutions, individually or collectively, identify the costs
they will bear, as well as potential benefits and beneficiaries. It also requires identifying constraints
(including systemic constraints) and how they would be addressed (infrastructure, technologies,
changes of organization in the food chain/system, capacity building, policies and institutions).
2b) Determine a plan of action in a manner that includes all stakeholders.
FAO should
2c) Support these national processes in collaboration with partners to devise methodological guidance
adapted to countries’ specificities, and needs and priorities of various actors.
3) Take effective steps to reduce FLW
States should
3a) Invest in infrastructure and public goods to reduce FLW and to ensure sustainable food systems
such as storage and processing facilities, reliable energy supply, transport, appropriate technologies,
improved access and connection of food producers and consumers to markets.
3b) Implement an adequate framework including regulation, incentives and facilitation so that the
private sector (e.g. wholesaler, retailer, catering and other food services) and consumers take robust
measures to tackle unsustainable consumption patterns. This framework should also ensure that the
private sector better incorporates negative externalities of their activities such as damage to natural
resources.
3c) Take measures to support smallholders to reduce the FLW by organizing themselves in ways that
yield economies of scale and allow them to move towards high value activities in the food supply
chain.
3d) Create an enabling environment for the reduction of FLW including by encouraging sustainable
patterns of consumption among the population, as well as food and non-food investments promoting
food security.
3e) Encourage sector-based audits of FLW.
3f) Reform public food procurement policies to reduce and minimize FLW while ensuring food safety.
3g) Design and introduce procedures to ensure higher corporate accountability standards for FLW,
and monitor reductions in FLW in the food processing and retailing sectors.
States and other stakeholders, including international organizations, private sector and civil
society should
3h) Carry out training and capacity building to strengthen the coordinated use of appropriate
technologies.
3i) Promote experimentation and the exchange of good practices regarding FLW.
3j) Recognize the plurality of food systems in their diverse contributions to FLW and various potentials
to reduce them.

18
3k) Enable and support multistakeholder initiatives to improve governance along food chains and
organize collective understanding and action to reduce FLW.
3l) Invest in research and development to minimize FLW.
3m) Improve the dissemination of accurate information and advice to consumers to minimize FLW.
3n) Encourage civic engagement of all actors, including consumers, to act concretely to reduce FLW
in particular through public campaigns, education of youth and children.
Private sector should
3o) Develop and implement corporate responsibility policies to diminish FLW including by collecting
and sharing data on FLW and ensuring that the costs and benefits of FLW reduction are appropriately
shared.
3p) Get involved with collective actions and initiatives for reducing FLW, including by mobilizing
companies to change their practices in order to reduce FLW in households.
3q) Reform supermarket and food retailer practices such as product standards used to accept or reject
farmers produce (e.g. size and shape of foods as well as cosmetic standards for fruit, vegetables,
livestock products). This can be done for example by introducing differentiated pricing to prevent
economic and nutrition value losses.
National and International research and development organizations should
3r) Increase investment in technological innovations at post-harvest and consumption stages for
effective reduction of FLW as well as for adding value to agricultural products in the whole food value
chain, for example through the extension of shelf life while protecting nutritional value.
4) Improve coordination of policies and strategies in order to reduce FLW
States should
4a) Integrate FLW concerns and solutions, and a food chain approach, in agricultural and food policies
and development programs, as well as in other policies which could impact FLW.
4b) Strengthen the coherence of policies across sectors and objectives (e.g. sustainable food
consumption, dietary guidelines, food safety, energy, and waste).
4c) Set targets and introduce enabling economic policies and incentives to reduce FLW, through a
“food use-not-waste” hierarchy (i.e. prevention, reallocation of food for feed, recycle for energy through
anaerobic digestion, recover for compost, disposal, and ultimately, if no other solution is available, in
landfills).
4d) Support efforts for coherence, clarification and harmonization of the meaning and use of food
dates labelling, at national as well as international level taking into account the principles of the Codex
Alimentarius.
4e) Ensure a holistic food chain approach, with adequate research and extension services, including
towards small transport, transformation and distribution enterprises.
4f) Support coordination of efforts through multistakeholder initiatives, such as the global “Save Food”
initiative.
All Stakeholders should
4g) Improve communication, coordination, recognition of efforts needed/made at one stage to reduce
FLW at another stage (downstream or upstream).
CFS should
4h) Consider convening an inclusive meeting to share successful experiences, challenges faced and
lessons learned from FLW initiatives.
4i) Develop guidelines to assist governments in an assessment of their food systems with a view to
reduce FLW.
4j) Raise awareness of the importance of reducing FLW and disseminate this HLPE report to
international organizations and bodies.

19
INTRODUCTION
The issue of global food losses and waste (FLW) has recently received much attention and has been
given high visibility. According to FAO (2011a), almost one-third of food produced for human
consumption – approximately 1.3 billion tonnes per year – is either lost or wasted globally. The
reduction of FLW is now presented as essential to improve food security (HLPE, 2011; FAO, 2012a,b)
and to reduce the environmental footprint of food systems (HLPE, 2012; FAO, 2012a,b; UNEP,
2012a,b).
The attention given to the topic is driven by two main categories of concerns. First, a concern related
to food insecurity and hunger: the extent of FLW while more than 800 million people still suffer from
hunger seems to indicate that something is wrong, that food systems do not function as they should.
This perception includes a moral dimension, with various estimates of the number of people who could
be fed with what is lost, discarded or wasted – although there is no proven direct link between the
incidence of global FLW and the extent of global food insecurity. Second, a concern related to the
impact of FLW on natural resources and the environment, in a context of growing interrogations about
the capacity of ecosystems and natural resources to sustain an increasing demand for food, estimated
by FAO to reach +60 percent towards 2050, driven by population and income growth and changing
consumption patterns (FAO, 2012a). In this perspective, FLW represents at the same time a waste of
resources, as well as an environmental issue by itself, as for example food-related waste, as part of
urban total waste, has a significant greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint.
At the origin of economic, environmental and social concerns, FLW tend to become a symbol of the
inefficiency, unfairness and unsustainability of food systems. Reducing them seems a priority to
improve the sustainability of food systems. The issue was prominent on the agenda towards the
preparation of the Rio+20 Conference, which connected the reduction of food losses and waste to the
issue of more sustainable food systems, linking sustainable consumption and production, recognizing
that production is driven by consumption, and that the environmental impacts of food systems have to
be assessed all along food chains. The Zero Hunger Challenge launched by the Secretary-General of
the United Nations in Rio de Janeiro during the Conference integrates a zero-food-loss-and-waste
challenge along with a 100 percent-sustainable-food-systems challenge.
The Committee on World Food Security (CFS), in its Thirty-ninth Session (October 2012) requested
the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) to undertake a study on “Food
losses and waste in the context of sustainable food systems” to be presented to the CFS Plenary in
2014.
Efficient, well-managed and sustainable food systems (SFS) are essential to end hunger and
malnutrition as well as to protect the environment and its long-term food production capacity. “The key
to better nutrition, and ultimately to ensuring each person’s right to food, lies in better food systems –
smarter approaches, policies and investments encompassing the environment, people, institutions and
processes by which agricultural products are produced, processed and brought to consumers in a
sustainable manner”, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message for the World Food Day on
16 October 2013 (UN, 2013).
By requesting the HLPE to examine the issue of food losses and waste in the context of sustainable
food systems, the CFS invited the HLPE to consider the very notion of sustainable food systems and
the relationships between FLW and SFS, i.e. to investigate how the reduction of food losses and
waste could improve the sustainability of food systems, as well as how unsustainable food systems
contribute to food losses and waste. Central to this report is how sustainable food systems relate to
food security and nutrition (FSN), as a condition to ensuring food and nutrition security for all, now and
in the future.
This report aims at a better understanding of what FLW mean, their extent, the reasons behind, and
the means to reduce them. It does so in a triple perspective: a systemic perspective; a sustainability
perspective, including the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability; and a food
security and nutrition perspective, looking at how FLW relate to the various dimensions of FSN.
The very extent of FLW invites to consider them not as an accident but as an integral part of food
systems. FLW are consequences of the way food systems function, technically, socially, culturally and
economically. Therefore, one can only study FLW, their impacts, causes and potential ways to reduce
them, by adopting an integrated and holistic view of food production, commercialization and
consumption, mobilizing a vast array of disciplines, from the biology of food products and conservation

20
technologies, to organization and economics of food chains and markets as well as consumer
behaviour. The task is made all the more difficult by considerable gaps in data and knowledge. A wide
diversity of products, food chains and systems need to be accounted for, including their social and
cultural dimensions as well as for the considerable changes under way.
To address the above, the report adopts the following approach.
Chapter 1 clarifies the definitions and approaches used in the report to consider FLW, and
summarizes available data on the extent of FLW, recognizing that they are very much dependent on
the specific conditions and local situations in a given country. It proposes a definition of SFS and
analyses the impacts of FLW on the sustainability of food systems and on food security.
Chapter 2 reviews the range of causes of FLW, along food chains, production, storage and processing
choices, patterns and technologies, infrastructure and capacity, marketing chains and channels for
distribution, consumer purchasing, and food-use practices, etc. It aims to identify links between
different levels of causes: micro, meso (structural) and macro (systemic) causes.
Chapter 3 proposes an organization of the solutions to reduce FLW to address the hierarchy of causes
identified in Chapter 2. In doing so, the report tries to sort out the potential roles for the various actors
intervening in/on food systems: producers, the private sector, consumers, social actors and
governments.
The report is deliberately oriented towards action. It provides practical elements for actors to design
their own solutions. It includes numerous examples, as well as two appendixes that can be of use to
stimulate reflexion and action. Given all the analysis, and the elements presented in the first three
chapters, Chapter 4 proposes a “way forward” to build strategies to reduce FLW that can be applied in
diverse contexts with a perspective towards sustainable food systems providing sustainable food
security and nutrition for all. Recommendations to different categories of actors are provided, which
aim to sustain the rolling-out of the way forward, applicable to a diversity of contexts and situations.

21
1 FOOD LOSSES AND WASTE AND SUSTAINABLE FOOD
SYSTEMS: DEFINITION, EXTENT AND IMPACTS
Numerous reports (e.g. Stuart, 2009; Foresight, 2011; FAO, 2011a; Lipinski et al., 2013) have
underlined the significance of food losses and waste (FLW) and the need to reduce them to improve
food security and sustainability of food systems.
This chapter analyses the relations between the triptych “food losses and waste”, “sustainable food
systems” and “food security and nutrition”.
It starts by defining food losses and waste and considers the way to measure them and their extent
(Section 1.1). It presents the notion of sustainable food systems (Section 1.2). It finally explores how
food losses and waste impact the sustainability of food systems as well as their capacity to ensure
food security (Section 1.3).
1.1 What are FLW along food chains and how to measure them?
1.1.1 FLW concepts and definitions
What are FLW? Trying to define FLW and their scope, one is immediately confronted with two
competing approaches, reflecting fundamentally different perspectives, underlying objectives and
policy concerns. One approach focuses on waste, and for it FLW are the part of waste that is food or
related to food, including non-edible parts. The other approach, retained in this report, focuses on
food, and for it FLW are the edible part of food that is lost or wasted. A first distinction is therefore
whether the approach to FLW is focused on waste or focused on food:
- The waste-focused approach derives from the concern of diminishing waste of all kinds, and
reducing negative impacts and costs of the treatment of waste, mainly non-food but including
food – and including non-edible parts of produce. It often reflects local environmental impact
considerations, calling to consider “what happens with the waste”, either as feed, recycled, for
energy production, as compost to return nutrients to the soil, incineration or landfill.
- The food-focused approach considers as a starting point food
1
and parts of food that are edible
and intended for human consumption, but lost or discarded at some point in the food chain. This
leads to introduce, at the beginning of the chain, the cultural dimension of “edibility” (as parts of
food that are originally considered “not edible” will not be accounted as lost or wasted) and, at the
end of the chain, the food safety dimension of “edibility” (as food that was originally edible but
becomes non-edible for food-safety reasons needs to be discarded, leading to food loss and
waste). It invites considering improvement of the functioning of the food system, with a food chain
perspective.
Another source of confusion is the use of diverse terms (Schneider, 2013) with diverse scopes and
inconsistent use between authors. The literature often uses a distinction between food losses and food
waste (FAO, 2011a; Parfitt, Barthel and Macnaughton, 2010). However, there is not a consistent
practice in the literature on the exact scope of what is “food loss” and what is “food waste”:
- For a first category of authors, the distinction between food loss and food waste is based on the
stage of the food chain at which, physically, the loss or waste of food physically happens. In this
category, food losses happen at the earlier stage of food chains, often also denominated post-
harvest losses, and food waste happens at the later stages, towards the consumer, placing the
boundary either at retail or at consumer level.
- A second category of authors uses a different approach to this distinction, linking it not to the
stages of the food chain where a loss or waste physically occurs, but to the nature or origin of the
cause of loss or waste, whether its cause is “behavioural” (waste) or not (loss); “voluntary”
(waste) or not (loss); the result of an explicit choice (waste) or not (loss), etc. But such
approaches raise the difficult question of determining whether and to what extent a particular
discard of food is “behavioural”, “voluntary” or the “result of a choice”, given the different and
1
“Food means any substance, whether processed, semi-processed or raw, which is intended for human consumption,
and includes drink, chewing gum and any substance that has been used in the manufacture, preparation or treatment
of “food” but does not include cosmetics or tobacco or substances used only as drugs” (FAO/WHO, 2013).

22
often very subjective perceptions of what these terms mean in different contexts, including
different economic or moral meanings of the degree of real free will to come to discard food. It
also tends to undervalue technical, organizational, economic and social constraints, which can
predispose what is really behavioural, voluntary or the result of a choice, versus what is not.
- A third category of authors
2
uses “food waste” or “food wastage” as a generic term for “food
losses and waste”, which has the limitation that often some of this “waste” is in fact, under other
approaches, a “loss”. This gets further confusing when authors expand the scope to all “food-
related” waste, which includes non-edible parts.
3
This difficult discussion on the terminology is further dependent on the meaning and coverage of the
two terms “loss” and “waste” in different languages, which can happen to be quite different than in
English. Such different uses of the same words to cover very different scopes make comparisons
between studies and numbers quite difficult and, if definitions are not properly checked and accounted
for, can be very misleading. Nevertheless, distinguishing between food loss and food waste, in various
ways, is useful: as we will see in this report, these two broad perspectives often relate, very broadly, to
distinct types of causes, and are, very broadly, more associated to distinct types of systems.
For the purpose of clarity of terminology, the HLPE retains the most often used approach, the one of
the first category of authors above, which links food waste to its taking place at consumer level and
food losses to their taking place any stage before the consumer level, regardless of the real underlying
explanatory cause, and regardless of its “behavioural” character or not, or of its “voluntary” character
or not. This terminology has the advantage of being easy to apply and easy to relate to specific data.
In this report the following definitions will therefore be used (Definition 1).
Definition 1 Food loss and waste
Food loss and waste (FLW) refers to a decrease, at all stages of the food chain from harvest
to consumption in mass, of food that was originally intended for human consumption,
regardless of the cause.
Food losses (FL) refers to a decrease, at all stages of the food chain prior to the consumer
level, in mass, of food that was originally intended for human consumption, regardless of the
cause.
Food waste (FW) refers to food appropriate for human consumption being discarded or left to
spoil at consumer level – regardless of the cause.
Food quality loss or waste (FQLW) refers to the decrease of a quality attribute of food
(nutrition, aspect, etc.), linked to the degradation of the product, at all stages of the food chain
from harvest to consumption.
Therefore, FLW occur between the moment when a product is ready to be harvested or harvested,
and the moment when it is consumed or removed from the food supply chain.
4
Inedible fractions
removed from the food supply chain (e.g. side streams) are not considered as FLW (Figure 1). Neither
are yield gaps, conversion of plant products in animal products, and overnutrition considered as FLW,
as they are rather related to broader considerations on the efficiency of food systems.
2
Some use “food waste” as a generic term. It is often in contexts linked either to waste in general or to a concern about
use of natural resources, and in relation to the natural environment or other dimensions. What others call “loss is for
them a “waste/wastage”, because they associate it to a “waste” of resources (meaning they could have been used for
other purposes). The term wastage is also sometimes used with such a broad meaning.
3
In such waste-related approaches, some, as the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), distinguish “non-
avoidable waste” (defined by them as the non-edible parts of food), and “avoidable waste”, which is defined as edible
food waste. In the definition used in this report, such “unavoidable waste” is not considered FLW. Under the definition
used by FAO (2011) and also in this report, non-edible parts of produce -- what WRAP calls “unavoidable waste” –
are never accounted as FLW.
4
A food supply chain encompasses all those activities that help ensure the delivery of finished products to the
consumer from the primary producer. Such activities can include storage, transport and distribution, processing,
wholesale, retail and consumption.

23
Figure 1 Schematic representation of the definition of food losses and waste along the
food chain
FLW along the food chain: Raw agricultural production is divided into food versus non-food uses, and food
uses is further divided into edible and non-edible parts of produce. Total FLW is the sum, at each step of the
food chain, of losses and waste of edible parts of food that were originally planned for human consumption.
The figure represents the five steps (harvest, post-harvest, process, distribution, consumption) where the
mass can be measured and data available in national multi-product statistics, building upon food-balance
sheets, as used in FAO (2011a) and described in Gustavsson et al. (2013). Inside each of these stages, and
between each of these stages – and attached to them, FLW can happen for various reasons, including
storage, transport etc (see Chapter 2).
All along the food chain there can be quality decreases (in nutritional quality, in aspect or other quality
attributes) without a decrease of dry matter of food. We propose to designate this decrease with the
concept of FQLW. Food quality loss is difficult to measure as there can be various ways to approach
quality: nutritional qualities are in themselves multidimensional (macro- and micronutrients, vitamins,
minerals, etc.). Time is an essential determinant of FQLW, as produce, especially fresh, perishable
Raw production (total harvest)
Raw production planned
for human food uses
Planned for non
human food uses
(feed, energy, seed...)
Non
edible
Edible
Harvest
losses
Post-
harvest
losses
Process
losses
Distribu-
tion
losses
Consumer
waste
Food
consumed
(eaten)
Available harvested
Available post-harvest
Available
processed
Total loss and waste
Available
purchased

24
produce, loses quality over time, before FLW “stricto-sensu” happens. FQLW translates into a loss of
economic value, by different ways and time frames depending on products. It finally leads to FLW. The
way FQLW translates into a loss of economic value is key to explain an important part of FLW. When
a food stuff has lost a certain level of quality, it is often thrown away.
1.1.2 FLW and FQLW metrics
What metrics could be relevant to measure FLW and FQLW? Different metrics have different
implications in terms of data needs, measurements protocols, calculation results, and on the
interpretation of results. Some metrics might be more relevant depending on the different situations or
categories of actors, and on the scale at which FLW is assessed.
FLW is generally measured in food mass. Some studies have also used caloric metrics, and other use
economic units. FQLW is more difficult to assess and measure, as there are different quality and
nutritional attributes, which are not correlated to each other. There is also generally a loss of economic
value with increasing FQLW, for instance in case of a decrease of visible quality attributes (fresh
products or expiration dates, see Section 2.2.4).
Food mass (FLW)
The usual approach to metrics is to assess FLW in mass, generally the most easily accessible and
comparable data at all levels of analysis. This is compatible with the above definition of FLW we use in
this report, and was adopted by most of the studies published so far, including the broad study on the
extent of FLW (FAO, 2011a).
Caloric (FLW)
Another approach is to report FLW in caloric units. Kummu et al., (2012) have converted FLW figures
as expressed in mass in FAO (2011a), into calories, using the caloric content of the diverse foods.
This leads to giving a greater “weight” to FLW of energy-dense foods in the calculation of FLW. This
approach is not to be confounded with the one, conceptually different, used by Smil (2004) to evaluate
the efficiency of the food systems (see Section 1.3.1).
Nutritional value (FQLW)
Accounting FLW in mass does not fully take into account the nutritional dimensions: food quantity
might be preserved (low FLW levels) as expressed in mass, but this does not necessarily means that
proteins quality and nutrients are equally preserved. This is why we propose, in this report, a separate
definition for FQLW to account for cases when nutritional qualities are lost without correlated FLW.
For example, the nutrient density of fresh foods is highest right after harvest, especially in fruits and
vegetables, but continually declines during storage, and even more rapidly in conditions of inadequate
care, handling and storage. Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) begins to degrade immediately after harvest and
degrades steadily during storage for all classes of fruit and vegetable products, with “losses” which
could reach 100 percent in four days for fresh spinach (e.g. Lee and Kader, 2000). Refrigeration can
only slow but not stop the process. And the nutritious quality continues to degrade during prolonged
storage of frozen products. Also, nutrients or nutritious by-products can be lost during industrial
processing, fractioning or refining of foods. For instance, the polishing of rice and the removal of bran
in wheat removes many essential nutrients. The extraction of juice from fruits results in nutrient-rich
leftovers, discarded as waste or channelled into non-food use. Significant amounts of nutrients,
especially vitamins, are lost during the process of blanching or drying fruit and vegetables.
Conversion of food to processed forms may be essential to preserve the food in mass terms, and
desirable from a convenience point of view, but the nutritive value of processed foods may be lower
than that of very fresh produce. It is however higher than fresh produce badly preserved, pointing to
the importance of processing conditions to avoid nutritional losses.
Finally, indiscriminate practices in food trade such as food adulteration can lower the quality of food
due to dilution of nutrient density or destruction of nutrients. It can be due to incorporation of
edible/inedible material, non-permitted additives, excessive additives or abstraction of a component.
There can potentially be various ways to measure FQLW, depending on the nutrition variable or
quality considered, and this is an area for new research.

25
Monetary (FLW and FQLW)
Some authors also use monetary values as FLW and FQLW metric
5
especially at food chain level.
Physical food losses and waste, as well as FQLW, translate into losses of economic value added.
Along a food chain, from production to final sale, value is generally accumulated, attached to
successive phases of the elaboration of final produce. This is the case obviously for elaborated,
processed food produce, but also, in shorter food chains, for fresh produce. Conversely, loss of value
added linked to the degradation of the quality of food (FQLW) or to FLW can take place at every step
of the food chains. As seen above, time can be an important determinant of FQLW, therefore of
monetary losses.
Down the chain, as value added is accumulated to the produce, there is correlatively more value to be
potentially lost in case of FLW, down to a possible total economic loss at consumption stage, when
consumers spend money to buy produce that they might never end up consuming, and leave to spoil.
Sometimes food chain agents, processors, retailers and market operators, have adopted strategies to
avoid suffering complete economic losses in situations when food products have lost quality (FQLW,
be it freshness, shape, colour, consistency, taste) to the point that they are “close to being lost” (FLW).
Actors of the food chain may accept partial economic losses to avoid such a total economic loss: in
doing so they do as if they were anticipating a food loss, trying to mitigate it. Processors can redirect
such produce to non-food uses, or to feed, with some economic value. On food markets, prices can go
down, when produce remaining to be sold is of lower quality or more perishable, with less lifetime
remaining. This strategy has also been adopted by some supermarkets (NRDC, 2013), selling
products near the “best-before” date at discounted rates. The latter behaviour leads to lowering the
economic loss of the retailer. It nevertheless does not slow the physical “degradation” of the product
per se, which eventually will risk becoming physically lost at consumer level.
As we will see in Chapter 3, the economic metric to FLW is certainly relevant when devising strategies
to reduce FLW, which will need to take into account how the overall economic losses linked to FLW
are distributed along the food chain, and to consider also the costs of FLW reduction, meaning that
some actors might win, but other might lose from FLW reduction actions.
1.1.3 Current evaluations of the extent of food losses and waste
As mentioned above, studies on FLW can be traced back to two major work streams: studies on food
losses or post-harvest losses for a particular product, generally with the aim of improving the economic
efficiency of a particular food chain, and studies on waste or food-related waste (including packaging),
often at local or national level, aiming to reduce it and improve its management.
Some studies give perspectives on FLW in specific parts of food supply chains: production,
processing, wholesale, logistics, retail, markets, redistribution, catering and other food services or
households (e.g. Hanssen and Møller, 2013). These studies, being adapted to their specific object, are
often difficult to compare and amalgamate.
Post-harvest losses have given way to various studies and projects, mainly using agronomic or
engineering knowledge, addressing their various causes at each stage of production. One example is
for instance the African Postharvest Losses Information System providing postharvest weight loss
estimates for seven cereal crops in Sub-Saharan Africa (APHLIS, 2014), at national and provincial
scale. APHLIS gathers a network of local experts supplying relevant data and verifying loss estimates;
a central database; and a loss calculator to calculate losses from all provinces of the countries in the
region. Loss estimates are derived from the best known estimates of the loss for each link in the
postharvest chain allowing for crop type, climate and scale of farming. Further corrections are applied
for a range of other factors. According to APHLIS, total post-harvest losses for cereals during
harvesting, drying, handling operations, farm storage, transport and market storage in the region
oscillated between 14.3 percent and 15.8 percent of the production during the period 2003-2013.
6
A comprehensive preparatory study on food losses and waste across the EU27 investigated causes,
quantities, environmental impacts, best practices, forecasts and policy development (EC, 2011). Both
5
In this section, we restrict monetary loss to the economic value loss attached to the production. This includes
accounting for the costs (at market price) of inputs to production at all stages, including labour etc. Some authors go
further and include in economic valuations the assessment of the costs in terms of non-marketed externalities (use of
natural resources etc.), or of the opportunity costs (what could have been done with the produce that ends up lost).
6
www.aphlis.net

26
Eurostat and other national data and estimates have been used and the study estimated EU27 annual
FLW at 89 million tonnes, or 179 kg per capita. Limitations in the reliability of the use of Eurostat data,
due to a lack of clarity on the FLW definition and methodologies to measure them, have been pointed
out as being potentially significant. Additionally, data are missing for some sectors in some EU
Member States. Also, it was not possible to confirm that by-products were not included in some
instances in manufacturing sector data. Within the FUSIONS project (see Section 3.3.3), further
evaluation of the Eurostat system has shown that there are currently formal and methodological
elements that make it difficult to use the statistics for generating reliable food losses and waste time
series (Hanssen and Møller, 2013).
A national assessment study in Australia has collated and reviewed the quality and nature of 1262
studies on FLW, ranging from regional waste management authority reports and research papers to
national studies. This report notes that, while there are many existing food losses and waste studies,
they are highly variable, both in terms of geographical relevance and methodology. Accessing much of
the data often requires negotiating with a large number of data holders with different concerns about
privacy and confidentiality. For some parts of the food stream there is a lack of sufficient data. The
study concludes that a more comprehensive understanding is needed to improve the environmental
performance of waste management systems, or to improve the use of increasingly scarce resources
(Mason et al., 2011).
In the United States of America, the USDA Economic Research Service has put in place a Food
Availability Data System
7
that includes loss-adjusted food availability (LAFA) data series. The data
series is considered a work-in-progress as the USDA continues to refine the underlying loss
assumptions and estimates. Based on this, in the United States of America, FLW were estimated at
roughly between 30 and 40 percent of the total food supply in 2010, with 31 percent of the food
available at the retail level ending up lost or wasted either at the retail or at consumer levels,
corresponding to 60 million tons of food (Buzby, Wells and Hyman, 2014).
At global level, the study by Gustavsson et al. (FAO, 2011a) entitled “Global food losses and food
waste” has been the most quoted and used reference on the extent of FLW. The methodology is
depicted in Box 1 and results are shown in Figures 2 and 3. It uses partial sources and attempts to
bridge knowledge gaps by extending the findings of available studies on comparable products in the
same country and/or comparable countries. The study assesses global FLW at a level of roughly one-
third of the mass of edible parts of food intended for human consumption, representing about 1.3
billion tonnes per year. This is equivalent to a per capita FLW of 280–300 kg/year in Europe and North
America and of 120–170 kg/year in sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia.
Kummu et al. (2012) used the raw data compiled for the FAO (2011a) study and calculated that this
one-third decrease in mass translates in a global FLW level of 25 percent decrease in calorie terms.
Losses and waste differ widely between products and between regions for the same type of products
(FAO, 2011a; Kummu et al. 2012). For instance, in Europe, cereal losses and waste are twice as high
as in sub-Saharan Africa. On the other hand, in sub-Saharan Africa, milk losses and waste are twice
as high as in Europe.
Depending on the products and the regions, the distribution of the losses and waste along the food
chain is very different. Globally (FAO, 2011a; Kummu et al., 2012; Parfitt, Barthel and Macnaughton,
2010; Hodges et al., 2010), in middle and high income countries a great share of the food losses and
waste occur at distribution and consumption level; in low income countries, it is during agricultural and
post-harvest steps (see Figure 3). For instance, in Africa cereals are lost mostly in the first stages of
the food chain. In Europe, they are lost mostly at the consumer stage: 25 percent of consumer waste
of cereals, against 1 percent in Africa. For fruits and vegetables, the differences between regions are
also striking. In Africa, processing and distribution are the weak stages. In Europe, it is at consumption
that most FLW occur.
As one can see in Figure 3, losses at harvest stage are significant across all regions of the world.
However, as we will see in Chapter 2, these losses do not take place for the same reason: in
developed countries, they are mostly due to produce being rejected because of quality standards,
therefore to a great extent attributable to causes “down the food chain”, and to the consumers.
7
http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-availability-(per-capita)-data-system.aspx#26705

27
Figure 2 FLW per capita in the different world regions
The X-axis represents the population of a region or group of countries. The Y-axis shows per-capita FLW in
the given region. The grey part distinguishes consumer waste from post-harvest losses within regional food
loss and waste. For each region, the area of the rectangle represents total regional FLW. Source: elaborated
from Gustavsson et al. (FAO, 2011a).
Figure 3 Distribution of FLW along the food chain in the different world regions
The bars represent the percentages lost or wasted at each step of the chain, expressed in percentage of the
initial production (edible part originally intended for human consumption, see Figure. 1). Source: elaborated
from Gustavsson et al. (FAO, 2011a).
10.5% 11.3%
9.0%
13.4%
10.8%
12.5%
8.7%
3.5%
3.4%
6.6%
7.5%
7.8%
12.7%
9.6%
3.4%
3.9% 3.1%
5.0%
6.3%
4.5%
2.7%
2.4%
2.2%
4.4%
4.1% 5.6%
4.6%
4.6%
12.6% 10.6%
10.3%
3.7%
5.5%
1.3%
2.6%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
Postharvest
Processing
and packing
Distribution
Consumption
32% 31%
33% 34%
36%
28%
36%
PercentageofFLW
Europe, incl.
Russian
Federation
North America,
Oceania
Sub-Saharan
Africa
South and south-
eastern Asia
296
1 billion
people
100
Kg/cap/yr
115
281
94
236
73
223
25
216
33
167
7
126
11
Japan,
Republic of
Korea, China
Latin America
North Africa,
west and
central Asia
Harvest
North America,
Oceania
Europe, incl.
Russian
Federation
Japan, Republic
of Korea, China
Latin
America
North Africa,
west and central
Asia
Sub-saharan
Africa
South and
south-east Asia
FLWpercapita
Population

28
Box 1 The methodology of the FAO (2011a) study: “Global food losses and food waste -
extent, causes and prevention” (Gustavsson et al., 2013)
Absolute FLW numbers were obtained by applying FLW percentages to data from national
and regional food balance sheets, using the year 2007 as a base. The production volumes
were collected from FAO Statistical Yearbook 2009. Percentages of losses and waste for
different regions of the world, different commodity groups and different steps of the supply
chain were collected from an extensive literature search and by expert consultation. Different
calculation models were applied for each commodity group: cereals; roots and tubers;
oilseeds and pulses; fruit and vegetables; meat; fish and seafood; and milk and eggs.
The methodology of the study, described in Gustavsson et al. (2013), is challenged by major
data gaps for percentages of both losses and waste. Where there are gaps of knowledge,
assumptions and estimations were made, based on comparable regions, commodity groups
and/or steps of the food supply chain.
For instance, the study assumes an average FLW of 25 percent for the whole group of
cereals at the consumer level in Europe, which is an assumption based on a study by the
WRAP (2008a) relevant to United Kingdom households, whereby household waste of bread
was estimated at 29 percent, and 16 percent for other staple foods. This leads to a result of
22.6 million tonnes of cereal waste at consumer level in Europe, representing 32 percent of
the total European consumer food waste. Therefore, one third of the EU consumer waste
results from a single point-estimate, based on bread waste data for United Kingdom
households.
This example and other similar uses of point-based estimates to assess global waste
percentages show that the results of the original Gustavsson et al. (FAO, 2011a) study need
to be taken with great caution, a fact which the authors of the study acknowledge.
The FAO (2011a) study is however the only global study currently available with FLW data at all levels
from production to consumption and encompassing all sectors of food production, including fisheries.
Despite shortcomings in terms of data available, the global results of the study, and the order of
magnitude found of one-third of FLW (and its declination in developed and developing countries) is
coherent with existing studies at regional/national level, as well as with sectoral studies.
Finally, it is important to note that all the studies of global relevance providing estimates of global FLW,
published subsequently to the FAO (2011a) study, rely on the same raw data from FAO (2011a).
These studies, such as Kummu et al. (2012), the WRI study (Lipinski et al., 2013), the FAO, 2013
Toolkit (FAO, 2013a), or the 2013 Report from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE, 2013),
etc. therefore do not provide independent estimates of the extent of FLW.
1.1.4 Towards harmonized methodologies and protocols to describe and
measure FLW
As recognized by many (e.g. Parfitt, 2013), global studies on FLW – all relying on the single source
available that remains FAO (2011a) do not hide concerns on the precision of the FLW estimations
(see Box 2).
First, concerns exist regarding the reliability, incompleteness and quality of available primary and
secondary data. For instance, in many cases, national estimates of FLW result from the aggregation of
sub-estimates coming from different years – figures that can be very variable over time, with changing
contexts (Hodges et al., 2010). In general, there is simply not enough data on FLW in food supply
chains worldwide, either from primary or secondary sources of information.
Second, there is currently no estimation of the uncertainty or margin of error surrounding FLW
numbers.
Third, data are rarely reported on a regular, recurrent basis, and there is not much evidence on the
evolution of FLW and, currently, except for some exception such as in the United Kingdom (WRAP,
2014) or Norway (Hanssen and Møller, 2013), no estimates are available for past and current trends of
FLW, which obviously handicaps the establishment of a clear baseline against which progress in FLW

29
reduction could be measured. As noted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD, 2014), “data collection on FLW tends to be on an ad-hoc basis as a one-off
project within a limited time frame and not on a continuing basis”. Use of outdated data can hide
improvements (Parfitt, Barthel and Macnaughton, 2010; Liu, 2014).
Different definitions, different metrics, different measurement protocols and the lack of a standard for
collection of data adapted to different countries and products: all of this make it difficult – and
sometimes impossible – to make comparisons between studies, between systems, between countries.
Any FLW number is always a wrong number if not clearly and uniquely associated to the methodology
used to produce it. There is also no agreed method to evaluate the quality of data, method and
numbers produced.
This situation is a huge barrier to understanding the real situation (what are the identified causes of
FLW, what extent of FLW they specifically create?), the estimation of the potential for solutions, of
“what needs to be done”, and of the monitoring of progress.
This is why there are currently strong calls from many organizations (FAO, OECD, EC, FUSIONS,
WRI, UNEP, etc.), for the development of global protocols for the measurement of FLW, taking into
account a large number of variables and country specificities, towards a harmonization at global level
of definitions and measurement methods, towards the improvement of the reliability and comparability
of data, and towards more transparency. The HLPE makes a specific recommendation on the matter
(Chapter 4).
1.2 What are sustainable food systems?
In this report, we adopt the following definition of a food system (Definition 2), as adapted from a range
of other definitions (e.g. Ericksen, 2008; Ericksen et al., 2010; Ingram, 2011; IPCC, 2014).
Definition 2 Food system
A food system gathers all the elements (environment, people, inputs, processes,
infrastructures, institutions, etc.) and activities that relate to the production, processing,
distribution, preparation and consumption of food, and the outputs of these activities,
including socio-economic and environmental outcomes.
Thus intended, a food system is defined as the sum of all the diverse elements and activities which,
together, lead to the production and consumption of food, and their interrelations. A food system
interfaces further with a wide range of other systems (energy, transport, etc.), and faces various
constraints. Food system is a “descriptive” concept: its definition is not “normative” and does not
preclude that a food system will necessarily perform well or generate appropriate food security
outcomes, as well as a range of other socio-economic and environmental outcomes.
The concept of food systems, or of food and nutrition systems (Sobal, Khan and Bisogni, 1998) has
given way to numerous definitions and conceptualizations. There have also been various attempts to
create typologies of food systems. Many of them are constructed on a historical perspective, from
“traditional” to “industrialized” systems (Malassis, 1996). Most of them resort to criteria related to the
relationships between production and consumption: distinction between producers and consumers,
part of consumption produced "internally", distance from which food is coming (Esnouf, Russel and
Bricas, 2013). Scale is, of course, key here, with many studies focusing on distinctions between local
and global (Gaull and Goldberg, 1993; Goodman, 1997; Feenstra, 1997; Hinrichs, 2000; Kneafsey et
al., 2013). To a certain extent, most if not all food systems are interconnected and their sum
constitutes “a global food system”.
Food systems can be described as encompassing a number of activities which give rise to a number
of food security outcomes. Food systems are themselves influenced by economic, social and
environmental drivers (and their interactions). In turn, food systems feedback on environment, social
and economic drivers (Ingram 2011). There are many different views as to what constitutes a
“sustainable” food system, and what falls within the scope of the term “sustainability”.
Historically, the concept of sustainability resulted from the initial works by the international scientific
and development community on the notion of systainable development. This concept was then applied
to agriculture, or parts of the food systems. We will start by briefly reviewing these attempts before

30
adopting a holistic view of “sustainable food systems” considering food systems in their completeness
and in how they relate to food security and nutrition objectives.
There have been many works around sustainability since the 1980’s. This discourse has started in the
international discussions around the issues of environment and development, and the work of the
“Bruntland” World Commission on Environment and Development established in 1983 by the UN-SG,
and the release in 1987, of its report “Our common future”. In this report, “sustainable development”
was defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED, 1987). Sustainability, by essence, having been
much discussed in relation to the concept of development, includes a time perspective. As explained
by Lang and Barling (2013), the Bruntland report defined sustainability within a multigenerational
perspective, and giving equal emphasis to environment, society and economy as key “pillars” on which
sustainable development needs to be grounded.
The attempt to link sustainability and food security started also with the Bruntland report (WCED,
1987), which included a seminal chapter entitled, “Food security: sustaining the potential”. In this
chapter, however, the approach was mainly focused on global levels of production and global
availability of food, with the concern that “there are broad areas of the Earth, in both industrial and
developing nations, where increases in food production are undermining the base for future
production”.
More recent works (e.g. Pinstrup-Andersen and Herforth, 2008) have shown that the linkages between
sustainability and food security are more complex than just the issue of ensuring future global
availability of food, given the need to consider access to food at household level.
Until recently, the corpus of works around sustainability and food has mainly been either applied to
parts of food systems, for example production – with the issue of sustainable agriculture or sustainable
production – or for instance more recently, on consumption, with the issue of “sustainable diets” (FAO,
2012c).
8
Also most approaches tended to emphasize the environmental dimension of sustainability
over the two other ones, economic and social. The 2001–2011 Global environmental change and food
systems (GECAFS
9
) project was set up to foster research on ways to enhance food security without
further degrading ecosystem services. It produced important work on the concept of the food system
and on its relationship to food security (Ingram, Ericksen and Liverman, 2010). The preparation of the
Rio+20 Conference gave way to important discussions bringing together food security and
sustainability of food systems and emphasizing their importance for sustainable development, an
example of which is the FAO publication Towards the future we want: end hunger and make the
transition to sustainable agricultural and food systems (FAO, 2012b).
Considering the sustainability of food systems and the linkages to food security, this therefore
requests broadening the perspective of study along three axes:
- from a pure production perspective to a more holistic food system approach;
- from an environmental perspective to a perspective encompassing also the economic and social
dimensions;
- from a “global availability” perspective of food security to integrate the accessibility, nutrition and
stability dimensions of food security, down to household and individual level.
Such a broadening of the different perspectives mirrors the challenges to define the set of criteria to
measure food systems’ sustainability (see e.g. Esnouf, Russel and Bricas, 2013; Garnett 2013, 2014).
We propose here, in line with the original broad approach of sustainability, to define “sustainable food
systems” by their capacity to ensure the positive outcomes of a food system, food security now and for
future generations. Indeed, the original concept of sustainability brings a time dimension, which means
that the functioning of a “sustainable food system” should not undermine the economic, social and
environmental basis that grounds food security of current and future generations, but rather contribute
to enhance it. In doing this, the three dimensions of sustainability interact with the four dimensions of
food security (availability, access, utilization and stability).
8
In 2010, an FAO-Bioversity symposium produced as an outcome one definition of “sustainable diets”: “Sustainable
Diets are those diets with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life
for present and future generations. Sustainable diets are protective and respectful of biodiversity and ecosystems,
culturally acceptable, accessible, economically fair and affordable; nutritionally adequate, safe and healthy; while
optimizing natural and human resources.”
9
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31
Based on the above, we adopt in this report the following definition for a sustainable food system
(SFS, Definition 3).
Definition 3 Sustainable food system
A sustainable food system (SFS) is a food system that ensures food security and nutrition
for all in such a way that the economic, social and environmental bases to generate food
security and nutrition of future generations are not compromised.
Under this definition, the most important criteria of a sustainable food system is ensuring today and
tomorrow’s food security. In other words, a food system that does not ensure food security and
adequate nutrition cannot be called sustainable.
But ensuring food security and nutrition today would not be sufficient for a food system to be called
sustainable. Indeed, “the need to ensure that the economic, social and environmental bases to
generate food security and nutrition of future generations are not compromised” entails the need to
address numerous issues in the economic, social and environmental dimensions, at different
geographical and time scales, given the objective not to compromise the satisfaction of the needs of
present and future generations.
The sustainability of food systems is determined by environmental, economic and social factors. Many
of them are inside food systems, and part of them are outside the food system (such as social
protection).
Priorities to determine what makes or not a SFS will thus depend on the context of each country or
subsystem: scarcity of resources, importance of agriculture as income and/or jobs provider, etc. “How
different resources are used by food systems” is one of the key dimensions to assess their
sustainability. Overuse of resources, at the system level, generally undermines the environmental, but
also the economic and social, basis of food security, with possible impacts in all the dimensions of
food security. Trade-offs can take place between the different dimensions of sustainability, and these
trade-offs can manifest themselves differently at different scales.
An important conceptual consequence of positioning food security and nutrition as primary criteria to
assess the sustainability of food systems is that the adequate/better provision of food security and
nutrition provides a guide to prioritize among trade-offs. Food security in itself cannot be one trade-off
variable.
1.3 FLW, sustainable food systems and food security
We have seen that the sustainability of food systems is a condition for them to ensure food security
now and on the long term (Section 1.2).
FLW are often presented in relation to the sustainability of food systems, or rather to their
unsustainability, either as a result of unsustainable food systems or as a cause of them. Therefore
FLW hinder reaching the overarching goal to ensure sustainable food security (Figure 4). In this
section, we develop the relationships between FLW and the sustainability of food systems, as a basis
to understand the links between FLW and food security.
1.3.1 FLW and SFS
The production of food, which is ultimately not eaten, whether it is lost during the production and
transformation processes or wasted at the consumption stage, entails a “waste” of economic or natural
resources. It also brings social impacts. In this section, we review impacts of FLW on the three
dimensions of the sustainability of food systems – economic, social and environmental. These impacts
could be described at three levels (Table 1), namely: at the level of the households and individual
enterprises (micro-level), at the level of the production chain (meso level), and at the more general
level of society (macro level).

32
Figure 4 Schematic representation of the conceptual links between sustainable food
systems, food security and nutrition, and food losses and waste
Sustainable food systems (SFS) and food security and nutrition (FSN) are tightly linked as per the very
definition of SFS (see Definition 3). Food losses and waste go against the sustainability of food systems and
against food and nutrition security.
What do we mean by impacts of FLW? First, one can understand today’s FLW’s impacts only relative
to a situation where there would be “less” food losses and waste. Therefore, the notion of impact is
fundamentally a comparative one, and must be assessed with respect to a reference. One has also to
distinguish between “explicit” impacts of FLW (often linked to the existence of a physical flow of FLW,
and its end destination), and the “opportunity” impacts of FLW, measured by the economic, social or
environmental value of a foregone better alternative and a situation with less FLW.
10
Most of today’s analyses agree that a reduction of food losses and waste would lead to food systems
being more sustainable, with positive economic, social and environmental outcomes, outweighing the
cost of action (and possibly with negative cost actions).
They reflect the fact that the optimum pathway for sustainability is not zero food loss, but a situation
with certainly substantially less food loss and waste than today. Indeed, incremental costs of efforts to
reach very low levels of food loss and waste might, at a certain point, prove too costly (including social
and environmental costs) and overweigh the economic, social and environmental benefits provided by
the additional reduction.
Analyses of economic impacts of food losses and waste considering global aspects are still scarce. A
study evaluated the cost of FLW in South Africa by attributing a representative price to each
commodity group at each stage of the value chain. It estimated the value of FLW at USD7.7 billion,
equivalent to 2.1 percent of South Africa's annual GDP (Nahman and de Lange, 2013).
FAO has assimilated FLW as a global economic negative externality (FAO, 2013b), and has launched
works towards full-cost accounting of FLW. By applying FAOSTAT traded prices for the year 2012 to
FLW quantities, FAO made a preliminary estimation of the direct economic cost of the 1.3 billion
tonnes of FLW at close to USD 1 trillion per year. This number does not include externalities and other
social and environmental costs and damages, which FAO estimates at USD 900 billion and USD 700
billion, respectively (FAO,2014a).
10
This reflects the fact that the optimum pathway for sustainability is not zero food loss, but a situation with certainly
less food loss.
SFS FSN
FLW

33
Table 1 Examples of potential impacts of food losses and waste on the sustainability of
food systems
Level /
Dimension
Economic Social Environmental
Micro
(household
or individual
enterprise)
Businesses and consumers
spend a larger portion of their
budget on foods that will not
be sold or consumed
Lower wages
Consumers with fewer
resources for purchase
Lack of products
Amount of garbage and waste
Contamination of individuals in
rural and urban areas
Meso
(food chain)
Imbalance in production
flows and need for more
investments such as
construction of silos and
warehouses for intermediate
stocks
Profit reduction
Inefficiencies in supply chain
Costs of disposal and
treatment of waste
Low labour productivity
Difficulties for
companies to make
their planning
Multiplication of landfills
Macro
(food system
and beyond)
Unrealized economic effort
Public investment in
agriculture and infrastructure
being less productive and
turning into an opportunity
cost
Reduction in financial
resources for investment in
other areas
Higher level of food
prices and difficulties in
access to food
Larger number of
people below the
poverty line
Pressure on natural
resources: water and soil
Emission of greenhouse
gases
Occupation of forests and
conservation areas
Depletion of fishery resources;
Pressure on wildlife
Greater spending on non-
renewable energy
With regard to economic impacts to food chain actors and to consumers, different actors/agents suffer
different economic impacts and net costs (or even gains), which depend on their position in the food
system. Beside the economic cost of FLW (see supra), other analyses have highlighted the fact that
losses and waste contribute to higher demand and thus to higher prices (Stuart, 2009; HLPE, 2011).
Any effect of price increase due to FLW is different for net sellers versus net buyers of food (see
similar analysis on the effect of food price increase and food security in HLPE (2011, 2013a). Also,
depending on their market or purchasing power, and/or on their position and capacity of coordination
in the production chain, some agents may suffer less from FLW and “push” the costs of inefficiency to
less well-positioned agents. In non-competitive markets, most likely the consumer ultimately pays for
the inefficiency and economic losses in the production process. In markets where there is greater
competition, economic losses can be assumed by subaltern agents that under contract must submit to
the standards imposed by the "chain coordinator" (often a major supermarket company, a trader or
even a processing industry). However, even in those cases where there is competition, the inefficiency
of the food systems always translates into a higher price of food for consumers, everything else being
equal. Large amounts of FLW lead, everything else being equal, to proportionally less efficient
outcomes of public resources used for productive programmes for agriculture, capacity building,
training and subsidies.
With regard to social impacts, the high volume of losses in agriculture in developing countries ends up
impacting also on labour productivity (marketable output per worker) and therefore on wages, which in
turn can slow down the expansion of the consumer market, which would have boosted the producers
for the acquisition of new technologies. From the social point of view, this is a vicious cycle that
reduces the availability of resources both in the hands of producers and consumers. It is challenging to
exit this cycle. Production cost is an important decision element at micro level.

34
With regards to environmental impacts, FLW entails both a needless use of resources used to produce
the food lost and wasted, and the impact of putting waste at disposal, with emissions of methane, a
potent greenhouse gas (GHG).
Recent studies have attempted to quantify the amount of resources “wasted” when food is lost or
wasted. Most of them use simple proportional calculation estimations of the environmental impact of
food production, applying the same average value to the amount of food estimated to be lost.
However, such a one-to-one relationship between FLW and environmental impact based on global
averages can only be a very rough first order estimation, as the environmental impact of food
(resources used, land, water, energy, etc.) varies according to the way and place of production and
also, importantly, to the stage where the loss or waste occurs, especially for energy.
Life cycle analysis studies include the “end-of-life” component of food, with the impact of different
treatment systems of food waste (end-of-life technology): composting, digestion and landfill of
household and/or industrial food/organic waste. Most studies estimate so-called “footprints” that
measure the various ways resources are used or needed, or external impacts generated throughout
the life cycle leading to the production and discard of a unit of food:
11
- The carbon footprint of global FLW, without accounting for GHG emissions from land-use change,
is estimated to be 3.3 Gtonnes of CO2 equivalent, an amount equivalent to 6–10 percent of
anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (Vermeulen, Campbell and Ingram, 2012).
- Food loss and waste is also water “waste” (Lundqvist, de Fraiture and Molden, 2008), as large
quantities of water are used to produce the lost food. From the environmental perspective, food
losses and waste account for more than one-quarter of the total consumptive use of finite and
vulnerable fresh water and more than 300 million barrels of oil per year. Globally, the blue water
footprint (i.e. the consumption of surface and groundwater resources) of food losses and waste is
about 250 km
3
, which is equivalent to three times the volume of Lake Geneva (FAO, 2013a).
- According to FAO (2013a), produced but uneaten food occupies almost 1.4 billion hectares of
land;; this represents close to 30 percent of the world’s agricultural land area. In a study on global
resource productivity practices by the McKinsey Global Institute (Dobbs et al., 2011), reducing
food loss and waste was ranked in the top three of measures that will contribute to improved
productivity of resources, pointing to the fact that a reduction of consumer food waste in
developed countries by 30 percent would save roughly 40 million hectares of cropland.
- It is difficult to estimate the impacts on biodiversity at a global level; however food losses and
waste clearly contribute to increasing the negative impact of intensification of agriculture and of
agriculture expansion on biodiversity (Stuart, 2009; FAO, 2013a).
Finally, in terms of environmental impacts, it is important to note that consumer food waste has a
greater carbon, GHG, land-use, water, nitrogen or energy footprint than a similar mass of post-harvest
loss. This is due to the inclusion of the footprints of transport, packaging, processing, distribution and
preparation at home, all of which is finally “embedded” in consumer waste. For instance, on average
consumer waste is equivalent to eight times more energy “waste” than post-harvest loss (Dobbs et al.,
2011).
Efficiency, together with resilience and equity, form a key dimension of SFS (Place et al., 2013). There
are various ways to appreciate the efficiency of a food system, some of them using the notion of
losses and waste, such as Smil, 2004 (see Box 2). For a given quantity of food consumed, FLW leads
to mobilizing more natural resources. The existence of FLW testifies therefore of an “inefficient” food
system in its resource use. Increasing efficiency is one key way to improve economic, social and
environmental performance of food systems. Therefore FLW is one more reason, following
considerations of the challenges to feed the world in 2050 (Bruinsma, 2009), as well as of the
intersection of challenges related to the need to ensure food security in a context of climate change
(HLPE, 2012) to reckon that efficiency improvements in the food system are key to their evolution
towards sustainability.
11
See for example Garnett (2011), Ridoutt et al. (2010), Chapagain and James (2013), Vanham and Bidoglio (2013),
Grizetti et al. (2013), Wirsenius, Azar and Berndes (2010) for some examples or case studies of FLW’s life cycle or
environmental footprint.

35
Box 2 Calorie losses along the food chain, including food losses and waste
Some studies (e.g. Smil, 2004) have adopted a “caloric” approach to measure the efficiency
of food chains, including FLW, by which “calorie loss” is estimated in the whole food system,
i.e. the difference between (i) the potential of the food system to produce edible calories and
(ii) human daily calorie requirements.
This conception implies adopting the lens of the “caloric” efficiency of the food system,
assessing how the food systems, plants and animals, performs at transforming original
calories into human food (vegetal or animal), and how ultimately humans use this food in an
efficient way. In that perspective, for Smil (2004), excess consumption of calories over daily
requirements is assimilated to a wasteful use of food.
1.3.2 FLW and food security
Food lost or wasted while people go hungry is first of all a sign of a global food system that does not
fulfil adequately its function – whatever the reason. FLW are often taken as a symbol of both
inefficiency and inequity of current food systems.
However, real causes of hunger and malnutrition are very complex and cannot be reduced to the
existence of FLW, nor to food availability concerns. Therefore one should be careful in being too
simplistic in associating global FLW to global food insecurity. Any reduction of FLW in food-secure or
exporting countries will not necessarily translate into increased availability and supply in food-insecure
countries.
Rather, FLW testify the existence of an imbalance in the availability and accessibility dimension in the
global food system: this is exemplified by the relative importance of “fateful” food losses in food-
insecure countries (fateful as not being wanted but endured), versus “behavioural” food waste in food-
secure countries (behavioural as being the result of a “choice to discard” food that could have been
eaten). It is also exemplified by the fact that, given our definitions of food loss and food waste,
producer countries and net food exporters have a proportionally higher losses volume and that high-
income countries, which consume more food, have a higher proportion of food wasted.
What could be the impacts of FLW on food security? It starts with three main ways, often presented in
a simplistic manner in the existing literature.
- First, a reduction of global and local availability of food.
- Second, a negative impact on access due, for consumers, to raising prices of food or, for actors
along the chains, to economic losses.
- Third, a longer-term effect through unsustainable use of natural resources on which the future
production of food depends.
In addition, two relationships between FLW and food security and nutrition are less explored in the
literature. One relates to quality and nutrient losses, which negatively impact nutrition. The other
relates to the “stability” dimension of food security and what characteristics a food system should have
to assure it, especially given the “variable” nature of food production and consumption, and therefore
the need for appropriate “buffering” mechanisms to handle the variability of production and
consumption in time and in space.
Availability
The impact of food losses and waste on local availability of food and thus on local food security is an
old topic. At the level of a household (or of a community) under strong food availability constraints, it is
quite a mathematical, one-to-one relationship, with any gain in FLW resulting in more food security,
and conversely FLW representing a challenge to food security.
What is new is the importance given to global food losses and waste as a global food security issue,
with local consequences. Mechanically, at global level, FLW translate also into food availability
reduction (be it expressed in mass, in calories, or in nutrients).
The issue has been raised first from a natural resources point of view, as part of growing concerns on
the capacity of the global food system to be able to satisfy a growing demand (see infra). It is also
increasingly mentioned as a sign of unsustainable, inefficient and unfair food systems, with food not
distributed according to needs but to wealth. Applying a simple proportional calculation, which is

36
merely useful to get an order of magnitude without implying whatsoever a cause-effect relationship,
1.3 billion tonnes of food lost annually is an amount that could equivalently feed the 842 million people
(12 percent of world population) that were estimated to be suffering from hunger in 2011–13 (FAO,
2013b).
How food losses and waste ultimately impact the availability of food is to be considered within scales,
but also across different regions. For cultural or for economic reasons, some systems generate
“waste”, which for another system is useful resources or food, therefore providing a positive impact on
sustainability. This is particularly the case for some parts of animals, such as offal, which can be
considered non-inedible in some countries, while edible in other. In fact, this notion of “inedible” tends
to expand for rich consumers and to cover “less-preferred” and thus less-marketable parts. Trade
movements leading to transferring food parts or by-products from regions where they are not
consumed to regions where they are demanded could be seen as a contribution to the reduction of
food losses and waste, as well as a contribution to food and nutrition security of poorer people (see
Box 3). However, it can also have impacts on other dimensions of sustainability, as the gains for
producers in the exporting country and for consumers in the importing country have to be weighed
against the impacts on the producers in the importing countries, confronted with the concurrence of
cheap imports. In some cases it can also raise food safety considerations (that should be harmonized)
and nutrition concerns, as shown by the controversies on international trade of turkey tail and mutton
flap that leads to a concentration of the consumption of very fat parts in some countries.
Box 3 Valorization of tuna by-products: an example linking FLW reduction and food
and nutrition security
Tuna provides an example of diversified valorization of parts of the fish. The canning industry generates
a considerable amount of by-products and the practice of utilization of these by-products varies in
different geographical regions. Thailand is one of the largest producers of canned tuna and the by-
products are mainly utilized as tuna meal, tuna oil and tuna soluble concentrate. In the Philippines, most
of the canning industry by-products are converted to tuna meal, but black meat is also canned and
exported to neighbouring countries. Edible tuna by-products from the fresh/chilled tuna sector, such as
heads and fins, are used for making soup locally, and visceral organs are utilized to make a local
delicacy or for fish sauce production. Scrape meat and trimmings are also used for human consumption.
Source: Globefish, 2013.
Access to food
A very controversial issue is to what extent consumer food waste in rich countries has an influence on
access to food of poor consumers or to what extent reducing consumers’ food waste would improve
global food security. What are the socio-economic impacts/consequences of FLW? What are the
relationships between the amount of food lost and wasted and the price of food? Can policies to
reduce food losses and waste, everything else being equal, lead to a reduction of the overall effective
demand, and thus to less pressure on the price system (including for non-food agro-resources)? With
what consequences for the income of producers and the purchasing power of consumers?
As we will see in Chapter 3, there is currently a lack of quantitative studies to describe the impact of
FLW on food prices. Only a handful of theoretical papers (e.g. Rutten, 2013) are available. What do
they tell us?
Everything else being equal, it is generally accepted that global FLW, as part of an increased global
demand for food, feed, and biofuels lead to tighter food commodity markets (see for instance HLPE,
2011, 2013a), therefore to higher food prices than if there were no FLW, with concerns on the effects
on the poor.
Therefore, according to economic theory, higher FLW, which may lead to higher food prices, are likely
to lead to larger supply of food, therefore acting to increase availability. FLW, in contributing to higher
prices, contributes to an increase of supply. The supply and demand equilibrium will take place at
higher production levels and higher prices with FLW than without.
The net effect of such FLW and food price increase on food access ultimately depends on (i) whether
a household is net buyer or net seller of food; (ii) how large its food losses and waste; and (iii) how
important the food budget is within the household budget. There is a well-known decreasing

37
relationship between the household income and share of food expenditure in the household budget,
established from the comparison between countries or in the same country between different income
classes (Seale, Regmi and Bernstein, 2003; Hicks, 2013). In developing countries, where food costs
represent a significant portion of the domestic budget, FLW can have a disproportionate impact. In
richer countries, spending on food does not exceed 15 percent of the income of households, with
approximately half of these expenses occurring through food consumption outside the home. In these
richer countries, but also for the middle-class households in countries in transition such as China
(Huang, 2013), even if they can be significant, economic losses caused by FLW at consumer level do
not significantly impact livelihood. The situation is very different in low-income countries where the cost
of food comes to represent more than 70 percent of the household expenditure, as is in Myanmar, 53
percent in rural India or 54 percent in Azerbaijan.
12
Following this line of thought, Trueba and MacMillan (2011) have proposed the establishment of a
“global mechanism to cut food waste and over-consumption” by which countries would voluntarily
subscribe to a system of per-capita food consumption targets, agreeing to pay penalties in case of
failure to meet these goals, with related funds to be used to fight hunger and malnutrition.
Nutrition/utilization
A key issue, often underestimated, is the impact of FLW on nutrition. As mentioned above, some
studies (Kummu et al., 2012; Lipinski et al., 2013) made a first attempt in transforming FAO (2011a)
figures on FLW (expressed in mass terms) into calories. Such an analysis, however, fails to take into
account other nutritional dimensions like micronutrients such as vitamin A, vitamin B12, iron, zinc and
iodine.
Fruits and vegetables are sources of important micronutrients and bioactive components, as well as of
organic acids and vitamin C, which promote iron absorption. They have a proven role in preventing
micronutrient deficiencies and the related diseases. Fruits and vegetables also account for the highest
quantitative food losses and waste, pointing to the importance of minimizing their loss or waste from a
nutrition perspective. Other nutritionally important foods are those with high iron levels, in a situation
where one-third of world population suffers from iron deficiency anaemia. And this is of particular
importance as consumption of fruits and vegetables, as well as of fish (see HLPE, 2014) is increasing
particularly rapidly and especially as fresh. It has also to be considered with changing modes of buying
food, less often.
Such considerations also call for an extension of the mere notion of “quantity” (be it mass or calorie) of
loss and waste towards integrating quality aspects in the measure and in the issue of reduction of food
losses and waste, and led us to propose the concept of FQLW (see Section 1.1.1)
Food-safety considerations are an important factor in the relationships between food losses and waste
and food security and nutrition. First, food security and good nutrition implies the provision of safe
food. Ensuring that only safe food is consumed requires mechanisms leading unsafe food to exit the
food chain, therefore leading mechanically to FLW. Food losses and waste that take place because of
food-safety concerns – and the need to discard unsafe, dangerous food – contribute to ensuring the
“food safety” aspect of food security, but they have a negative impact on availability and on access for
consumers, who need to replace the food discarded for food-safety reasons. This has also an impact
on prices.
Stability
From a theoretical point of view, to ensure food security one needs to ensure availability of food above
the strict minimal nutrition requirements. A system too tight between supply and demand will drive food
prices up to unacceptable levels: there is therefore a need for some margin of production over
demand.
The more there is variability in production (as well as in consumption), the more the existence of such
a buffer of “overproduction” might be important to ensure food security, even if, ex-post, some of that
food might be lost or wasted. There is a value to the existence of a quantitative margin, and a certain
degree of losses and waste, to enable this buffering system to work.
12
Data from ILO LABORSTA. The expenditures in Myanmar are from the year 2001, rural India and Azerbaijan from
2003.

38
The main issue is then how to valorize the extra production, and how to adjust the production,
transformation, storage and distribution capacities to manage the surplus, in order for it to be valued or
consumed either elsewhere or later.
Considering the stability dimension of food security has important implications on how to understand
any quantitative goal of FLW reduction, such as for example the objective of “zero loss and waste” by
the UN Secretary-General. This objective cannot be understood as attempting a “zero margin” on food
availability with respect to food needs, at each point in time and everywhere. It rather needs to be
understood as attempting an optimal functioning of the buffering mechanisms (at production,
transformation, conservation and trade levels), which allow managing the necessary amount of
overproduction and its variability, in a way to ensure the stability of food security with minimum losses
and waste.
More generally, FLW can often be the result of strategies to avoid the risk of not having a certain
product at disposal, at whatever stage of the food chain, including consumption.
---
In the following chapters, we look more in depth at the causes and their dependencies (Chapter 2), the
solutions at different level including systemic approaches (Chapter 3) in order to derive practical
recommendations to build strategies to reduce FLW for SFS and FSN (Chapter 4).

39
2 CAUSES AND DRIVERS OF FOOD LOSSES AND WASTE
Identification of causes of FLW is primordial to identification of solutions to reduce them, and priorities
for action. Some studies on FLW (Parfitt, Barthel and Macnaughton, 2010; FAO, 2011a; Hodges et al.,
2010; Hodges, Buzby and Bennett, 2011) have identified different individual causes of FLW, as much
as several hundreds, resulting from a very wide range of antecedents. The importance of these
antecedents varies greatly according to the produce, the stage of the food chain considered, and the
context.
Losses and waste along the food supply chain often result from interrelated causes. Just as in a
conveyor belt, actions at one stage in the chain can affect the whole chain, some can be traced back
to harvest or even pre-harvest. This invites looking at the food supply chain as a system of interrelated
steps, with critical control points, considering any action (either causes of FLW or ways to mitigate
them) on a particular stage not in isolation but as part of the whole food chain.
In doing so, one can see that all the causes are not exactly “at the same level”. There are “immediate”
causes of FLW, linked to how individual actors deal with various “primary” effects of a biological,
microbial, chemical, biochemical, mechanical, physical, physiological or psychological nature that
affect food along the chain and can lead to losses or waste. But these causes may in fact result from
other, secondary, reasons, linked for instance to how actors are more or less well organized together
(e.g. transformation that renders the product useless at a later stage of the chain, etc.), on economic
and market conditions along the food chain (product ending up being unmarketable, etc.), or due to
more systemic causes.
This report proposes to disentangle the complexity and diversity of causes in organizing their
description among three different “levels of causes”, depicted in Figure 5.
i. First, “micro-level” causes of FLW. These are the causes of FLW, at each particular stage of the
food chain where FLW occurs, from production to consumption, that result from actions or non-
actions of individual actors at a stage, in response (or not) to external factors.
ii. Second, “meso-level” causes of FLW. These include secondary causes or structural causes of
FLW. A meso-level cause can be found at the same or at another stage of the chain than where
FLW happen, or result from how different actors are organized together, of relationships along the
food chain, of the state of infrastructures, etc. Meso-level causes can contribute to the existence
of micro-level causes, or determine their extent.
iii. Third, “macro-level” causes of FLW. This higher level accounts for how food losses and waste
can be explained by more systemic issues, such as a malfunctioning food system, the lack of
institutional or policy conditions to facilitate the coordination of actors (including securing
contractual relationships), to enable investments and the adoption of good practices. Macro
causes are those that favour the emergence of all the other causes of FLW, including meso and
micro causes. In the end, they are a major reason for the global extent of FLW.
This is why, in this chapter, the causes and drivers of FLW will be considered first from a supply chain
perspective, going along the food chain (Section 2.1), identifying “stage-specific” reasons for FLW at
each stage of the chain from the field to the consumer. This includes pointing to micro-causes of FLW
along the chain, and also to actions (or lack of action) at specific parts of the chain that can lead to
FLW in other parts of the chain. We will then describe some meso causes (Section 2.2), and macro
causes (Section 2.3), cutting across all stages of the food chain.
Understanding the “organization of causes” of FLW is key to addressing them. It will thus also support
the presentation, in Chapter 3, of the solutions to reduce FLW, with actions at different levels.
2.1 Stage-specific causes of FLW along the food chain
The following subsections review the stage-specific causes of FLW at the different stages of the
supply chain from pre-harvest/production, harvest, post-harvest, storage, transformation, distribution
and retail, down to consumption. These causes are very diverse and also very dependent on products
and local situations. Most of the stage-specific causes described below are micro-causes and in
reviewing them, we will also point, the case being, to the meso-causes (such as market conditions,
market requirements, etc.) that influence them. We also describe, when relevant, how a cause can
lead to FLW at one step of the chain, but also at subsequent stages.

40
Figure 5 Losses along the food chain and organization of causes of FLW
The food chain is represented here in the left of the figure in a schematic way: depending on produce,
location, etc. the real order and succession of the different steps can vary and can form very complex chains.
Food losses and waste at each step of the food chain can result from micro-, meso- and macro-causes. Here
a micro cause of food loss at the stage of transport is represented. One meso, and one macro-cause also
happen to influence the micro cause. The meso-cause is in turn also influenced by two separate macro
causes. For instance, in the case of transport, one example of micro-cause is the rough handling of raw
produce. Related meso-causes could be for example the absence of properly trained loaders, and/or of proper
packaging or logistic solutions. Related macro-causes for example could be found in the economic
environment leading to low-paid, untrained loaders, and poor infrastructure.
Production
& pre-
harvest
Harvest
& initial
handling
Storage
Transport
Retail
Consumer
1
Micro
cause
2
Meso
cause
3
Macro
cause
Processing

41
2.1.1 Pre-harvest factors and produce left unharvested
There is damage in the field before harvest due to biological and biotic factors such as weeds, insect
pests and diseases. They can be important,
13
but they are not included in the scope of “food losses
and waste” (see definition in Chapter 1).
However, pre-harvest conditions and actions in the field can indirectly lead to losses at later stages in
the chain, as differences in production and agronomic practices can result in different quality at
harvest, different suitability for transport and shipping, different storage stability and different shelf-life
after harvest (Florkowski et al., 2009).
Pre-harvest factors driving post-harvest food losses (qualitative and quantitative) can be divided into
four groups: choice of crop varieties for the location and for the target market; agronomic practices
(including fertilization/nutrient management, water management, pest/disease management, pruning,
staking, bagging, etc.); biological factors and environmental factors. These factors can lead to failure
to attain desirable quality attributes which leads to a high percentage of rejects/culls.
14
Obviously,
losses and waste owing to these factors vary according to the different types of cultivation, seasons
and different production areas. Significant differences exist at this stage between developed and
developing countries.
The choice of the right variety, adapted to a given location (production site) and meeting the
requirements of the target market
15
in terms of quality specifications and time to maturity is an
important consideration at the production stage (Kader, 2002). Wrong variety choices result in produce
of inferior quality leading to high losses from culls. For some cereals, such as maize, wheat and
sorghum, choosing varieties that are prone to logging in regions where winds are prevalent contributes
to high losses. An equally important cause of food losses in cereals is planting poorly adapted
varieties for a given location, e.g. those that may mature during the rainy season predisposing them to
fungal infection.
For fruits and vegetables, agronomic practices during the production phase greatly contribute to the
product’s quality (visual and nutritional). Poor practices can lead to high losses. Pre-harvest pest
infestation is known to be a major contributor to post-harvest losses in fruits, as some of the latent
infestations only manifest themselves post-harvest (Thompson, 2007). Poor water and nutrient
management contribute to poor produce quality, resulting in a high percentage of culls during grading.
Unfavourable environmental conditions such as heavy precipitation result in high disease incidents,
brittle vegetables, fruits with low brix, among other defects. On the other hand, high temperatures have
been reported to cause physiological disorders such as solar yellowing in sweet paper and cauliflower,
sunscald in apples and mango (Postharvest Hub, 2008). For grain crops, temperature extremes are
reported to predispose to aflatoxin contamination rendering food unsafe and therefore discarded.
Some produce is left unharvested because of failure to meet certain quality standards (shape, size,
weight) dictated by the processors, retailers or target markets (Stuart, 2009), significantly contributing
to FLW. For example, in Italy in 2009, 17.7 million tonnes of agricultural produce were left in the fields,
representing 3.25 percent of total production (Segrè and Falasconi 2011). In the United States of
America, it is estimated that, on average, 7 percent of planted fields are not harvested each year.
Sometimes failure to harvest is due to meso, economic reasons such as low market price at the time
of harvest and high labour cost. If a crop matures when the demand is low or notably inferior to the
production (due to glut or alternatives), some producers opt to leave the crop in the field as the returns
do not justify the cost of harvesting and transport. Conversely, some growers sometimes overproduce
to hedge against uncertainties of weather, pest attacks, uncertainties of demand from retailers, and to
ensure adherence to contractual obligations with the buyers. Some also plant more area to speculate
on high prices. The excess produce is left unharvested, or is harvested and sold to processors or feed
industries at lower prices and with lower returns for the farmer (FAO, 2011a), contributing to
oversupply leading to low prices, which in turn results in more of the produce left in the fields.
13
According to Oerke (2006), the pre-harvest damage attributed to pests is estimated to be 26–29 percent in mass of
soybean, wheat and cotton, 31 percent in maize, 37 percent in rice and 40 percent in potatoes.
14
For instance, the exigencies in terms of quality are an important meso-cause leading to FLW at various stages of the
chain, see Section 2.2.5.
15
This is again an important meso-cause of FLW, see Section 2.2.5.

42
2.1.2 Harvesting and initial handling
Poor harvest scheduling and timing, as well as rough, careless handling of the produce, are key
contributors to FLW along the chain.
For grain crops, such as maize, sorghum and groundnuts, overmaturity and delayed harvesting are
reported to be major factors contributing to aflatoxin contamination (Farag, 2008; Lewis et al., 2005).
In some developing countries, farmers habitually leave cereals such as maize in the field upon
maturity to dry because they lack facilities for drying. However, when the harvest season coincides
with the second rains, as is the case in some countries, there is increased rotting and aflatoxin
contamination, a major cause of food losses in cereals (Alakonya,Monda and Ajanga, 2008).
For manioc, a study in Cameroon (FAO 2014b) identified as a major cause of loss tubers being
harvested too late, after having been "stored" in the field, getting lignified or eaten by rodents.
For fruits and vegetables, maturity at harvest is a major determinant of quality and shelf life of the
produce, especially for highly perishable produce. However, farmers may be driven to harvest such
crops prematurely due to poverty, urgent need for food and cash, or – as is often the case for banana
– due to insecurity and fear of theft. Immature fruits are more prone to mechanical damage and
shrivelling and have inferior eating qualities when ripened, such as high acidity and low sugar.
Conversely, overmature fruits have a short shelf life and are often mealy with insipid flavour
(Sivakumar, Jiand and Yahia, 2011). In both cases (immature and overmature), the fruits are highly
susceptible to physiological disorders. Premature harvesting leads to reduced nutritional and
economic value (Kader, 2008). Sometimes the produce may be totally lost as it may not be suitable for
consumption (Kitinoja and Kader, 2003).
Harvesting techniques can also contribute to the losses. Multiple handling increases damage,
especially for highly perishable commodities such as fruits and vegetables (FAO, 2013d). Farmers can
also lack proper containers to pack the harvested produce during or immediately after harvest. For
fruits, vegetables and root and tuber crops, mechanical damage during harvesting is a major factor
contributing to losses and waste. The injured spots and tissues not only serve as entry points for
pathogens but also increase water loss and ethylene generation, aggravating the problem.
Temperature management is key to maintenance of perishable produce quality as it is central to
prevent other deteriorative processes such as microbial growth, softening and water loss leading to
shrivelling. Failure to maintain a low temperature of produce immediately after harvest is a major
contributor to spoilage at the subsequent stages of the value chain. Initial cooling of perishable foods
such as fruits, vegetables, milk, meat, fish and mushrooms destined for distant markets (domestic or
export) is critical for maintenance of quality. Therefore, storage in cold rooms or under shade
immediately after harvest makes a significant difference in shelf life of the produce. Most growers in
developing countries lack on-farm cold storage facilities or shade. As a result, the perishable produce
is left in the open or kept under ambient room conditions.
The time of day when the produce is harvested has implications on the product temperature and
efforts needed to lower it. Some producers harvest their produce during the hot hours of the day. Such
produce is not only difficult to cool during storage but is more prone to faster deterioration (Kader,
2002).
For some root, bulb and tuber crops, such as potato, sweet potato and onion, curing
16
is known to
extend the shelflife. However, most growers rush to market their produce immediately after maturity or
harvest. Delays in marketing uncured crops result in high losses or waste due to water loss and decay
(Kader, 2002).
High appearance standards may divert food that is perfect for human consumption into other uses that
are less profitable (Stuart, 2009). For instance, 20 percent of the potatoes are sorted out in Swedish
potato farms due to quality standards (Mattsson et al., 2001). Often the rejects/culls end up in
processing/feed industries, hence not totally lost.
For other perishable food commodities such as meat, milk and fish significant losses are attributed to
poor harvesting practices and lack of appropriate infrastructures for harvest and first handling
16
For example, for potatoes, curing means placing them at a temperature of 7–15 degrees Celsius and high relative
humidity (85–95 percent) for two weeks.

43
For fish significant losses at the harvesting stage partially result from using methods and gears that
are not perfectly selective. This leads to capture of unsellable, unwanted and inedible products, which
are subsequently discarded dead or debilitated and not used for any useful purpose. The volume of
fish discards varies greatly between fisheries and within fisheries, with discard rates ranging from
negligible in some small-scale coastal fisheries or, for instance in Atlantic herring fisheries, up to 70–
90 percent for some demersal trawl fisheries. Global discard volumes are particularly challenging to
estimate, and any global figure is prone to significant uncertainty (HLPE, 2014). The latest report
published by FAO in 2005 on the issue has given an estimate of an 8 percent global discard rate of
the world total capture fisheries, with a lower rate of 3.7 percent for small-scale fisheries (Kelleher,
2005). Gustavsson et al. (FAO, 2011) have calibrated their fish losses calculations using Kellerher’s
(2005) data in terms of discard rates per fishing gear, therefore leading to similar results. Poor initial
conservation conditions on the boat after harvest and inappropriate handling practices have also been
reported to lead to significant quality deterioration before landing (FAO, 2014bc).
For milk, major losses are mainly attributed to initial handling of milk, spillage, lack of appropriate
milking equipment and poor sanitation during milking. The latter could result in contamination of the
whole stock leading to massive losses among smallholder farmers. Causes of losses at farm level,
especially among smallholder farmers, include mastitis or water adulteration, which lead to rejection at
the collection centre or factory (FAO, 2014bc).
2.1.3 Storage
Within the post-harvest handling stages, food items can be stored from a few hours to several months
depending on the product and storage conditions. Storage serves as a means to deal with time,
enabling delayed marketing and consumption of the produce. This can only be realized if the storage
conditions are optimized, otherwise there are significant losses. It should be noted, however, that even
with the best storage conditions, the shelf life is dependent on the initial quality and storage stability
resulting from decisions made at the earlier stages of the supply chain.
In developed countries, storage facilities are well established right from the production stage and
throughout the supply chain. Cold storage coupled with advanced complementary post-harvest
technologies (such as controlled atmosphere, 1-MCP) enables the supply chain actors to significantly
extend the shelflife and marketing period for perishable foods. In this case, losses during storage
could arise from a breakdown of the refrigeration systems, temperature abuse resulting in freezing or
chilling injury. Overall, poor management of conditions (temperature, gas composition, relative
humidity) may lead to deterioration or contamination of stored products, just as over storage periods,
due to lack of transportation and other infrastructure requirements.
In developing countries, lack of proper storage facilities is a major cause of post-harvest losses (FAO,
2011a). A recent study (Liu, 2014) considers that storage is the most important cause of post-harvest
losses for all types of food in China. Cold storage facilities are non-existent or inaccessible to the
majority of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Highly perishable produce requires adequate
storage facilities with well-maintained conditions, mainly temperature, relative humidity and gas
composition. If infrastructure for initial storage is lacking, perishable produce can spoil within hours
(Rolle, 2006; Stuart, 2009). Without storage facilities, growers and producers need to sell their
production regardless of market price (not being able to wait for better price conditions), or leave the
produce unharvested, or face the risk of a total loss, in the case of delayed collection by transporters,
wholesale or retail stores.
Use of low quality containers, or misuse of containers, leading for example to injuries from puncture,
vibration and compression, was a key factor identified by a WFLO post-harvest losses study that
measured losses of 26 horticultural crops in four countries (WFLO, 2010), and simple practices such
as using liners in rough containers (wood or baskets) or halving the size of huge containers (sacks or
crates) were found to reduce damage and subsequent losses by up to 35 percent.
In some instances, however, due to technical limitations, decisions aimed at preserving quality result
in the opposite of the desired goal. For example, while cold storage is recommended to preserve
quality, storing and chilling sensitive products at very low temperatures result in chilling injury,
ultimately leading to discard of the produce. Also, mixing products such as fruits, vegetables, milk and
meat in a single cold room, as is typical of most wholesale and retail outlets in developing countries,
may have a negative effect due to contamination or accelerated deterioration.

44
Suboptimal storage conditions often favour chemical and biochemical reactions that result in
undesirable changes in colour, flavour, texture and nutritional value. Poor storage conditions also
favour microbial growth and rotting of stored products, which are eventually discarded. For root and
tuber crops, poor storage conditions result in greening and sprouting, both of which lower the quality
and nutritional value of the crop (Stuart, 2009).
Several chemicals or treatments can be applied before or during storage to enhance the shelf-life of
fruits and vegetables. Some of these treatments (e.g. sodium hypochlorite, acetic acid, irradiation, hot
air/water immersion) are used to sanitize the produce and therefore reduce microbial damage, while
others (e.g. 1-MCP) inhibit the effects of agents of deterioration such as ethylene. However,
injudicious use of these treatments results in damage to the products or in residues that render the
products unsafe. In some cases, unregulated chemicals have been used to enhance the shelf-life of
perishables, thereby posing a health hazard. There are acceptable chemical methods such as the
lacto peroxidase system (LP-system) for milk preservation, especially in rural areas where refrigeration
facilities are non-existent (Ndambi et al., 2008). However, unscrupulous traders often resort to other
chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide and formalin, which may extend the shelf-life of the milk but are
harmful to users. Often such milk is impounded by public health officers, resulting in high wastage.
Shelf stable foods such as grains can be stored for long periods if the storage conditions are
optimized. Traditional storage practices adopted by smallholder farmers in developing countries
protect stored grains from storage pests. However, some of the storage structures are rudimentary or
poorly designed/constructed. Most farmers in sub-Saharan Africa still use traditional grain stores made
of grass, wood and mud. These structures cannot guarantee protection against major storage pests
such as rodents, insects, birds and fungal infections (Yusuf and He, 2011; Kankolongo, Hell and
Nawa, 2009). In some cases, there are no storage facilities and farmers simply store the grains inside
their house (Bett and Nguyo, 2007). Lack of storage, again, may lead to food loss and economic
losses, as farmers needing to sell their grains soon after harvest due to lack of storage facilities create
conditions of oversupply in the market, which attracts low prices. A few months later, the same farmers
are forced to buy back their grains at a higher price.
Proper drying of the grains to a safe, low moisture content (<13 percent, with variations depending on
the grain) is critical for proper storage. However, due to factors such as poor weather and lack of
knowledge by the farmers, the grains are often improperly dried. Such grains are predisposed to pest
damage and fungal growth (IFPRI, 2010). For example, in maize, losses attributed to post-harvest
pests are estimated to be 30 percent. The major pests in this case are common weevil
(Sitophiluszeamis) and the larger grain borer (Prostephanustruncatus), reported to cause 10–20
percent and 30–90 percent losses, respectively (Bett and Nguyo, 2007). The damage caused by these
pests results in low nutritional value, high percentage germination (for seed grains), reduced weight
and low market value (Yusuf and He, 2011).
In large-scale storage facilities in sub-Saharan Africa, standards of fumigation treatment to destroy
insect infestation are generally too poor to kill all insects, which encourages insect resistance to the
fumigant. Although the incidence of resistance has not been investigated extensively in sub-Saharan
Africa, it is known for Morocco (Benhalima et al., 2004).
2.1.4 Transport and logistics
Transport can be a major cause of FLW, by introducing a time span between production and
consumption, of particular importance for fresh products, as well as additional risks of mechanical and
heat injury.
In developed countries, transportation of the perishable foods in refrigerated trucks is standard
practice, with mechanized and well-coordinated loading and offloading. Losses occur when the cooling
system malfunctions during transport, the trucks break down or are involved in accidents. Sometimes
losses occur when there are delays in loading docks where no cooling is provided.
Conversely, in developing countries, lack of proper transportation vehicles, poor roads and
poor/inefficient logistical management hinder proper conservation of perishable commodities during
transport (Rolle, 2006). It is not uncommon to find highly perishable produce being transported in
open, unrefrigerated trucks. Additionally, loading and off-loading of fruits and vegetables are done
manually by casual labourers who handle the products roughly, causing extensive mechanical injury.
Usually the fragile products are stuffed into the truck to accommodate more volume without paying

45
much attention to mechanical damage caused to the products or predisposure to deteriorative
processes (Kader, 2002).
In most cases, these products are poorly packed/packaged for transport. Some transporters use
sacks, or polythene bags or simply load the “naked” products directly onto the trucks, leading to
compression damage during transport. The poor state of roads, especially in rural areas where most of
the production occurs, further aggravates the losses during transportation. The status of the roads
worsens during the rainy season and it is common to see trucks ferrying perishable products breaking
down or getting stuck in the mud for days. In such instances, the perishable products get spoiled and
never reach their destination. In developing countries, it is estimated that post-harvest losses of fruits
and vegetables can range from 35 to 50 percent annually due to poor infrastructure (IMechE, 2013).
Fish is a very perishable food and hence susceptible to high post-harvest losses after landing, either in
quantity or quality, due to post-harvest handling during transport, storage, processing, on the way to
markets or in markets waiting to be sold (HLPE, 2014). Similarly, the logistics-related loss in dairy
products is significant (more than 10 percent) in developing countries. Inability to market milk products
during the rainy season, lack of proper transportation and cold chain during the hot season, an erratic
power supply to milk processors and coolers are some of the causes of losses in dairy products.
Logistics-related risks also occur in the transportation of food-producing animals. Transport of
livestock is known to be stressful and injurious, which can lead to poor animal welfare and production
loss. For example, in the United States of America about 80 000 pigs die per year during transport
(Greger, 2007). A case study in Ghana indicated that more than 16 percent of expected income is lost
due to occurrence of death and sickness or injuries of cattle during transport from farm to cattle market
and abattoir (Frimpong et al., 2012). A similar case study in central Ethiopia (Bulitta, Gebresenbet an
Bosona,2012) indicated that over 45 percent of animals were affected (either stolen, died or injured)
during cattle transport from the farm to the central market.
A large problem that occurs at the distribution stage is that of rejected shipments. Imported products
are subjected to testing at the point of exit or entry to check adherence to phytosanitary, veterinary
and food safety regulations. This testing process often delays shipment and considerably reduces the
shelf-life of the perishable products. In some cases, shipments are rejected on account of failing to
meet regulatory requirements or market standards set by the target markets. In such instances, the
whole shipment is dumped/destroyed if an alternative buyer cannot be found in time.
2.1.5 Processing and packaging
For many products, transformation can be a way to reduce FLW and increase shelf life, particularly for
perishable products.
In most developing countries, there is a general lack or inadequacy of processing facilities. The
processing industries often lack capacity to process the volumes delivered. The situation is aggravated
by seasonality of some of the processed products. A good example is mango, which is seasonal in
most tropical countries. In Kenya, the processors are overwhelmed during the peak season
(December to March) when there is an oversupply of mango fruits. As a result, high volumes of
mangos delivered to the processors go to landfills due to the limited capacity of the processing plants.
Consequently, the farmers or traders who deliver the fruits to these factories incur high losses from
transporting the fruits to the factories only for the fruits to be discarded or bought at very low prices.
The situation is similar for milk production, which is “seasonal”, with high volumes during the wet
season when there is an abundance of livestock forage crops. During the high season when there is
an oversupply of milk, much of it can be lost if the processors can only handle limited volumes.
Food losses at the processing stage are mainly due to technical malfunctions and inefficiencies. Errors
during processing often lead to defects in the end product, such as wrong size, weight, shape,
appearance or damaged packaging. Although these defects have no bearing on the safety or quality
of the product, processed food can be discarded for not adhering to set standards.
For animal products, contamination during processing is a major cause of losses. The contamination
may originate from the processing unit not being properly cleaned and sanitized from previous
operations or originate from part of the produce that contaminates the whole production batch.
Importantly, once a product is declared unfit for human consumption, the entire production batch is
lost. Another source of loss, especially in horticultural commodities, is excessive trimming to attain a

46
certain shape or size. Trimmings (from produce such as carrots, cabbages and lettuce), although
perfectly fit and safe for human consumption, are usually discarded.
Lack of proper process management and of standards to ensure food safety and quality can result in
some of the processed products being unsafe and nutritionally poor. For some fruits and vegetables,
blanching is done prior to drying or freezing to arrest enzymatic activity. Failure to blanch often results
in off-flavour and discoloration of the processed products, which may be discarded. Failure to optimize
the blanching conditions (such as duration and temperature) often results in products of inferior
aesthetic and nutritional quality, which may be rejected by the consumers.
Packaging can be an important element to extend shelf life and prevent food losses and waste (FAO,
2011a). While reduction of packaging could be an important element of waste policies, it could have
the unintended consequence of increasing the amount of food waste.
2.1.6 Retail
The retailers influence the activities of supply chains as they dictate the quality of the produce to be
supplied and displayed in their outlets. Conditions within the retail outlet (temperature, relative
humidity, lighting, gas composition, etc.) and handling practices have an effect on quality, shelf-life and
acceptability of the product.
High losses at the retail stage occur in perishable commodities such as fruits and vegetables, fish and
seafood, meat, dairy products, baked foods and cooked foods. In the United States of America alone,
it was estimated that the in-store food losses were 10 percent of the total food supply (Buzby, Wells
and Hyman, 2014). In Norway, according to the Format
17
project (see Chapter 4) retail stage
represents 18 percent of the FLW.
Losses at the retail stage are even higher in situations where measures such as protective packaging,
temperature and humidity control, and proper display to minimize handling by buyers, are not in place.
In many open-air markets in developing countries, the traders sprinkle unclean water onto vegetables
and fruits to minimize wilting and shrivelling under the hot sun. Such practices, which are aimed at
slowing down deterioration, result in unsafe foods that are shunned by buyers and may end up being
discarded.
Some of the factors (drivers) seen to contribute significantly to the high losses at the retail stage
include inappropriate product display and efforts to anticipate expectations of customers, including for
convenience.
In most retail outlets, piles of fresh-looking produce on display are seen as a means to attract buyers,
who then have the luxury to choose by rummaging through the pile. Products such as fruits at different
ripening stages are piled together to give the buyer a choice. This has three effects that contribute to
high losses at this stage: the produce at the bottom of the pile is damaged by the weight of the
produce on top, piling fruits at different ripening stages shortens the shelf life of the produce that would
otherwise have a longer shelf life because of the different ethylene production and respiration rates
and, as the buyers rummage through the piles, they injure the other produce. Besides, the products of
advanced ripening stages are more delicate and, when they are piled together with less-ripe products,
they suffer more mechanical injury.
The store-owners seek to maintain a variety of products displayed in large volumes that are
replenished regularly to fill the shelves for the consumer’s satisfaction. When retailers mix different
expiry dates for the same product, close-by expiry dates are ignored by the consumers, who prefer the
“fresher/newer” products (SEPA, 2008).
The tendency to propose homogenous and “perfect” products (in terms of colour, shape, size, freedom
from blemishes) have led most retailers to set high standards for products. It is a major cause of loss,
as failure to adhere to these standards by the producers results in rejection at delivery or culling of the
displayed products.
Most retailers have ventured into fresh-cut (fruits and vegetables) and ready-made fresh or cooked
foods to meet the demand of the consumers. It can be an opportunity to valorize produce that failed to
comply with cosmetic standards but ready-made products are also more prone to spoilage – if they
remain unsold at the end of the day, they are just discarded. Growth in fresh-cut produce has been
17
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47
stimulated by consumer demand for fresh, healthy, convenient foods that are safe and nutritious. The
fresh-cut products are prone to discoloration, rotting and dehydration due to damaged and exposed
tissues and lack of protective skin. Deterioration of the fresh-cut produce is aggravated by poor
packaging and temperature management. Even in developed countries, in conditions of proper
packaging and cold chain, discards of fresh-cut products are significantly high, even if packaging can
sometimes extend shelf life, such as with bagged salads.
In some cases, retailers may use unregulated chemicals or overuse regulated chemicals to maintain
freshness of the produce to attract consumers. Injudicious use of such chemicals on foods, which may
be impounded by public health officers, contributes to food discards. Conversely when such practices
go unnoticed, there are serious food-safety concerns.
Important causes of FLW at retail stage (and also for suppliers) are linked to shelf life, variability of
demand as well as increasing demand for fresh products (Mena, Adenso-Diaz and Yurt, 2011). At the
upstream end of the supply chain, growers grow to semi-formal demand forecasts by retailers (and
forecasts made by the suppliers themselves). Final, confirmed orders are often made only days before
delivery. In other cases, retail stores impose strict conditions on the growers, such as quantity and
quality specifications. This sometimes prompts the growers to overplant to ensure that they fulfil the
buyer’s conditions. The extra produce is often discarded or sold at a lower price to alternative buyers.
Sometimes, the stores make last minute changes in the orders (often reducing the quantities) which
results in FLW of the extra produce (Stuart, 2009; UK Competition Commission, 2008).
Finally, a common, self-imposed practice among food businesses – the so-called “rule of the one-third”
- according to which processed foods must reach the suppliers in up to one-third of their shelf-life time
is also a cause of FLW. Its primary intention is to allow consumers to have a wide choice of very fresh
products relatively far from the expiration date. But if products fail to be delivered by the first third of
their shelf life, many retailers will reject the delivery and return the items to producers, leading to
discard of safe food (NRDC, 2013).
2.1.7 Consumption
The consumer waste problem is mainly an issue in developed countries (see Figure 2). However,
emerging economies increasingly face a similar challenge: income growth and demographic changes
over the past 20 years have brought a change of eating habits with an explosion in the consumption of
processed foods, together with a relative convergence of diets (consumption of meat, chicken and
dairy per capita), the emergence of obesity problems, rising rapidly even in some cases among the
poorest part of the population,
18
and average level of consumer waste increasing with household
wealth. For instance in China, consumer waste, which is mainly linked to restaurants and canteens, is
increasing, driven by growing affluence, urbanization, and the growth of the restaurant and catering
sector (Liu, 2014).
Most of the studies on consumer food waste and discards have been conducted in the United States
of America and Europe. The WRAP has been particularly active in the United Kingdom. Such a
prevalence of studies in developed countries is understandable as consumer food waste is particularly
important and of concern in those countries. However, considering the role of social and cultural
drivers in food consumption and attitudes towards food, the results of these studies have to be taken
with caution if they are to be extended to other cultural areas, both in the developed and developing
world.
Consumer food waste is challenging to measure: consumers generally underestimate their own waste
in surveys. In Spain, consumers estimated that they wasted 4 percent of food, while the actual number
was 18 percent (HISPACOOP, 2012). Sample analysis is a more reliable method, although a much
more costly one and also with specific methodological challenges (Lebersoger and Schneider, 2011).
A combination of the two methods can be the most efficient (Hanssen and Møller, 2013).
Data available on consumer food waste in two countries, the United States of America (USA) in 2010
(Buzby, Wells and Hyman, 2014) and the United Kingdom (UK) in 2009 (WRAP, 2009) show an issue
of substantial proportions: in the USA, food waste totalled USD370 per capita, and in the UK
USD580/year equivalent per household. This amounted to 9 percent of the average value spent on
18
For instance, in the case of Brazil, according to anthropometric the incidence of obesity in 2003 was of 18.8 percent
among the non-poor adult population (resp. 3.6 percent among the poor adult population). In 2009, these rates
increased to 24.7 percent and 13.6 percent, respectively (Belik, 2012).

48
food per consumer, and 1 percent of disposable income in the USA, and to 15 percent of expenditure
on food and drink of UK households.
From the FAO (2011a) figures at global level, most of the waste in households is fruits and vegetables
(39 percent) followed by cereals (33 percent), with important regional differences.
According to a survey conducted by WRAP (2009) for households in the UK, 41 percent of the waste
occurs because too much was cooked or served, and 54 percent of waste is because the food was not
used in time. This later reason has to be interpreted with caution as studies (Evans, 2011a, b) show
that consumers tend to wait until the food cannot be consumed, or until its “use-by” or “best-before
date” is passed, before throwing it away (see Section 2.2.4). It thus often hides more complex
reasons.
Among causes of FLW at consumer level are often mentioned (WRAP, 2009; HISPACOOP, 2012;
Baptista et al., 2012):
- poor planning of purchases often leading to buying more than is needed – impulsive or advance
purchasing of food that is not required immediately;
- discarding food due to confusion over “best-before” and “use-by” dates (see Section 2.2.4);
- poor storage or stock management in the home;
- excess portions prepared and not eaten;
- poor food preparation techniques often leading to less food being eaten or food quality losses and
waste (FQLW and nutritional content decrease) due to the preparation method. Lack of
knowledge on how to consume/use food more efficiently, e.g. use of the leftovers on other
recipes instead of discarding.
Four household criteria are often identified as having an impact on the level of waste in households in
developed countries: household size and composition, household income, household demographics
and household culture (Parfitt, Barthel and Macnaughton, 2010). Households with fewer residents
could discard more because the parts purchased and prepared are typically larger than the
consumption capacity; households with higher incomes discard more – consistent with their greater
food consumption. It turns out also that there is often a larger discard in households with a greater
presence of adolescents and young people and, finally, there is an influence of the cultural
environment on the level of discard. These broad tendencies are quite variable, according to contexts,
with important national and regional differences (HISPACOOP, 2012).
Segrè (2013), from a cluster analysis of an open survey distinguishes seven types of causes of
consumer attitudes leading to waste, linked to food preferences, food consumption habits, and to
different representations of the reasons why they waste.
Evans (2011a, b), through ethnographic analysis of social and material contexts of everyday food
waste practices in some English households underlines the need to consider the waste as a
consequence of the ways domestic practices are socially and materially organized. He shows how
household provisioning routines, time management, accounting for family tastes and food safety
concerns can drive day-to-day waste, in spite of awareness to it. Such analysis invites greater
attention to the links between food consumption habits, including food provisioning, and food waste. It
also shows that food waste often results from complex and contradictory demands of everyday life
(Quested et al., 2013), including time constraints (Soyeux, 2010).
Another element that probably plays an important role, although less studied, is buying habits. Buying
less often and in greater quantities, could increase waste, as the possibility of products losing quality is
greater and it is more likely that the product will spoil than when consumer habits or financial
constraints lead to purchase of supplies for the same day or smaller periods of time.
A study on bread waste in Iran (Shahnoushi et al., 2013), where it is subsidized, has confirmed some
general causes for waste, mainly low price, the existence of a market for stale bread to be used as
feed for livestock, quality issues, and, linked to it, the attachment of consumers to very fresh bread. It
also showed that there are other important factors driving the behaviour leading to more waste. In
particular having to walk to the bakery, going more often to the bakery and an increased waiting time
at the bakery, all these factors increase the probability of a household to waste more on bread.
A study conducted in Sweden (Williams et al., 2012) suggests that packaging and its functions relate
to 20 to 25 percent of food waste. Portioning and pack size are identified as major drivers related to
food waste, as consumers tend to buy large packs and bulk offers, to maximize value for money

49
(FUSIONS, 2014). In these cases the food waste generated at the household can find its root cause at
retail level. Some consumers who wish to buy just small quantities of a product are forced to buy more
than they need because of the package size (HISPACOOP 2012). Advertising campaigns prompting
impulse buying, product promotions and bulk discount such as “three-for-two” or "economic packages"
on sale in supermarkets induce waste because, once opened, the tendency is that they spoil before
being consumed. In certain countries such as the United Kingdom (WRAP, 2011a), promotions make
up a third of grocery spend, with an increasing trend. WRAP has conducted research to acquire a
basis for definitive quantitative data related to portion size in household settings. The first aim was to
identify how much the general public is dissatisfied with the size of portions available on the market for
certain key products and why they are dissatisfied. The second was to get understanding of what
might be the demand for alternative portion sizes. Around one-third of respondents have had issues
with portion sizes, the vast majority of those complaining that packs were too large for their needs.
Those in smaller households were more likely to register dissatisfaction with existing pack sizes.
Research suggested that consumers are not necessarily averse to paying a little more per unit of
volume/weight to avoid being left with unnecessary surplus (WRAP, 2008b).
Food is also used as a symbol of prosperity, hence a larger quantity of food, and therefore a larger
propensity to waste, is caused by people from higher socio-economic groups to provide variety and
show prodigality (IMechE, 2013). Food discards can also be significant in restaurants and official
events. The recent “Empty Plate” campaign in China draws attention to the food waste in banquets
offered to or provided by government officials (BBC, 2013).
In school canteens and restaurants, the existence of a fixed price buffet (eat as much as you can),
supersized portions and refills of soft drinks promote obesity and waste (Lipinski et al., 2013). Tristram
Stuart (2009) estimated that “24 to 35% of school lunches end up in the bin” in the UK. In recent
research on middle-school students of Boston conducted by Cohen et al. (2013) in the United States
of America demonstrated that, measured in calories, on average, students discarded roughly 19
percent of their entrées, 47 percent of their fruit, 25 percent of their milk and 73 percent of their
vegetables.
A recent study (Silvennoinen et al., 2012), in Finland, gives more insight on FLW in the restaurant and
catering sector. Twenty percent of all food handled in restaurants and catering is wasted, with very
clear differences between types of restaurants. Self-serving buffets have the biggest total waste (24
percent) with the biggest part of it (17 percent) being service waste, too much cooked food. Fast foods
have the lowest total waste (7 percent). Kitchen waste is the lowest in schools and fast foods (2
percent), the highest in restaurants and day care centers (6 percent). Service waste is the lowest in
restaurants (5 percent). Leftovers are the lowest in fast foods (3 percent) and the highest in
restaurants (7 percent) and hospitals. The study concluded that planning, good management and
documenting food waste data could considerably reduce FLW.
2.2 Meso-causes of food losses and waste
The previous section has reviewed causes of FLW by stages of the food chain where they take place.
These were mostly micro-causes. Rarely a loss or a waste appearing at one stage of the chain is
solely dependent on one specific micro-cause. As we have proposed in the introduction of this
chapter, there is in fact a “hierarchy” of causes, whereby causes can be found at micro-, meso- and
macro-level.
For instance, losses due to bad management of temperature happen at every stage of the chain,
owing to lack of equipment and/or bad practices. These are indirectly favoured by lack of support from
collective actors or other actors in the food chain. Ultimately, they can be caused by a lack of general
infrastructure and storing capacities, electricity availability or costs and training.
Several meso-causes can add-up to each other to explain FLW for one product, as the case of the
tomato supply chain in Cameroon shows (see Box 4).
This section describes some meso-level causes, such as: lack of support for actors for investment and
improvement of practices (2.2.1), lack of adequate infrastructure (2.2.2), lack of coordination among
actors (2.2.3), confusion about date labelling (2.2.4).

50
Box 4 Meso-causes along the tomato supply chain in Cameroon
FAO (2014c) has analysed causes of FLW along tomato supply chains in Cameroon. Tomato is
consumed almost every day, fresh. It is produced mainly by small family farmers. There is no tomato
processing in Cameroon. Tomato is a particularly fragile produce. Following a survey and field studies
main causes of FLW post-harvest have been identified: handling, transport including bad state of the
roads, lack of appropriate packaging, lack of adequate storage, lack of coordination between supply and
demand. These causes drive important FLW and especially high FQLW causing important economic
losses. For instance, in a load of tomatoes transported from Mbouda to Douala (312 km) the proportion
of good quality tomatoes has decreased by more than 10 percent. Among the reasons for such FQLW
figure the fact that many tomatoes are harvested to ripe and also that the load contained in the
beginning tomatoes already spoiled which spoiled good fruits. In fact, there is no incentive for the
producer to sort out its produce before selling it.
The study concludes that the weak organization of the sector, which results in bad coordination between
supply and demand as well as bad transport conditions, lack of infrastructures, lack of adequate
intermediate packaging, lack of training of actors are main causes of FLW, aggravated by insufficient
road infrastructures.
Source: FAO (2014b)
2.2.1 Lack of support to actors for investments and good practices
All along the food chain, from the producer to the consumer, most of the micro-causes of FLW can be
linked to lack of investment and/ or lack of implementation of good practices.
In the food sector in general, many actors are very small and face challenges to invest. Lack of
investments often results from lack of access to finance and credit. In rural areas of developing
countries, credit constraint is one of the primary bottlenecks in investment towards adoption of
technologies to reduce food loss and waste in the whole food chain (HLPE, 2013b). Although
microfinance programmes and community credit have advanced greatly in recent years, these cover
only a small part of rural finance. Lack of access to formal rural credit can be as high as 80 percent in
India, 85 percent in China according to Tang, Guang and Jin (2010) and around 40 percent in Peru,
Honduras and Nicaragua (World Bank, 2007). Data collected by Doligez et al. (2010) show that in the
past decade more than half of the African producers (except South Africa) had no access to credit,
even for informal credit schemes.
Lack of implementation of good practices at different stages of the food chain can be due to the lack of
initial and continuous training, the lack of collective organization at each point of the food chain, the
lack of integration and coordination along the food chain (see Section 2.2.3), the lack of extension
services, and also the lack of appropriate policies (see Section 2.3.2).
Moreover, at many stages that are key to the preservation of the quality of the product and of its
conservation capacity, such as harvesting, loading and unloading of produce, the often harsh tasks
are accomplished by low-paid, underqualified workers, with no incentive to take care of the product, or
even disincentives as often pay is proportional to the mass of product handled, which can lead to too
rough and too rushed handling (FAO, 2014c). These jobs are often short-term, which does not give
them the opportunity to improve their practices.
2.2.2 Lack of private and public infrastructure for well-functioning food
chains
Lack of infrastructure or infrastructure not adapted to food chain conditions is a reason behind many
micro-causes of FLW.
One can distinguish private food chain infrastructures, which include for instance storage, cold chains
and processing facilities and public infrastructures, often to support and facilitate access to inputs
(including energy) logistics, transport and marketing (HLPE, 2013b).
Infrastructure-related FLW can happen when, such as for fruits and vegetables in India, production
significantly increases without the relevant development of infrastructure, such as cool and cold
chambers, cold transportation chain, or processing and preservation techniques. In those cases,
increased production comes with a – more than proportional – increase of losses.

51
Market infrastructure
Efficient markets including but not limited to physical infrastructure are essential to reduce the time
between production and consumption, which is an important factor to limit FLW. The quality of the
physical infrastructure in wholesale and retail markets (e.g. off-loading areas, handling facilities,
display, storage, ambient conditions, temperature, etc.) is also crucial to reduce FLW on the markets
and down the food chain.
Storage infrastructure along the chain
In many low-income countries, there is considerable food loss due to lack of storage capacity and poor
storage conditions as well as lack of capacity to transport the produce to processing plants or markets
immediately after harvesting, as noted by numerous studies, such as FAO (2014c). There are also too
few wholesale, supermarket and retail facilities providing suitable storage and sales conditions for food
products. Wholesale and retail markets in developing countries are often small, overcrowded and lack
cooling equipment and proper sanitary conditions (Kader, 2005).
Cold chain infrastructure
Availability and efficient use of the cold chain significantly affect FLW. Temperature control is the
single most important factor in food preservation, especially for perishable commodities. It is estimated
that the rate of deterioration of perishables increases two- to three-fold with every 10 °C increase in
temperature within the commodity’s physiological temperature range. Mittal (2007) reported that about
30 percent of the fruits and vegetables grown in India are lost or wasted annually due to gaps in the
cold chain. Fonseca and Njie (2009) found that the lack of capacity of the cold chain is the main
reason for post-harvest losses in Latin America and Caribbean countries. Therefore, maintaining low
produce temperature right from harvest to retail (cold chain) is of paramount importance in quality
preservation.
In most countries of sub Saharan Africa, use of cold chain for meat conservation encounters
challenges, including low number of refrigerated trucks, lack of cold storage in consumption areas,
apart from some supermarkets, high cost and unreliability of electricity supply, lack of material as well
as of specialized human resources to manage them (FAO & IIF, 2014). In Uganda there is an
important potential demand for the use of cold chain, for meat, fruits and vegetables. There are
however important constraints to the development of the sector, including, in addition to those
mentioned above, difficulties to find spare parts for materials often bought second hand in Europe,
high costs and a lack of organization of the sector, with many installations dedicated to single
enterprises (FAO & IIF, 2014), often for export.
The absence of cold chain infrastructure (including on-farm cold rooms, reliable power supply,
refrigerated transport facilities and equipment), enabling all food supply chain actors to ensure low
temperature conditions for produce from production to retail, is a major cause of FLW. This is less the
case in industrialized countries, where functional and well-developed cold chains exist, than in many
developing countries, where the cold chain infrastructure is either non-existent, difficult for actors to
access, poorly maintained or poorly utilized. The cost of providing the cold chain per tonne of produce
depends on energy costs plus utilization and efficiency of the facilities. In developing countries, the
need for cold chains grows rapidly, and there are challenges for many companies to bear the
sometimes significant investment in cold chain logistics, such as the example of Beijing shows (Lan
and Tian, 2013).
Processing infrastructure
In many situations the food processing industry does not have enough capacity to process and
preserve fresh farm produce in order to meet the demand. Part of the problem stems from the
seasonality of production and the cost of investing in processing facilities that will not be used year-
round (FAO, 2011a). There is also a lack of packaging facilities (FAO, 2011b). Choudhury (2006)
highlights high loss rates associated with a lack of packing houses in India, with fresh fruit and
vegetables generally packed in the field and some even transported without transit packaging.
2.2.3 Lack of integrated food chain approaches and management
It is important not to confuse “where” a specific loss or waste is occurring with its “cause” (micro, meso
or macro). Losses and waste at one stage of the food chain can have their cause at another stage.
For instance, lack of care in the manipulation of fruits in the very early stages, harvest and packaging,

52
which in turn can be related to poor work conditions, can reduce their shelf life and cause retail-level
loss or consumer waste later on. Conversely, fruits can be left to rot in the field because of a retailer’s
decision to lower its buying price or interrupt a contract. Reducing FLW thus requires identifying their
ultimate cause(s) and often an integrated perspective along the food chain.
Without a well-functioning integrated food chain, food losses are exacerbated, especially in low-
income countries. One reason for losses in the food chain is the increasing distance between the
places where food is produced and where it is consumed. Apart from farmers, transporters,
storekeepers, the food processing industry, shopkeepers and supermarkets, among others, are
involved. We therefore need to look at the stakeholders and drivers in various segments of the food
chain and to what extent the interests either coincide or are at odds across major groups. Enhancing
efficiency in one part of the chain, e.g. in production, can be nullified if losses and wastage occur, or
increase, in other parts of the chain.
Retailers are ultimately the interface between production and consumption. They play a crucial role,
particularly in countries where the retailing sector is oriented towards large-scale enterprises. How the
retail sector performs within the organization of the food chain can be determinant for FLW. For
instance, a small number of large retailers in the United Kingdom exercise market power over the
7 000 suppliers within the sector. To avoid being “de-listed”, food manufacturers will often overproduce
in case extra quantities are required at short notice. For manufacturers of supermarkets’ own brands,
packaged surplus production cannot be sold elsewhere and becomes lost (C-Tech, 2004).
Parfitt, Barthel and Macnaughton (2010) have identified factors that can lead to food losses and waste
in the food supply chain, many of which are linked to contractual practices:
- payment terms discouraging small growers;
- retailers’ product quality standards deterring smallholders from supplying produce to the market;
- high contractual penalties for partial or total non-delivery of orders by suppliers;
- product take-back clauses in supplier contracts allowing retailers to return a product to the
suppliers once a residual shelf life has been reached;
- often poor demand forecasting and replenishment systems and a lack of FSC transparency; and
- difficulties inherent in transitioning from trading systems previously driven by spot market prices
towards long-term contracts.
Lack of horizontal and vertical linkages contributes to inefficiencies in the food supply chain leading to
FLW. This impedes the organization of collective investments and actions that can enable access to
credit to finance production and post-harvest handling facilities such as cold rooms, drying equipment
and processing units (HLPE, 2013b). The lack of effective communication, infrastructure and
information flow also causes logistics risks and mismatches between supply and demand in the food
supply chain.
2.2.4 Confusion around food date labelling
With an increasing trend for consumption of processed foods, with urbanization, the lengthening of the
food chains and the weakening of personal links between producers and consumers, consumers rely
increasingly on date labels as a substitute to direct knowledge and advice on the freshness and shelf
life of products.
Many kinds of date labels coexist, some of them not intended for consumers but for retailers for their
management of stock, other directed to consumers, either to protect the consumer’s experience of a
product and to safeguard its reputation, or to indicate a date after which it can no longer be eaten for
safety reasons. Consumers get lost in this multitude of date labels (see Box 5).
Various studies in the United States of America (NRDC, 2013), Europe (Bio Intelligence Service,
2010), in the United Kingdom (WRAP, 2011b) and in Spain (HISPACOOP, 2012) have underlined that
food date labelling, and confusion about it, are a major, indirect cause of FLW at retail and consumer
levels, as consumers tend to assume that dates are linked to food safety when they are in reality more
often grounded on food quality.

53
According to a national survey (GfK, 2009) confusion over date labelling and consumer
misunderstanding of date labels account for a substantial part of household food waste in the United
Kingdom.
Furthermore, date labelling is also a major cause of FLW and of economic loss at retail level as
retailers often anticipate dates to preserve their good image (MAGRAMA, 2013; NRDC, 2013). In
Europe there are two types of legally required date marks (Directive 2000/13/EC) addressed to
consumers: “best-before”, which relates to food quality and indicates the “date until which the food
stuff retains its specific properties when properly stored” and “use-by” which relates to food safety, for
“food stuffs which, from the microbiological point of view, are highly perishable and are therefore likely
after a short period to constitute an immediate danger to human health”. A product with a “use-by”
date cannot be sold after that date. Setting the appropriate durability indication and date mark, as well
as storage instructions, is of the responsibility of the manufacturer, packer or EU seller.
In the United States of America there is no general federal regulation for food date labelling (NRDC,
2013). The Food and Drug Administration has issued explicit date labelling requirements only for infant
formula products. The USDA has technical requirements on how the dates should be displayed on
some USDA-regulated food products (meat, poultry and certain egg products) in case the date is
displayed voluntarily or in case a state law exists to make such display compulsory. The National
Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM) has issued a voluntary guidance. This guidance sets
“sell-by” as the label date that jurisdictions should require for pre-packaged perishable foods and
“best-if-used-by” as the date that should be required for semi-perishable or long-shelf-life foods. The
model regulations allow all foods to be sold after their label dates, provided that they are of good
quality and that perishable foods are clearly marked as being past-date. It also includes guidance for
properly calculating the label date and for expressing the date on packaging. However, according to
NRDC (2013), only a minority of US states (8) have regulations adopting it.
As dates such as “sell-by”, intended for retailers, increase confusion for consumers, some recommend
making them less visible to consumers (DEFRA, 2011). The confusion also points to the need to
establish a coherent and uniform consumer-oriented dating system, with a clear distinction between
quality based and safety based date labels.
Lastly, date labelling is only one dimension affecting the quality and safety of the product, as the
respect of proper adapted conditions of conservation is also paramount for the food safety and
nutritional quality of products.
Box 5 A multitude of different date labels
Codex Alimentarius, in its General Standard for the labelling of prepackaged food (1985) defines the
following categories of labelling dates.
“Date of Manufacture” means the date on which the food becomes the product as described.
“Date of Packaging” means the date on which the food is placed in the immediate container in which it
will be ultimately sold.
“Sell-by Date” means the last date of offer for sale to the consumer after which there remains a
reasonable storage period in the home.
“Date of Minimum Durability” (“best before”) means the date that signifies the end of the period under
any stated storage conditions during which the product will remain fully marketable and will retain any
specific qualities for which tacit or express claims have been made. However, beyond the date the food
may still be perfectly satisfactory.
“Use-by Date” (Recommended Last Consumption Date, Expiration Date) means the date that signifies
the end of the estimated period under any stated storage conditions, after which the product probably
will not have the quality attributes normally expected by the consumers. After this date, the food should
not be regarded as marketable.
These Codex categories are voluntary tools at international level, unevenly followed by countries. For
example, in the European Union, the “use-by” criteria relates to food safety, whereas in other regions it
is linked to a manufacturer’s quality criteria. Also manufacturers use other kinds of appellations for
dates, often not clearly defined (such as “display until” or “freeze by”, etc.), which induces more
confusion.

54
2.3 Macro-level causes of FLW
Micro- and meso-level causes can be driven by broader macro-causes (Figure 5). Macro-level causes
include those that are linked to the policy and regulatory environments, as well as systemic causes
that can appear at various levels.
2.3.1 Impact of policies, laws and regulations on FLW
The ability of the actors of the food chain to reduce food losses and waste depends on the
surrounding policy and regulatory framework. Some regulations have an impact on FLW, such as
policies that may help or hinder surplus food being redistributed or used in animal feed, policies or
bans on fish discards, food hygiene regulations, food labelling and packaging regulations, waste
regulation and policies (House of Lords, 2014). Other regulations might not have a direct impact on
food losses and waste, but on the potential to use them as feed or energy.
Food safety schemes
The manufacture of safe food is the responsibility of everyone in the food chain and food factory, from
the operative on the conveyor belt to higher management. The production of safe food requires the
following:
- control at source;
- product design and process control;
- good hygienic practices during production, processing, handling and distribution, storage, sale,
preparation and use;
- preventive approach as effectiveness of microbial end-product testing is limited.
Food safety rules and regulation are generally linked to good practices for conservation. They include
the application of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) approaches to biological,
chemical and physical hazards in production processes. When they are well designed they contribute
to reduce FLW and to improve the quality of shelf life. On the other hand, as the example of date
labelling shows (see Section 2.2.3), they can be a cause of FLW.
Food discards out of food-safety concerns are important in medium-/high-income countries. In Europe,
private regulations have been identified as major reasons for throwing away food in the catering
business due to strict hygiene rules and wide safety margins (Waarst et al., 2001). Fonseca and Njie
(2009) report that the rejection of fruit and vegetables from Latin America and Caribbean countries into
the United States of America is mainly owing to food-safety concerns. Food regulations can be applied
in ways that remove food that is still safe for human consumption from the food supply chain (FAO,
2013d).
The rapid globalization of food production and trade has increased the potential likelihood of
international incidents involving contaminated food. Food safety authorities worldwide have
acknowledged that ensuring food safety must not only be tackled at the national level but also through
closer linkages among food safety authorities at the international level. Lack of coordination of policies
at regional level can be an important cause of FLW (FAO, 2013d).
Agricultural investment policies, including training and extension
Most governments are taking the necessary steps to increase food production and food security for
their populations. However, the efforts to increase food production must be coupled with equally
important measures to ensure that the increased food reaches the end-users (processors, exporters,
consumers), and that solutions are adapted and affordable to local conditions. Poor agricultural
development planning can result in some of the additional food produced ending up being lost or
wasted, because of unadapted infrastructural development, poor roads, lack of bulk storage facilities
and lack of processing (transformation) industries.
All of this requires government planning and investment along with agricultural development
investments, investment in better production and immediate post-harvest handling practices. In this
context, extension services are key, as well as local human and infrastructural research capacities.
Private sector investors interested in agricultural development are sometimes deterred by government
policies/regulations that render investment unattractive.

55
Animal feed regulations
Some countries, or regions, such as the EU with the animal by-product regulation, have placed bans
on feeding animals with catering discards that have been in contact with animal by-products. This
affects redirecting much of the “mixed” food waste from this broad sector to animals, as it is often
impossible to sort between products having been or not in touch with animal by-products. In the EU,
the bovine spongiform encephalopathy crisis led to a prohibition of processed animal proteins (PAP)
as feed to most farm animals. The ban on feeding non-ruminant PAP to fish was lifted in 2013. While
these restrictions would not affect food losses and waste per se, they pose constraints on what usage
or valorization can be made with the losses and waste.
Waste disposal policies
Finally, waste policies and practices do impact FLW. Availability of separate collection of food waste
from mixed waste is a key step to avoid food waste being ultimately disposed of, but valorized, for
example as compost, or in anaerobic digestors. Most countries have pricing schemes for waste
recollection and landfill disposal, and these are also incentives to reduce waste overall, though they
might not distinguish food from other waste. Some countries have gone as far as putting a ban on
landfills.
2.3.2 Systemic causes
Systemic causes are those that favour the emergence of all the other causes of FLW, including micro-
and meso-causes and, in the end, they can be a major reason for the global extent of FLW.
The systemic causes of food losses and waste differ in low-income and medium-/high-income
countries. In low-income countries, they are mainly linked to financial, managerial and technical
limitations in harvesting techniques, limited storage and cooling facilities in adverse climatic conditions,
lack of infrastructure, packaging, transport, logistics, and marketing systems. In medium-/high-income
countries, FLW can happen at the same stages, but for different reasons: mainly relating to a lack of
coordination among different actors in the supply chain, and to consumer behaviour, as consumers
can afford the “luxury” of wasting food, or the exigencies in aesthetic or other standards leading to the
discard of food. A great part of losses at harvest stage in industrialized countries is partially
attributable to the downstream of the food chain and to the consumption system or.
Among systemic causes figure discrepancies between technologies promoted at national or food chain
level and the actual capacities and conditions, including logistics and transport. Others include, for
instance, lack of or partial implementation of food-safety rules and practices, including prevention,
monitoring and control. Systemic causes also include lack of investment, policies and institutions, or
inappropriate (or missing) policy or regulatory framework to facilitate coordination of actors (including
securing contractual relations), their investments and the adoption of good practices.
Standardization of produce, under the influence of supermarkets and big retailers, while fresh food,
contrarily to industrial goods, is by essence diverse, a product of nature, difficult to standardize, is a
major systemic cause of FLW in developed, and increasingly in middle income countries, as products
that do not meet the standards can be rejected and discarded at various parts of the chain. Very often
the consumer is not offered the choice of buying non-standard food, whether in size, colour, or even,
degree of freshness.
With the expansion of supermarkets in developing countries (Reardon et al., 2003; McCullough,
Pingali and Stamoulis, 2008), there is a risk of even more FLW, given the difficulties of smallholders to
comply with the various private standards imposed by supermarkets and big retailers (Berdegue et al.,
2005).In most civilizations, an abundance of food is a sign of wealth, feast, hospitality, good care of
the family. As soon as income conditions and the relative value of food enables an abundance of food,
there is a risk of waste. This tendency is especially developed in certain circumstances: holidays, “all-
you-can-eat”, feasts, etc.
In developed countries, especially for the rich and middle class, the increasingly low value of food
relatively to other goods and services leads to, for households, less care in the management of their
food basket.
In everyday life of urban lifestyles, often choices related to food consumption from frequency of
buying, to cooking and eating are driven by time saving priorities (Soyeux, 2010), which could lead to
food losses and waste. For example, when there is not enough time or possibility to shop daily for

56
fresh food, the choice is often to have at home sufficient and diversified food needed for a longer
period of time, leading to increased risk of FLW. At household level, the economic choice is, in such
cases, rather to risk wasting than wanting. The transformation of food systems, driven by
urbanization, income growth and globalization, introduces new challenges with risks of FLW. Trends
towards growing consumption of more perishable and fresh products (Mena, Adenso-Diaz and Yurt,
2011), livestock products, fish, fruits and vegetables, including non-seasonal consumption of fresh
seasonal foods, drive growing fluxes of these products, often on long distances. This requires efficient
transport and logistics as well as good conservation techniques, combined with the implementation of
good practices and food safety regulations along increasingly long food chains. This can be
particularly challenging in countries confronted with a rapid change of food demand while rural areas
still lack basic infrastructure. It should be noted that this is increasingly becoming a problem in
developing countries where the proportion of population categorized as middle class is on the rise.
There is also a development of local food chains (Kneafsey et al., 2013), especially for fresh and
perishable products but little is known on its incidence on FLW. It could facilitate the commercialization
of less standardized products and reduce FLW due to transport, as well as FLW at consumer level as
time saved for the product to reach the consumer could translates into “food conservation time” gained
for the consumer.
---
This Chapter has presented many causes of FLW along the food chain. It has identified three levels of
causes and causal links between them. This can enable to make a context and situation specific
diagnosis of FLW, in order to identify potential solutions (Chapter 3).

57
3 OPTIONS TO REDUCE FOOD LOSSES AND WASTE
In the previous chapter, reviewing causes of FLW along food chains from primary production to
consumption, we have seen that there are many causes of FLW, that they are often linked and that
they are also often very specific to the nature of different products and to local conditions. To clarify
this apparent complexity, Chapter 2 distinguished three levels of causes: micro-, meso- and macro-
levels. The importance of meso- and macro-causes stems from the fact that often causes of FLW of a
physical, technical or behavioural nature are due to broader causes – economic, social and
institutional.
A wide range of causes, organized in different levels, calls for a wide range of solutions, also
organized in different levels. This chapter presents some solutions for reducing FLW along these three
levels, starting by micro-level solutions (going along the food chain, from production to consumption),
and describing the meso-level and macro-level solutions, as described in Table 2, which forms a grid
of lecture of this chapter.
Table 2 Categories of solutions to reduce FLW by levels (micro, meso, macro)
Levels
Categories Micro (Section 3.1) Meso (Section 3.2) Macro (Section 3.3)
Investments
Private investments in
production, postharvest,
businesses and food
services.
(3.1.2 and 3.1.3)
Financial mechanisms
Collective private
investments
Public investments
(3.2.2, 3.2.4 and 3.2.3)
Support to financial
mechanisms
Infrastructure
Enabling environment
Proper incentives
(3.3.1 and 3.3.2)
Good practices
Good practices in production
and postharvest
(3.1.1)
Capacity building
Training
(3.2.5 and 3.2.6)
Support to capacity
building
Multistakeholder initiatives
(3.3.2 and 3.3.3)
Behavioural
change
Behavioural change in
businesses and consumers
(3.1.4 and 3.1.5)
Corporate social
responsibility
Community and local
engagement
(3.2.6; 3.2.7; 3.2.8 and 3.2.9)
Raising awareness
(3.3.3)
Coordination
inside food
chains
Food chain approach
Relationships with other
actors in the food chain
(3.2.1; 3.2.3; 3.2.7; 3.2.8 and
3.2.10)
Enabling environment
(contractual rules and
incentives)
Policies
(3.3.1 and 3.3.2)
Valorization of
food and
byproducts
Food processing
Valorization of surplus
foods and of by-products
(3.2.4, 3.2.9 and 3.2.10)
Support and incentives for
implementation of a
hierarchy of uses
(3.3.2)
Coordination of
policies and
actions
Policies
(3.3.2 and 3.3.3)
The table describes how a solution (or a category of solution) at one specific level (on the left) can be
supported or facilitated by higher level actions, at meso- and macro-level (on the right). Numbers in the cells of
the table refer to the specific section of this chapter where relevant solutions are described,

58
The first level of solutions (micro-level) is explored in Section 3.1. It is derived from the review of
causes of FLW at each stage of food chains (Section 2.1), which leads to identification of potential
solutions and actors to implement them, from farmers to consumers.
Section 3.2 explores solutions at meso-level. This level is particularly important for three reasons.
First, solutions at micro-level often involve (or require) changes all along the food chain and, even
when of a technical nature, generally require involvement of multiple supply chain actors and
stakeholders (meso-level) or macro solutions, often economic and/or institutional. Second, solutions at
micro-level can be – and often need to be – supported and enhanced by actions at a broader, meso-
level. And finally, one key reason is the consideration of food chain logics, because in the absence of
a concerted food-chain approach efforts at one step of the chain risk being annihilated at other step.
Solutions at meso-level therefore, by definition, generally mobilize concerted and collective action
(Section 3.2).
Solutions implemented at micro-level or at meso-level can be enabled, supported and enhanced by
action at macro-level (Section 3.3). Very often macro-level solutions need a mobilization at national
level to be implemented. This includes considering FLW in different sets of policies, and devising
specific policies against FLW.
The whole will enable a better design of pathways for identifying and implementing strategies to
reduce FLW (Chapter 4).
3.1 Single actor, technical or behaviour-driven solutions to reduce
food losses and waste
At each stage of the food chain, specific causes of FLW (see Section 2.1 and Appendix 1) often call
for individual technical or behavioural action by single actors, all along the food supply chain. As we
have seen in Table 2, these cover mainly three categories of action: good practices, private
investments and behavior change. In this section, we describe those by going along the food chain,
from production to consumption. Post-harvest solutions range from improved practices in crop and
animal production (Section 3.1.1) and investment in storage (Section 3.1.2) to adoption of technical
innovations in transport, processing and packaging (Section 3.1.3). Technical and behaviour-driven
solutions to reduce consumer waste include food service solutions in the hospitality sector (Section
3.1.4) and household-level solutions (Section 3.1.5).
3.1.1 Good practices in crop and animal production
When appropriately applied, good agricultural practices and good veterinary practices can protect
food, at the primary stages of production, from damage or physical contamination by extraneous
materials, pests, insects or vermin, and from biological contamination by mould, pathogenic bacteria or
viruses – any of which can cause spoilage, crop damage and food-borne illness or even lead to
chronic health consequences in humans. Increased human health risks may also result from
consumption of meat products in such cases where animals were fed with contaminated feedstuffs.
The quality and safety of food intended for manufacturing or processing can be ensured by applying
good manufacturing practices (GMPs) and good hygienic practices (GHPs) to food processing. When
properly applied, these measures ensure quality and safety at all the processing steps from the receipt
of the raw materials (primary products and other ingredients) to the shipping and marketing of the final
products to the consumers. Implementation of GHPs entails the use of appropriate sanitary measures
to prevent microbial contamination and assurance of optimum sanitary conditions for processing food
products.
3.1.2 Storage and conservation solutions
A key intervention all along food chains is to improve storage conditions. For cereals and tubers,
various solutions exist. There are a number of post-harvest technologies developed to protect stored
grains from pests and other causes of losses, including, for example, organophosphate insecticides of
low toxicity for mammalians, grain bags and metal silos (Tefera et al., 2011). Availability and access to
these solutions, including related cost considerations, is often a challenge for smallholder farmers
(HLPE, 2013b). For instance, insecticide protection is recommended to protect stored grains, but is

59
often unavailable or too expensive for smallholder farmers. Access to information on how to use these
solutions is also key.
There are concerted efforts by researchers, donor agencies, governments, non-governmental
organizations and other development partners to scale up successful affordable and adaptable
storage technologies and solutions.
Among those is hermetic storage technology, where grains are loaded inside an airtight container,
such as metal silos (see Box 6) or hermetic polythene bags, which stop oxygen and water movement
between the inside and outside atmosphere: grain (and insect) respiration inside the hermetic
container progressively consumes oxygen and produces carbon dioxide, at levels dependent on the
number of insects, type and size of the container. When the oxygen level falls below 10 percent, insect
activity stops, thus reducing pest damage (Baoua et al., 2012). It also avoids the application of
pesticides.
For preservation of quality of harvested perishable foods, the most important issue is temperature
control. Refrigerated cold stores are the best option, but it is expensive in investments and running
costs, and dependent on the availability of electricity sources, and therefore out of reach for the
majority of smallholder farmers. Additionally, lack of connection to an electricity grid for most rural
farmers complicates the introduction of electricity-powered cold rooms.
This calls for alternative, low-cost, electricity-independent options (see Box 7). Evaporative coolers
offer, when water is available, one such alternative (especially in dry, low humidity air conditions) and
there have been efforts to promote them in many developing countries. They can reduce temperature
by 10–15
º
C and maintain high humidity, which is beneficial to quality of horticultural produce for
example.
19
Box 6 Use of metal silos to reduce post-harvest losses in grains
Manufacture and use of the metal silo was first promoted in the 1980s by the Swiss Agency for
Development and Cooperation in four Central American countries, namely, Honduras, Guatemala,
Nicaragua and El Salvador. The promotion was conducted under the project POSTCOSECHA (Spanish
term for post-harvest), in an approach directed to ensure that agricultural products can be stored for
personal consumption or later sale. Adoption of the metal silos under the POSTCOSECHA project has
had a great impact on the reduction of crop loss among the main staples (maize and beans), leading to
enhanced food security. When properly used, crop loss can be reduced to almost zero (Tefera et al.,
2011).
Between 1997 and 2007, FAO distributed 45 000 metal silos to 16 countries: Afghanistan, Bolivia,
Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chad, Ecuador, Guinea, Iraq, Madagascar, Mali, Malawi, Mozambique,
Namibia, Panama, Senegal and East Timor (Tefera et al., 2011). These metal silos aided in storing
about 38 000 tonnes of grain with an estimated value of USD8 million (FAO, 2008a).
The International Centre for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT), in collaboration with the Kenya
Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), the Catholic diocese of Embu and Homabay in Kenya and World
Vision International in Malawi, initiated a pilot project on effective grain storage between 2008 and 2010
with the aim of reducing post-harvest losses and of promoting the technology in Kenya (Tefera et al.,
2011). Metal silos have been evaluated compared with farmers’ polypropylene bags in Kenya. The
metal silo proved very effective (<5 percent grain loss) over a 6-month storage period.
The main challenge to adoption of metal silos by smallholder farmers is the high initial cost, which
ranges between USD40 and 350 depending on the storage capacity. However, given that they can last
10–20 years, metal silos more than pay for themselves through the accruing benefits, including food
security and surplus grain savings.
The lessons learned from the pilot study in Kenya and Malawi include: (i) promotion of metal silos
requires partnership among the government agencies, non-governmental organizations, manufacturers
and farmers; (ii) technology uptake is highest where surplus production of grains is expected; (iii)
effective communication and awareness creation is crucial in disseminating the technology; and (iv) a
more comprehensive approach covering technology (more innovative post-harvest technologies),
markets (private sector engagement in the market development of post-harvest technologies) and
policy (policy environment for adoption of the technologies) is required.
Source: http://www.sdc-foodsecurity.ch; FAO (2008a) ; Tefera et al. (2011)
19
http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/datastore/234-2143.pdf

60
Box 7 Improving fruits conservation in India
Pre-cooling of fruits and vegetables - The concept of pre-cooling of grapes was introduced in the
1980s primarily in the state of Maharashtra, which is the leading grape-growing state in India. This
helped the farmers to export grapes to Europe, Gulf countries, etc. Later this technology was adopted
for other fruits such as mango, pomegranate and orange.
Controlled atmosphere storage - With the onset of the twenty-first century, the need was realized to
set up controlled atmosphere (CA) storage following the trends in Europe, the United States of America
and other countries. A number of CA stores have already been established in the northern part of India
at locations that have proximity to apple-growing regions. The capacities generally ranged between
1 000 and 12 000 tonnes. A few units of smaller capacities have also been established in the western
and southern regions of the country.
Ripening chambers - There has been considerable interest in scientific ripening and storage of foods
such as banana, mango, etc. in recent years and the units are being established in a number of places.
A good development in this direction can be seen in southern India and in the states of Gujarat and
Maharashtra.
Evaporative cool storage - An evaporative cool (EC) storage system maintains a 10–15
º
C lower
temperature compared with field temperature, and maintains around 90 percent of relative humidity.
The shelf life of fruits and vegetables can be extended by 3 to 90 days depending on the produce.
Since an EC storage system does not require energy input for maintenance, it is known as zero energy
storage and is suitable for remote rural areas with extensive applications for storage of produce such as
potato, yam, cassava, apple, orange, lime and tomato. Research institutes such as the Central Food
Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) have
developed a number of these rural-scale designs.
Source: http://agriexchange.apeda.gov.in; Yes Bank (2012).
There are different kinds of such evaporative coolers, of different technologies, designs and sizes,
which can be adapted to diverse uses and scales. These range from pots (such as the Janita pot in
India, Zeer pot in the Sudan), to charcoal coolers, brick and sand cool chambers, Naya cellar (in
Nepal), among others. Available sizes range from small vessels holding a few kilograms to a walk-in
cool room that can hold more than 4 tonnes. These simple, effective and cheaper alternatives can
often be adapted to local conditions and small-scale production. However, they have not been widely
adopted by smallholder farmers, partly because of lack of awareness and of proper support and
incentives.
3.1.3 Technical solutions in transport, processing and packaging
Technical solutions in transport, processing and packaging need to be adapted to local situations,
including the level of infrastructures, economic and human resources, as well as conditions along the
rest of the food chain.
For instance, deployment of techniques and technologies grounded on cold might be unadapted in
situations where there is no possibility to have a continuous cold chain, for example in situation where
there is risk of lack of energy supply, unreliable transport, or lack of integrated cold-chain
infrastructures down the food chain (markets etc.). See for instance the Section 3.2.3 on cold chains.
Development of solutions needs to be affordable and adapted to local conditions, including in terms of
human resources and to the scale of operations in the food chain.
Often, quite simple and inexpensive solutions in transport, processing and packaging can significantly
reduce the level of losses and waste in developing countries (UN Millennium Project, 2005; FAO
2011b).
In rural areas of developing countries, simple measures can reduce FLW in transport; for instance
putting tarps over the truck to transport grain, vents in the trucks transporting fresh food and live
animals to prevent heatstroke and, in both cases, transportation preferably in the evening hours to
avoid the load deteriorating rapidly (Foscaches et al., 2012).

61
Box 8 Promoting a two-stage grain drying technology in Southeast Asia
The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) set up R&D programmes in Viet
Nam, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines to overcome losses and quality problems associated with
drying grains in humid, tropical climates, with a focus on the rice industry. In Southeast Asia, especially
for large rice exporters such as Viet Nam, a lack of drying technology is the main reason for grain loss
and decrease in rice quality. The traditional drying techniques such as sun-drying were unlikely to
reduce the moisture content to 14 percent, the safety level for long-term storage. In wet seasons, the
moisture content could go above 30 percent, and it is difficult to find enough room and labour to dry the
grains properly.
Concepts and impacts
The two-stage grain drying technology was developed, based on the use of a flash dryer or a fluidized-
bed dryer in the first stage, for grain with high moisture content (>18 percent), followed by slower, in-
store drying to reduce the grain moisture content to a safe storage level.
The ACIAR programme was successful in developing a drying technology that delivers a marked
improvement in the proportion of rice meeting Grade 1 standards. The technology has been widely
adopted in Thailand and there is growing interest for it in Viet Nam and China (Pearce and Davis,
2004). Economic analyses suggest that the two-stage drying technology, while more costly, has a
positive impact on profit, largely from quality improvement (Chupungco, Dumayas and John, 2008).
Problems
There has been no adoption in the Philippines of the two-stage process as a whole or of either of its
components. In recent years, the increase in energy prices has made the technology less attractive
than when it was first developed. In many parts of Southeast Asia, rice-trading sectors are still
characterized by small traders turning over small volumes of rice within a short amount of time. The
two-stage technology requires significant initial investment in drying facilities (oſten including shed
space), which means an increasing return to scale. Large bulks of rice handling are required, which
asks for structural change in the rice industry with small-volume trading.
Source: Chupungco, Dumayas and John (2008); Pearce and Davis (2004).
Box 9 Improving drying technology for omena fish on lake Victoria
Fresh omena fish cannot last more than two days before it is completely deteriorated for human
consumption. It is therefore generally dried. Drying omena on the beach is usually done on fishing nets
that are hired from the fishermen at a fee. The women use brooms to turn the omena. The hygiene on
the landing beaches is low. Animals can wander freely on the beach where they eat the dropped fish.
Bigger omena takes longer to dry and, during the rainy seasons, traders may suffer up to 80 percent
economic losses especially if there is insufficient sunlight to dry the fish for more than two days. Omena
fish is transported to the market in airtight sacks and transported on public transport. The sacks do not
allow air circulation and may cause deterioration, especially if the fish was not well dried.
Recently, a non-governmental organization that is helping communities to export omena came up with
a new design for drying. This consists of raised racks within a fenced area. The racks are covered with
polythene covers to protect the fish from wind, dust, rain and other elements. The polythene helps to
trap heat and therefore the fish will dry faster on cloudy days. In order to benefit from the intervention,
traders must commit themselves to certain hygienic standards for handling the fish and must also
organize themselves in groups. This technology is adapted to local conditions and is cost effective.
Source: FAO (2014c).
As seen in Chapter 2, insufficient or inadequate packaging can be a factor of food losses and waste.
Losses at almost every stage of the food chain may be reduced by using appropriate packaging, as a
key element of a set of technologies and processes to reduce losses (Olsmats and Wallteg, 2009).
Improved packaging and the packaging industry has a key role to play in addressing food losses but
also in ensuring food safety as well as facilitating storage and transport of food, which are important
for trade. Packaging solutions should also take into account the need to reduce waste in general and
be adapted to local producers/packagers as well as to consumers’ needs (FAO, 2011b).

62
Box 10 Plastic Food Containers Bank in Brazil
In this system, the producer – or even the intermediate – rents boxes of diverse sizes adapted to the
product to be transported, which are taken to the rural area already cleaned and sanitized. At product
delivery in the Food Terminal, the producer receives the same amount of empty boxes for holding the
next transport. At the same time, the boxes that are emptied are subjected to cleaning and sanitizing.
According to the boxes' manufacturers, the loss can be reduced by 30 percent with this system, but so
far there is no evidence to establish the exact percentage of loss reduction. The difficulties in measuring
this gain arise from the fact that the system was not well received by producers and intermediaries. This
is because the old system, based on standard wood boxes, was cheaper for the farmer and allowed the
intermediary to still make a profit by trading boxes. In the new system, in addition to revenue losses
from the sale of boxes, the producer or the intermediary would have to pay a fee to the Food Terminal
for the use of plastic boxes. Moreover, the simplification of the activities of loading and transhipment
threaten a large number of workers whose livelihood depends on these activities.
Source: Belik (2001)
The development of modern packaging can result in food savings: options range from “easy to empty”
packaging, to portion sized packaging, breathable polymer films, aseptic technology, modified
atmosphere packaging, hermetic seals, re-sealable packaging, or smart packaging. Smart or
intelligent packaging tracks through sensors some physical variables inside or outside the package,
which either influence the quality of a product or are a sign of its quality (ripeness, freshness). It can
thus monitor the safety and quality condition of a food product and provide early warning to the
consumer or food manufacturer, better inform decisions and avoid losses of products that are still of
good quality. For instance, it can monitor temperature or presence of oxygen in the package. Another
promising technique is to measure the presence of an elevated CO2 level, which can be the prime
indicator of food spoilage in packed foods. Its maintenance at optimal levels is also essential to avoid
spoilage in foods packed under modified-atmosphere packaging (MAP) conditions. Hence, a CO2
sensor incorporated into the food package can efficiently monitor product quality until it reaches the
consumer (Pradeep, Junho and Sanghoon, 2012). Packaging that carries information on how food
should be best conserved and stored also leads to FLW reduction.
Many technical solutions in transport, processing or packaging, encounter constraints to their
acceptance or implementation, which often requires enabling changes at meso-level in the supply chain,
or sometimes even at macro-level, as existing interests and dominant practices could be barriers to
adoption of the solution. An interesting case here is the Brazilian experimental system of the Plastic
Food Containers Bank run by the Food Logistic Terminals in some cities (Box 10). This case shows
some of the challenges to implementation of solutions in the medium and long term, and the increasing
need to rely on institutional
20
efforts involving all actors in the chain, including private actors.
3.1.4 Solutions for the hospitality sector
Food services in the hospitality sector (hotels, restaurants, canteens, catering, etc.) can play a double
role in a FLW reduction strategy, by reducing their own losses and waste and also as key places to
raise awareness of consumers, to experiment and to understand consumer behaviour. Liu (2014)
found that in China most of consumer food waste is in the catering and restaurant sector.To reduce
FLW in food services and catering businesses, a first step is to measure and track the amount, type of
and the reason for FLW. This can serve as a basis to establish a waste reduction strategy in individual
businesses. For instance a guide to reduce FLW in the hospitality sector has been developed in
Catalunya (Spain) detailing practical measures, from stock management to menu design (Alícia/UAB,
2012).
The US Environmental Protection Agency has developed a Food Waste Assessment Tool,
21
in the
public domain, which consists of a series of spreadsheets that compute costs and benefits of waste
reduction options, such as source reduction, reuse of leftovers, use as animal feed, composting, etc. It
also computes associated savings in greenhouse gas emissions.
20
Institutions are understood here as institutional arrangements or governance, which is the space in which the actors
interact and build their strategies. In this sense, we can say that the markets as institutions are not given, but
constructed by social actors.
21
http://www.epa.gov/foodrecovery/tools/index.htm

63
More sophisticated systems can monitor all operations in the production of meals, photographing the
leftovers and weighing the quantities discarded. In the modern systems, it is possible to calculate the
cash values that were being lost by identifying the type of food being discarded and its weight, using a
scale attached to the computer.
There has been empirical evidence on the effectiveness of food waste prevention and mitigation
strategies focusing on prevention/behavioural change (see Box 11). Examples are most commonly
found in the canteens and catering sector. Quantified case studies include Getlinger et al. (1996) on
elementary schools; Li et al. (2003) on in-flight catering; McCaffree (2009), Thiagarajah and Getty
(2013) and Cohen et al. (2013) on comparisons of food service systems; and Whitehair (2013) on the
influence of written messages on catering customers’ behaviour.
The effectiveness of a single measure of reduction of food waste in the hospitality sector is always
difficult to assess, as FLW is influenced by many interlinked factors. Evidence shows that the best
option is to use a combination of business and consumer-oriented strategies. In Brazil and Portugal,
restaurants “a kilo”, where consumers only pay for what they take, as opposed to “all you can eat”
formulas, are a good example of bringing closer, for the consumer, the economic value of food and the
cost of waste (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2011). In a “pay by weight” restaurant, there is an economic
incentive for consumers “not to waste”, and to adjust the size of the meal to their real needs, not more,
as what gets wasted could have been saved in terms of meal cost, making “waste reduction”
behaviour a means to optimize meal costs. In Portugal many restaurants offer, along with the classical
menu, a menu with smaller portions at a smaller price.
3.1.5 Solutions for households
Consumer waste is often presented, as in some of the approaches mentioned in Chapter 1, as the
result of carelessness, and as easily avoidable. Detailed studies mentioned above in chapter 2 show a
much more complex picture. Most of the time, consumers are reluctant to discard food, which is why to
do so they wait until the expiry date, even when they know that they are not going to use the
remaining food (Evans, 2011a). They keep food remaining from a meal in the fridge, or the freezer,
before discarding it (HISPACOOP, 2012) even knowing that they will probably not use it.
Recent surveys in Spain (MAGRAMA, 2013) and Portugal (Baptista et al., 2012) have asked
consumers if the economic crisis has reduced their food waste. In Spain 41 percent responded that
they have done so and 13.7 percent that they reuse products, such as oil.
According to Baptista et al. (2012), which conducted open interviews, these changes seem to be
driven more by ethical considerations than by strict economic reasons. Researchers have mentioned
(Evans, 2011a) that the sole fact that there was research on FLW tends to reduce effective FLW in the
researched households.
In other words, consumers do not want to waste, they often feel guilty when doing so, and also most of
the time are not aware of the extent of their waste (see above). It first shows that, to a great extent,
FLW at household level are caused by behaviours that are often not directly identified as ultimately
causing FLW, and/or that are not easily modified, because they are part of much more complex
lifestyles. On the other hand, and precisely because consumers do not want to waste, raising
wareness on the extent of their own waste can be a very effective way to motivate change.
Box 11 An experience of tray-less catering in the United States of America
Researchers quantified the impact on plate waste of switching from a tray to a tray-less delivery system
in a university dining hall serving roughly 1 000 meals a day. Liquid and solid plate waste were
measured for one week with a tray system and again after introduction of a new tray-less system. Food
service staff were invited to participate in a focus group about the impact of the measure on their
working conditions. A significant 18 percent solid waste decrease per client was observed in the tray-
less system. A less significant 7 percent liquid waste reduction was observed. Most of the food service
staff preferred the tray-less system as long as it did reduce waste, but felt that it increased breakage of
dishware and increased the need to wipe down tables. This study demonstrates that tray-less dining
can reduce waste in plates, and that clients and staff can both be supportive of the change.
Source: Thiagarajah and Getty (2012)

64
Several studies (Quested et al., 2013) have detailed measures that consumers could implement to
reduce their own food waste. These include:
- Better planning of purchases to avoid buying more than is needed.
- Avoid impulsive or advance purchasing of food that is not required immediately.
- Better understanding of the distinction between “best before” and “use by” dates
(see Section 2.2.4).
- Better storage practices and stock management in the home.
- Better evaluation of the portions that need to be prepared.
- Better food preparation techniques, to avoid food being not eaten and food quality losses and
waste (FQLW and nutritional content decrease) due to the preparation method.
- Making full use of fruits and vegetables to extract all the nutritional benefits.
- Better knowledge on how to use the leftovers on other recipes instead of discarding.
3.2 Concerted and collective solutions to reduce FLW
Technical or behaviour-driven single actor solutions to reduce FLW often need, as we have seen, to
overcome a specific constraint in order to be implemented. These constraints are often found at meso-
level, as we have seen in Chapter 2, and they are de facto meso-causes of FLW.
As Table 2 shows, meso-level solutions can support investments, good practices and behavior
change, at each step of the chain. Two other important categories of meso-level solutions are linked to
improved coordination inside food chains and to the valorization of food and by-products.
Solutions to overcome these meso-constraints and fight these meso-causes are depicted in this
section, and grouped in ten main categories:
1. Adopt a food chain approach to FLW reduction actions (3.2.1).
2. Invest in infrastructures (3.2.2).
3. Invest in adapted cold chain developments (3.2.3).
4. Develop food processing (3.2.4).
5. Ensure proper capacity building, education, training and extension services (3.2.5).
6. Unleash the crucial role of women to reduce FLW (3.2.6).
7. Allow a role for corporate social responsibility (3.2.7).
8. Promote consumer behaviour change (3.2.8).
9. Give value to surplus “saved” food (3.2.9).
10. Valorize by-products, side streams and non-used food (3.2.10).
3.2.1 Adopt a food chain approach to FLW reduction actions
Food losses and waste progressively “cumulate” along the chain from production to consumption. To
reduce overall FLW for a produce, one needs to consider reductions all along the chain, adopting a
food chain approach, for three key reasons.
The first reason is that there are many causes of FLW that are linked to a lack of coordination in the
food chain (see Chapter 2).
A second reason, as also shown in Chapter 2, is that causes of losses can occur at a different stage
than where losses effectively appear. Behavioural or economic choices that seem rational at one
stage of the chain may lead to FLW when the rest of the food chain is considered.
Third, a key reason is that efforts at one step of the chain, for example to preserve the quality of the
produce early in the chain, can always be “lost” in successive stages. In Kenya, for instance, the
banana supply chain has been identified as a priority. Many initiatives to build capacity at farm level
have considerably improved post-harvest handling and the quality of produce leaving the farm. But
such good practices at early stages of the chain are not followed by traders who handle the produce in
large quantities and for long periods, take the highest risks of bulking, transporting, ripening and
selling in urban areas. Adopting a food chain perspective shows how important the need is to focus
capacity building on these traders (FAO, 2014c).

65
Box 12 Food chain approaches to minimize losses in the dairy sector in Kenya
Recent evolutions in the Kenyan dairy industry (FAO, 2014b) provide good examples of how the various
actors and dimensions need to interact along a supply chain to ensure quality. There is increasing
demand for dairy products in Kenya, leading buyers/processors to support backward linkages to secure
milk supplies from farmers and farmers groups. This also drives an increased formalization of the small-
scale sector.
In 2004 a package of measures was designed to formalize the participation of small milk traders. Rules
were published to allow licensing by the Kenya Dairy Board (KDB) of small-scale milk traders. Among
the requirements to get a bar licence is to have a system for milk cooling. Modules were developed for
training (milk handling, processing and marketing), with a good manufacturing practice (GMP) targeting
small-scale milk traders operating milk collection centres and processing plants. A code of hygienic
practice for the dairy industry was also developed to educate players along the value chain on the
requirements of hygienic milk handling practices. The Dairy Traders Association (DTA) of Kenya was
officially launched in September 2009. Its aims and activities included self-regulation based on training
and certification. Around 4 000 small-scale milk vendors, offering employment to over 10 000 people,
have since been trained, certified and licensed by the KDB through the association.
Several projects have been conducted, with the support of the World Bank (Eastern Africa Agricultural
Productivity Project), of the Bill and Melinda Gates Fundation (East African Dairy Development
Programme), of USAID (Kenya Dairy Sector Competitiveness Programme), and of IFAD (Smallholder
Dairy Commercialization Programme), to develop the sector. They generally combine measures to
support the organization of producers, bulking milk to facilitate marketing and benefit from economies of
scale, and include various measures to improve milk quality and reduce milk rejections.
The quality of the milk and risks of rejection are closely dependent on the details of the organization of
the collection. For instance, in the Mathira Dairy Farmers’ Society, milking is done at 04.30 hours,
collection starts at 05.00, with each vehicle having a daily route of 3 to 4 hours. For each vehicle there is
a controller who weighs the milk and tests its quality with a lactometer and occasionally an alcohol test.
Evening milk is tested and bulked separately.
Source: FAO (2014b)
For many products where risks of microbial contamination are important, ensuring quality and food
safety and minimizing FLW require actions all along the chain. Milk is a good example (see Box 12) as
it is a very perishable product, subject to microbial contamination, and its quality is thus very
susceptible to all operations along the supply chain. In addition, low quality milk can quickly
contaminate a whole bulk and thus lead to its total rejection.
3.2.2 Invest in infrastructure
As mentioned above, reducing FLW often involves improving infrastructure, particularly transport,
energy and market facilities. This requires government action, often with the involvement of local
authorities and also of the private sector. For instance, the Government of the United Republic of
Tanzania project (MIVARF) is investing in market infrastructure, roads, value addition centres (packing
houses and food processing) and rural finance.
Agro-logistics concerns all activities in the supply chain to match product supply from the farm with
market demand for those products (van der Vorst and Snels, 2014). It aims at getting the right product,
at the right place, at the right time, according to the right specifications (including quality and
sustainability requirements), at the lowest cost. Actors in these types of chains understand that original
good quality products might be subject to quality decay because of an inconsiderate action of another
actor. It is therefore a way for coordinated action to reduce FLW along the supply chain.
Building proper infrastructure, notably storage infrastructure, is another way to fight FLW at collective
level.
Collective storage, which can include the mutualization of risks of post-harvest losses, is also a
solution. Its effectiveness depends on the local institutional context, such as existence of local
institutions, cooperatives or producers’ organizations. In China, over 50 percent of grain is stored by
farm households, 25 percent by commercial enterprises and 25 percent by local and central
governments with high losses in farm storage and low in public ones, close to the developed countries’
level (Liu, 2014).

66
Box 13 Warrant experiment in China: a financial innovation to reduce post-harvest loss
A survey by the State Grain Bureau of China in 2009 showed that the average loss of grains stored by rural
households reached more than 8 percent. The loss was mainly due to the poor storage infrastructure.
Among various efforts to reduce post-harvest loss, one noteworthy effort is the experiment of warrants
(also called “food bank” in China). It is a quasi-financial arrangement that allows farmers to “save” grains in
a grain-trading company and farmers have the ownership of the grain while the company has the use right.
Then the company earns profits by trading grains and part of that profit is returned to farmers as “interest”.
An experiment of warrant was initiated in the 1980s in Guangrao County in Shandong Province. The
Guangrao County Court started a business called liangdaiyihuan in which the Court would preserve,
process and exchange grains for the farmers. In 2007, the first official “food bank” was set up in Taicang
County in Jiangsu Province. This system brings drying, processing and storage facilities for farming
households, reducing losses.
The system has expanded in recent years. Major grain production provinces such as Heilongjiang, Henan,
Sichuan and Hubei have all started the experiments. In 2011, Taicang County in Jiangsu Province
estimated that warrants led to saving 3 900 tonnes of grains for the county every year.
However, such an expansion is facing challenges. For example, in Changle County in Shandong, more
than 90 percent of warrants suffered a loss due to the large fluctuation in grain prices. The National
Development and Reform Commission has attempted to advocate for the initiative as a new arrangement
to preserve grains and increase flexibility in the agricultural food market. However, due to the experimental
nature of the system, many legal and financial issues remain and are not clarified.
Source: http://www.ebdoing.com/Html/News26.htm; Liu and He (2012).
Collective storage can be coupled with “warrant” systems, which also brings the advantage of
providing credit to the farmer.
In China, in the past three decades, efforts to reduce food losses have historically been carried out
mainly through government food storage. In recent years, an experiment was launched for farmers’
grain storage with a food bank (see Box 13) and storage infrastructure. This subsidy programme was
piloted in three major grain production provinces in 2007 and is planned to expand to 24 provinces in
2016. The programme is targeted to cover eight million farmers and an estimated 5.5 million tonnes of
farmers’ grain storage. It is accompanied by the Development Plan for the Vegetables Industry by the
National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Agriculture, which plans to reduce
post-harvest losses of vegetables significantly in 2011–2020.
In Kenya, several initiatives are promoting and supporting collective storage of maize, including
Purchase for Progress (P4P) a programme of the World Food Programme.
3.2.3 Invest in adapted cold chain developments
Often the efficiency of FLW reduction depends on broader interventions involving private actors all
along the food chain and/or public actors. This is particularly the case when the main solutions reside
in improvement of logistics. Cold chain management in perishable foods supply chains offers a very
good example of potential solutions and what is needed to implement them.
A cold chain refers to an uninterrupted series of activities that maintain a given temperature range
from the production point to the consumer. Effective cold chain management starts with pre-cooling,
cold storage, refrigerated transport and refrigerated display during marketing. The International
Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) calculated that 23 percent of perishable foods are lost in developing
countries due to the lack of use of refrigeration (IIR, 2009).
Strategies to invest in cold chain development could also start with interventions by governments and
development partners to improve the cold chain infrastructure in developing countries, as the example
of India shows (see Box 14).
Such interventions can target for instance the introduction of collective cold-storage facilities. In
Kenya, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), working with the Horticultural Crops
Development Authority (HCDA), introduced conventional cold rooms in strategic locations to cater to
smallholder farmers almost ten years ago.

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Box 14 Cold chain intervention in India
The Government of India, on the basis of various industry recommendations, established an
autonomous body, the National Centre for Cold Chain Development (NCCD), in July 2012, to promote
and develop integrated cold chains in India for perishable agriculture and horticulture produce. The
main objectives of the Centre are to recommend standards and protocols for cold chain infrastructure,
suggest guidelines for human resource development and to recommend an appropriate policy
framework for development of the cold chain. NCCD is intended to serve as the nodal agency for India’s
cold chain development, the centrepiece for all future support interventions in this sector. As the nodal
body, the NCCD is to recommend policy interventions, take on capacity building and skill-development
initiatives, recommend standards and certifications and basically act as guide and mentor to the cold
chain industry. In addition, the Government also constituted a Committee on Supply Chain and Logistics
(focusing on post-harvest marketing).
The National Horticultural Board, an autonomous society under the Department of Agriculture and
Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, has taken a big step in creating technical
standards for cold chain projects. Government agencies such as the National Horticultural Board, the
National Horticultural Mission and the Ministry of Food Processing Industries offer financial incentives
for the new projects as well as for expansion of existing units. However, these projects have to be,
essentially, based on modern and efficient technology in tune with the technical standards.
Source: http://www.nccd.gov.in
These facilities have often mainly benefited intermediaries and brokers rather than the intended target
users (smallholder farmers). Another initiative seeking to support smallholder farmers in groups is the
promotion of devices allowing the use of standard air conditioning equipment to reach colder
temperature by overriding their frost control mechanism. This technology has been widely adopted in
India, the United States of America and Bangladesh and is on a pilot scale in Kenya, the United
Republic of Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda.
In Tunisia the development of the cold chain is part of the food security strategy, along with improving
controls and harmonization of food safety and quality towards international standards. It is supported
by a national plan for cold, with incentives to investments. This strategy has enabled to increase by
65 percent in 10 years the cold storage capacity, which is completed by 3000 refrigerated vehicles and
1500 isotherm vehicles. 70 percent of it is dedicated to fruits and vegetables, mainly for export.
87 percent of this storage capacity is managed by the private sector. Tunisia is now also developing
solar cooling. However this dynamic development of cold chains encounters some challenges: under -
utilization of some of the capacity because of the seasonality of the production, uneven territorial
distribution of the capacity and lack of trained technicians, with an important differentiation between
export and national oriented structures (FAO & IIF, 2014).
3.2.4 Develop food processing
Food processing can be defined as the transformation of raw ingredients and intermediates into
products intended for human consumption, with the purpose of improving digestibility, bio-availability
of nutrients and energy, taste, appearance, safety, storability and distribution. It is an effective way to
stabilize and conserve perishable products. Preservation processes, such as canning, pasteurization
and sterilization, and packaging technologies, contribute to increasing the shelf-life of products,
thereby reducing losses and waste in the chain (Langelaan et al., 2013).
In some developing countries, there have been efforts to promote fruit and vegetable processing into
dried/dehydrated products, juices, concentrates, jams and purees as a measure to reduce post-
harvest losses, especially during the high season or a bumper harvest (See also Box 18 in
Section 3.2.5).
Developing food processing necessitates developing appropriate processing technologies and
infrastructure, in a concerted food chain approach (as for example in atmosphere packaging, see
Box 15). It needs improved access to and knowledge about various technologies along food chains
(FAO, 2013d).

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Box 15 Modified atmosphere packaging in the fresh meat supply chain
In the past decade, a major transition evolved in the Dutch fresh meat industry with ramifications for the
entire meat business. In 1995, more than 95 percent of all fresh meat products for consumers were either
sold loose or packed on a white styrofoam tray with stretch wrap. Almost a decade later, about half of the
meat industry has adopted the modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) technology. Strikingly, the first
trials with this technology had already been conducted in the Netherlands in 1964, but it took four
decades for the technology to conquer the Dutch meat industry. The technique diminished the product
losses in fresh meat sales.
Source: Thoden van Velzen and Linnemann (2007).
Investment in food processing infrastructure, including packaging, can further be seen as a huge
opportunity to contribute to improved situations of food security, especially in sustainable ways to fulfil
the growing demands of metropolitan areas.
Strategies for development of a food processing sector could be based on insight into the market
demands and forecasts, bottlenecks that need to be overcome, and an analysis of the sector
characteristics. Combining these sector and market insights with supply chain structure information
would identify market potential, this being an important driver for the development of business cases
and getting the involvement of investment, technology suppliers, institutions and entrepreneurs. An
example of such an approach is the study on food processing and business opportunities in Ethiopia
to identify possible interventions that might increase the processing and preservation of food at all
levels, by looking at the current market and its bottlenecks (Soethoudt et al., 2013). This would
indicate that structural investments in food processing infrastructure in developing countries can only
succeed if, besides the technological challenges, the crucial appropriate links and actions at meso-
and macro-level are in place.
3.2.5 Ensure proper capacity building, education, training and extension
services
Capacity development in the form of education, training and extension services for farmers and all
actors along the food chain is a key tool for reducing food losses and waste. There is a need for
capacity development at all stages of the food chain. It includes improvement of production practices
through information sharing at community level and farmer field schools. Programmes should be
designed and implemented to develop capacity in food chain improvement, value addition, packaging,
HACCP systems, quality and safety, good practices, sorting and grading, transportation, traceability
and storage.
These topics could be integrated in dedicated academic programmes on post-harvest issues (FAO,
2013d). For instance, the AVRDC
22
Postharvest Training and Services Center (PTSC) in Tanzania
offers a locally suitable menu of postharvest technologies and marketing options for farmers, traders,
processors and marketers.
A crucial element is to increase capacity in specialized human resources for operating, maintaining
and repairing machinery as well as for drivers and workers on the logistics chain for appropriate
product handling. Such actions could build upon experiences and good practices of other sectors and
countries.
Capacity building can take diverse forms (see Box 16). There is a need to develop formal and informal
institutions which reach all actors, particularly small-scale. This also involves training of trainers (see
Box 17).
Access to knowledge has been identified as a key area (FAO, 2013d), where networks could stimulate
the sharing of knowledge competencies, innovations and good practices (see Box 18).
22
www.avrdc.org

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Box 16 Capacity building initiatives for food loss prevention in Latin America
The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), by means of survey, identified high
level of discards in important products for domestic consumption, as high as 40 percent in potatoes in
the Andean region and 35 percent in vegetables in Haiti. There are also high losses for export crops
such as bananas in Ecuador or pumpkin in the Caribbean countries. Lack of cold chain devices,
inappropriate handling and packaging, and lack of market and climate information for producers making
them take wrong decisions about what, where and when to plant were identified as main causes.
Investments in training, equipment and market information were identified as solutions. The IICA
initiative brings partnership agreements between American universities and local organizations and the
possibility of bringing international donations for these projects (IICA, 2013).
On the other hand, from the same diagnosis but following a bottom up approach, the root organizations
in Latin America are boosting the exchange of information among producers. Movements such as the
Campesino a Campesino (CaC) or Farmer-to-Farmer Programme promote the technical exchanges
between producers and farmer's visits and training. The CaC uses the ancestral knowledge of the
farmers producing immediate results in the application of simple technologies (IFAD, 2010). Likewise
and with the same philosophy, the peasants’ knowledge transmission is supported and disseminated by
international organizations such as the Food First Institute. Other important organizations such as La
Via Campesina and Action Aid are supporting similar initiatives.
Source: IICA (2013), IFAD (2010)
Box 17 Training of trainers in post-harvest handling of perishables
The Postharvest Education Foundation (PEF) is a private sector initiative and a non-profit organization
training young people in developing countries on various aspects of post-harvest handling of perishable
commodities including fruits, vegetables and root crops. It trains groups of diverse stakeholders in
various aspects of post-harvest handling. Some of the topics addressed include when to harvest, how to
keep foods safe to eat, how to clean, pack and store fresh foods, how to process perishable foods into
products with longer shelf life. Through the training, trainees are empowered to tackle the post-harvest
issues in their own countries, by working directly with farmers, food traders and marketers, and
providing information, demonstrations and education in their own local languages. Since 2011, the PEF
has provided long-term, intensive training, covering trainees from 17 different countries (referred to as
master trainers). Those have in turn organized training in their respective countries to pass on the
acquired knowledge and skills. The training approach includes a written training manual (Kitinoja and
Kader, 2003) and fieldwork assignments to make sure the trainees gain practical, hands-on experience.
Source: www.postharvest.org
Box 18 Sharing knowledge and competencies on post-harvest losses: the project of a
network of excellence
The initiative of a Network of Excellence on postharvest food losses (NoE) is a Dutch-led public-private
cooperation project aiming to develop and apply knowledge on post-harvest issues for perishable food
products in emerging and developing countries, in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The overall objective
is to reduce losses in the food supply chain and improve overall performance in these chains. Expected
missions of the NoE are: improving access to knowledge on various post-harvest issues and supply
chain efficiency for chain actors and stakeholders in the targeted countries; capitalizing on public and
private organizational experiences in these countries; joint consideration on post-harvest development
and food loss reduction; a demand-driven approach to initiate actions upon articulated post-harvest
questions from chain actors; and linking with networks active in developing markets, including
knowledge institutes, extension service providers, chain actors and NGOs. Building a network of
capacities with regional applied research institutions and sharing of frameworks, toolboxes,
methodologies and best practices is an important activity.
Source: van Gogh et al. (2013).

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3.2.6 Unleash the crucial role of women to reduce FLW
In most rural communities, women constitute two-thirds of the agricultural labour force and up to 80
percent of the total food production work force (see e.g. Humera et al., 2009 for case studies in
Pakistan).
Women play a key role in post-harvest handling, mainly drying, threshing, dehusking, shelling,
grading, cleaning, initial processing and storage of food grains (e.g. Sidhu, 2007). These are drudgery-
prone tasks and it is recorded that high losses occur during these post-harvest activities.
Apart from the grain crops, women in many developing countries are responsible for growing and
processing highly perishable crops such as fruits, vegetables and tubers. They are also the ones
charged with preservation and storage of foods such as milk, meat and fish.
Despite the key role they play from production to food processing, women in developing countries
experience barriers in the post-harvest handling practices. Most of them lack knowledge of and access
to good processing practices and efficient processing tools. Additionally, they are often excluded from
training opportunities because most producer organizations, through which such capacity-building
efforts are conducted, are dominated by men. As a result, women farmers end up with inferior
processed products that cannot meet market standards and are therefore discarded or sold to
alternative markets for lower prices.
There are initiatives from government and development partners in developing countries to improve
the livelihoods of women farmers through value addition and marketing of perishables food crops such
as fruits and vegetables. These initiatives have two-pronged benefits – economic empowerment of
rural women and reduction of post-harvest losses in the perishable commodities.
In Kenya, initiatives by GIZ and the Ministry of Agriculture have seen farmers (especially women)
trained in solar drying of fruits and vegetables, as well as in making products such as juices, pulp,
jams and chutneys (see Box 19).
Box 19 In Kenya Ukambani women reaping profits by processing fruits
Mango is one of the major fruits produced in the Eastern Province of Kenya. The mango season in this
province is from December to March. During this peak season, there is a glut and limited market for the
fruits leading to high losses. The farmers sell four mangoes at 10 shillings (USD0.1) to traders who
transport them to urban markets and sell at 20 shillings (USD0.25) a piece. The Arid Lands Resource
Management Project (ALRMP), in collaboration with the European Union, has developed an initiative to
add value to products seen to have low value in the area. The initiative was meant to empower women
and the community to maximize profits and reduce the losses by processing the fruits. The fruit growers
have realized that mangoes and paw paws, which used to rot in farms, would not go to waste again.
A local non-governmental organization, Kithethesyo Women Self Help Group, in Migwani division
benefitted from the initiative and ALRMP provided training and advanced 315 000 shillings (USD4 200)
to the 40 members women group to buy a fruit processor.
The initiative was a turning point for the women’s group. “The machine can squeeze 100 litres of juice
from mangoes and paw paw jam in less than an hour”, said the group chairlady, Phoebe Kasee. She
explained that the juice was then blended with preservatives, hot water and citric acid to produce a rich
and tantalizing natural juice that can compete with other products in the market. “The shelf-life of
mango juice is 18 months while that of the paw paw jam is 36 months”, said Kasee. She acknowledged
that the members have greatly improved their income as mango juice goes at 80 shillings (USD1) per
litre while the same quantity of pawpaw jam sells at between 120 and 150 shillings (USD1–2).
“I personally have been able to build a decent house and educate my children from the juice products”,
said Kasee, asserting that in the past it was difficult for one to get 2 000 shillings (about USD30) from
their harvest of mango and pawpaw.
Source: www.coastweek.com. Publication date 5/3/2010.

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3.2.7 Give a role to corporate social responsibility
The increasing inclusion in annual corporate businesses reports of a section detailing the
environmental and social impacts of their activities could lead to more sustainable food systems and
less FLW.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) approaches can guide investment decisions by stakeholders and
stock markets, favouring the market value of companies classified as "green". Businesses positioned
as "chain coordinator" could, in adopting FLW targets, play a particular role in FLW reduction,
potentially extrapolating national boundaries.
With respect to FLW reduction, businesses can commit to further transparence (see Box 20) and
report (i) on monitoring on food losses and waste in their activities; (ii) on reducing food losses and
waste in their activities; and (iii) support activities that lead to reduction of FLW elsewhere, with their
suppliers, at consumer level or elsewhere.
In Argentina, the CANALE group is supporting a programme to promote sustainable food consumption
through training programmes in more than 90 schools. In three years, 2 000 children and 100 teachers
have been trained. The firm MONDELEZ, with the Argentinian Red Cross, conducts a programme for
redistribution of fresh fruits and vegetables fit for consumption but with cosmetic imperfections that
make them unmarketable. From 2009 to 2012 the programme has distributed over 3.6 million tonnes
of fresh fruits and vegetables to more than 230 000 people.
Box 20 Transparency and actions of retailers on food losses and waste reduction
In October 2013, Tesco, a main retailer in the United Kingdom, announced that it would publish figures
about food losses and waste within its own operations and in the total supply chain. The transparency
about figures is considered to be an important step forward. Other United Kingdom retailers have been
under pressure to act after Tesco admitted it generated 28 500 tonnes of food losses and waste at its
stores and distribution centres in the first six months of 2012 alone. In response, the retail industry
organization, the British Retail Consortium (BRC), announced in January 2014 that the big four
supermarkets, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, as well as Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and the Co-
op, will release regular updates on the amount of food lost or wasted in their stores. The first data will be
published early in 2015.
In the Netherlands, since 2011 the largest retailer, Ahold, publishes data on food lost or waste in its
Corporate Social Responsibility report. In 2012, the volume of food loss and waste was between 1 and 2
percent of total food sales, with fresh food loss and waste between 2 and 3 percent and dry food loss and
waste between 0 and 1 percent.
Source: Tesco (2014).
3.2.8 Promote consumer behaviour change
Consumer research studies have shown that consumers are largely unaware of the levels of food
waste generated. Raising awareness on the amount of household FLW and its cost is a first step.
Consumer behaviour is identified as being complex, inter-linked and self-reinforcing where self-
awareness can be a powerful trigger to alter behavioural outcomes (Bond et al., 2013).
There are two main ways of reducing the amount of FLW at home, by influencing people's action or by
making changes in the food that is sold, for instance changing packaging or extending shelf life
(Quested et al., 2013).

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Reducing developed-country consumer food waste is particularly challenging, as it is so closely linked
to individual behaviour and cultural attitudes towards food. Waste may be reduced by alerting
consumers to the scale of the issue as well as to domestic strategies for reducing food discards.
Advocacy, education and possibly legislation may also reduce discards and waste in the food service
and retail sectors. Nudging is considered as a potential tool to influence consumer choice in an
effective way in complex behavioural challenges and literally means giving someone a push (a nudge)
in the right direction. Nudges stimulate a specific product or behaviour choice in a non-coercive way by
making changes to the surroundings in which choices are made. Currently, evidence gaps exist
around how to nurture a social environment where consumers are nudged towards sustainable and
healthy food choice (Bond et al., 2013). Some current FLW reduction initiatives (see Section 3.3.3)
broadly adopt these approaches, such as the Love Food Hate Waste campaign in West London, or
the Food Battle initiative in the Netherlands.
The importance of reducing food waste, the factors affecting consumer food waste worldwide, and
related actor-level solutions (see Section 3.1.5) will often require promotion among consumers,
communication and awareness raising. Retailers, because of their proximity to consumers, can also
play an important role in helping consumers reduce FLW and in promoting sustainable consumption.
For instance, in 2012, retailers and retail associations across Europe signed a voluntary agreement to
engage in awareness-raising initiatives on consumer waste reduction (Eurocommerce, 2013). Press,
Web and television programmes – such as cooking programmes – can be useful media for this,
among others. Training programmes can teach how to take advantage of leftovers, or of stems of
vegetables and fruit peels for the preparation of sauces, spices and juices (see Box 21).
Other solutions will rely on the introduction of technical options for consumers, such as better, smart
packaging, or the introduction or development of the “doggy bag” practice in restaurants.
Reducing consumer waste could require government interventions and the support and cooperation of
the food industry itself, such as improving the clarity of food date labelling and advice on food storage,
or ensuring that an appropriate range of pack or portion sizes is available that meets the needs of
different households (Parfitt, Barthel and Macnaughton, 2010; Kessova, 2013).
Finally, the reduction of consumer waste can give way to reallocation of spendings on food. For
instance, as evidenced in the United Kingdom (WRAP, 2014), consumers spent a share of the FLW
reduction-related savings on food expenditures by “trading up” to higher-value foods. There is
therefore a way to associate retailers and producers in supporting consumer food waste reduction
while maintaining the levels of sales.
Box 21 Cozinha Brasil (Kitchen Brazil): making the most of the whole of fruits and
vegetables and of their nutritional properties
An initiative that deserves attention and that is being supported by FAO is a programme developed by
SESI – an organization that gathers the Brazilian industry stakeholders, named Cozinha Brasil (Kitchen
Brazil). The purpose of this programme is to teach notions of the full use of the food to poor families in
Brazil and also to cooks in workers' and students' cafeterias everywhere. Kitchen Brazil started its
activities in 2008 and has a fleet of 33 trucks equipped with experimental kitchens, nutritionists and a
classroom where free courses are given to the general public and to food and nutrition trainers and
educators. The trucks travel to isolated rural areas and poor neighbourhoods of large cities, and stay at
these locations for four or five days teaching recipes such as papaya juice with orange peel, pink risotto
(beet stems, stalks and peels of carrots), pizza with leftover rice, macaroni pie, banana pies making use
of banana skin, etc. Through exchange and training, Kitchen Brazil has implemented similar projects in
Uruguay, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mozambique.
Source: http://www.sesipr.org.br/cozinhabrasil
3.2.9 Give value to surplus “saved” food
As shown above, the standardization of the products offered to consumers is a major cause of FLW in
modern retailing systems. In traditional systems, products gradually lose their economic and exchange
value along with their quality, as defined in Chapter 1 by the FLWQ concept. They are generally still
sold or exchanged, but at gradually lower prices. For instance studies conducted by FAO in Kenya on
several products report different selling prices reflecting different levels of FQLW (FAO, 2014c). In
modern, standardized systems, products are rather defined as marketable or not. They “suddenly”

73
lose all their economic value when they are no more of the quality considered as marketable – which
is often not linked to their edibility – as illustrated by the confusion on date labelling. Products close to
date limit could be sold at a discount rate. However such a discount system is not viable if the store or
retail business model is based on emphasizing quality and freshness (Silvennoinen et al., 2012).
Alternative distribution systems can aim to give them a value. In the United States of America some
retailers sell such products at discounted prices (NRDC, 2013). In a survey in Spain (MAGRAMA,
2013), more than half of the consumers answered that they would be ready to buy such products.
Local markets can facilitate distribution of products with shorter shelf live or not respecting cosmetic
standards of big retailers.
Surplus food redistribution has been promoted as a way of reducing FLW. Past studies have focused
on the use of surplus food as if it were beyond the market mechanisms. This is challenged by recent
research, which highlights that the practices are never independent of their market attachment,
environmental and social relationships, inequalities in market powers along the redistribution chain,
property rights and other legal issues affecting the efficiency and fairness of the redistribution (see e.g.
Midgley, 2013)). .
In some cases, reducing FLW has obvious benefits when the effort to save is not too costly and the
use of saved food is easy, for instance when it can be saved for a later use.
In other cases, efforts to redistribute the saved food could pose new risks regarding food quality, cost
of transport and preservation, and potential impacts on local food prices. Redistribution of food
requires additional labor, storage, examining and monitoring. If the saved food is too scattered, hard to
identify the quality, or difficult to be transported to people in need, then the effort to save should be
carefully evaluated.
Food banking
Food banking emerged as non-governmental initiatives in the form of associations collecting food to
distribute it to people in need (Schneider, 2013a, b).
In traditional models of food banking, processors, wholesalers and supermarkets donate food that has
little commercial value (over-runs in production, excess supplies, past sell-by or stock that does not
move on the shelves), but is good and healthy for consumption. Many reasons can lead food chain
actors to donate food to a food bank. Producers can donate products that are ripe and ready for
harvesting, but whose market prices do not cover production costs. Processors can donate food that
has faced problems in packaging, labelling or suffering from cancellation orders from buyers.
Distribution and retail operators can donate food that is losing, or close to losing, its commercial value,
such as being too close to the expiring date, or rendered unmarketable such as bruised fruit and
vegetables. It can also donate surplus resulting from lower than foreseen sales.
Food bank models vary greatly between countries, notably in terms of the role and implication, the
case being, of public authorities in the design, support and regulation of the system. Depending on
local situations and history, food banks can be granted roles ranging from more traditional community
support, on the one hand, to more formalized contribution to social protection on the other hand.
These functions justify the involvement of public authorities, including to support and to provide
specific rules and incentives for food banks, also to ensure that free food gets distributed to those
really in need.
The good functioning of food banks requires a joint effort of food chain actors (to share information
about the existence of surplus food and to separate and transport this food to a common redistribution
point) and of the staff in the food banking association, very often working pro-bono. It also relies on the
voluntary involvement of other specialties that have a secondary role in the food chain, such as
logistics, information technology and legal services.
The role of national governments is essentially to guarantee an institutional environment that favours
donations, with respect to tax incentives (Aiello, Eneo and Muriana, 2014), and to encourage civil
responsibility. “Good Samaritan” laws (see Section 3.3.2) can also limit the liability of donating parties
and encourage donation of food. Public authorities can also play a role in the regulation of such
systems, for example to ensure that they are managed in a way that prevents free food re-entering the
market. More recently, examples of privatization and government subsidization (direct and indirect) of
food banks have emerged, for example in South Africa.
Food banking can help to raise awareness on FLW and hunger (Segrè, 2013) and demonstrates how
individual and corporate social responsibility can help reduce FLW and contribute to food security and

74
nutrition of people in need. Food banks do not act on the causes of FLW in retailing, or on the root
causes of hunger. They do not aim to provide solutions for the many problems encountered in the
retail sector, such as retailers passing costs of the system to suppliers and consumers, or retailers
being reluctant to dismiss practices leading to propose excess food in the stores with respect to real
consumer demand (Riches and Silvasti, 2014). In providing a means to give to edible food a value that
would have been lost, food banks serve as a “second best” solution in a context where there are
substantial losses of edible food in retail, together with populations unable to afford their food.
The large extent of food banks and their importance in terms of access to food for large segments of
the population in some countries – such as in the United States of America, “Feeding America”
supporting 37 million people, and in Europe 5.2 million people reached by the European federation of
food banks (Schneider, 2013a, b) – give to food banks de facto a social protection role, supported by
retailers and consumers, often with public contribution, leading to improved food security while
promoting reduction of FLW. This highlights the importance of good governance of food banks. The
interest and support by public regulation and public authorities testifies the role that food banks can
play, if properly managed and governed, to contribute to food security, in providing food for people in
need and in reducing FLW.
3.2.10 Valorize by-products, side streams and non-used food
Within the food processing sector, substantial parts of the raw materials that enter the factory are
ultimately traded as by-products. Utilization of these streams for food would require alternative (and
generally technically more complex) processing to the chains’ primary product.
Hence, a large part of these side streams is only poorly valorized: for animal feed, technical
applications and fertilizer production (through composting).
The production of fresh fruits, vegetables and root cuts involves numerous phases: pre-cooling,
washing and disinfection, peeling, trimming, deseeding, cutting to specific sizes, sorting defects,
dipping, drying, storage, packaging, labelling and distribution (James and Nagramsak, 2011).
Industrialization of these stages can create opportunities for better valorization of by-product
production of juices and jams (Verghese et al., 2013), as feed, for bioenergy production and/or
compost, especially when localized in rural areas. In such cases, it can also reduce costs of transport
and reduce urban waste.
The livestock sector could use more of the industrial and catering reflux of foods which cannot be
redirected to human consumption through redistribution and food banks, provided they do not present
any health risk when used as feed. Such foods include for instance bread, broken biscuits, and
products safe to eat but with an appearance default, incorrectly packed products (wrong filling,
damaged package) and food leftovers of big events. The success depends on a number of practices,
processes and policy parameters, such as safety, traceability, clear legal status of materials and
operators, and cost.
23
Technical innovations can enable to valorize co-products and side streams as food or feed (Box 22).
The development of closed-loop supply chain models (WEF, 2010, 2014) is another means to
coordinate all actors for concerted actions towards FLW reduction. In such models, losses or waste of
all forms are fed to the extent possible back into the value chain (such as packaging waste being re-
used). Food graded as lower quality for cosmetic reasons and food that is surplus to retailers or
manufacturers would be made available through alternative routes (as cheaper alternatives), while
food waste would be utilized as a by-product, e.g. in providing energy from waste using the
appropriate technology. Food waste side streams could also be used to feed insects having a potential
for nutritious feed or food (see Box 23).
Food-related waste (including edible and non-edible parts) represents an important proportion of total
waste. In rural areas, it can be used easily as feed or organic fertilizer, either directly or through
compost. In urban areas, it is often not valorized and constitutes an important part of waste, which is a
growing concern. Organic waste is also an important source of methane when sent to landfill. After
being sorted and treated, organic waste can be valorized and transformed into compost and methane
valorized as energy, both reducing the environmental impact of FLW, and with economic gains.
23
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/dgs_consultations/docs/ag/summary_ahac_05102012_en.pdf

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Figure 6 Schematic representation of agricultural production and destinations
Agricultural production can be directed to food and non-food uses. Non-food uses include feed, compost and
energy uses. The share of production intended to food can be divided in three components: the part consumed as
part of the diet; non edible parts are directed to feed, compost, energy or landfills; and FLW that often end-up in
landfills, but can also be directed to feed, compost or energy.
Box 22 Examples of side stream valorization
Rice bran utilization in india
India is a leading producer of rice and a large quantity of rice bran was produced in hullers and
traditional rice mills but the quality of rice bran produced was poor due to high fatty acids. The rice bran
produced was not pure and mixed with rice husk particles and was used mainly for boiler feeds and for
the soap-making industry. R&D work was carried out in national laboratories and other institutions to
stabilize the rice bran in order to recover valuable rice bran oil rich in antioxidants, which could be used
for edible purposes. The process of recovery of edible oil from rice bran is by solvent extraction process
and during this process a large number of valuable by-products are obtained. This has boosted the
value addition to rice bran utilization in the country and presently a major part of rice bran that is
produced in rice mills goes for extraction purposes. Edible grade rice bran oil is presently used as
cooking oil and also being marketed as ‘health oil’’ in combination with other edible oils.
Gelatin production in the Netherlands
Confidence in traditional sources of gelatin (among others bovine hides and bones) was seriously
damaged by the BSE breakout. The increase in gelatin prices has been a trailblazer for alternative
production processes. A successful example is the Dutch company Ten Kate Vetten; their production
process (primarily aiming at extracting fats from pig slaughter by-products) was innovated so that high-
quality gelatin can be isolated from their processing water. The (mild) fat extraction process furthermore
enabled valorization of other protein products in pet feed. The key success factor was the development of a
patented innovative process that enabled valorization of high-quality gelatin, while an external factor was
the market demand for gelatin from a safe source due to BSE breakout.
Protein recovery from the starch industry in the Netherlands
Recently, the Dutch potato starch processing company AVEBE started recovering proteins from what
was previously considered wastewater (in a new company called Solanic). Based on the average annual
throughput (2.5 million tonnes of potatoes, grown on 55 000 hectares, delivering 700 000 tonnes of
starch), the AVEBE/Solanic production potential is estimated at 25 to 30 000 tonnes of high-quality
potato proteins. This new, by-product-based source can replace 15 000 ha of protein crop cultivation
(average protein productivity is about 2 tonnes/hectares (Vereijken and Linnemann, 2006).
Other uses Non-edible FLW Consumed
DietDisposal
or landfill
EnergyCompostFeed
Production
Destinations

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Box 23 Transforming waste in nutritious food and feed: the potential of worms and
insects
Approximately 1 900 insect species are eaten worldwide, mainly in developing countries. They constitute
quality food and feed, have high feed conversion ratios, and low environmental impacts. Conversion of
organic refuse into compost by saprophages such as earthworms and microorganisms is a well-known
procedure. A number of insect species such as larvae of the black soldier fly, the common house fly and
certain mealworm species can be grown on organic side streams, reducing environmental contamination
and transforming waste into high-protein feed that can replace increasingly more expensive compound
feed ingredients, such as fish meal. Most of the experiments have been done on a laboratory scale.
Developing and standardizing mass-rearing techniques on an industrial scale could become a new
economic sector. However, there are still a number of challenges, both biotic and abiotic, that need to be
addressed, e.g., rearing, automation, and safety issues related to pathogens, heavy metals, and organic
pollutants.
Source: van Huis (2013).
3.3 Promoting and enabling individual and collective change
As we have seen in the previous sections, there are many causes of food losses and waste, from
different actors, at different levels. Some of the causes, as discussed in Section 3.1, may be solved by
technical, actor-level solutions. Some other solutions are found at meso-level and require collective
and concerted actions. But often, to concretize, these meso (and also the micro-level) solutions need
an enabling environment.
As we have seen, many of the causes of FLW – and therefore the appropriate solutions – are due to
behavioural or economic choices, which seem rational at one stage of the chain, but may lead to FLW
when the rest of the food chain is considered. For example, the decision of a farmer to plant a larger
field at the expense of not necessarily harvesting the whole of it depending on market conditions; the
decision of food chain agents to overbuy on food with respect to potential sales and their variability;
supermarkets needing to show a situation of abundance of products to attract clients, etc.
When considering FLW reduction, there is a need to find a “substitution” to the different “functions” that
the actions that end up in creating FLW in the first place “ensure” for the different actors.
There is also a need to consider some effects of food loss reductions on the food system at large. For
instance, FLW achieved in the initial stages of the production chain could lead to “indirect” effects on
the other stages, down to the consumer, and in a system as a whole. Some studies (Rutten, 2013;
Godfray et al., 2010) point out that the reduction of losses at production stage, in providing a greater
supply of food downstream, could simply raise the waste downstream in the food system, and that the
consumer – attracted by a greater offer of products and a possible drop in prices – would have access
to more food and be more likely to waste. In other words, without accompanying measures down the
chain, and in general a change of “mentality” there is no guarantee that FLW reduction at post-harvest
level will not translate into an increase of food waste at consumer level.
In this section, we show how macro-level solutions can help in tackling individual and collective causes
of food losses and waste, including individual and collective ones.
First there is a need to address the underlying economic behaviour fundamentals that may lead to
FLW, and to find out who wins and who loses from FLW reduction actions, in order to possibly share
costs, or address “winners and losers” constraints. This is explored in Section 3.3.1.
Second, proper promotion, support or incentives to FLW reduction can be crafted at policy level.
Policies can make use of incentives (including taxes), regulation and coordination of actions, as well
as providing overall directions or vision, and determine priorities among actions. Policy measures that
can impact FLW (or trigger FLW reductions) can take diverse forms and elements can be found in
diverse areas and policy sets, sometimes in other sectors. It can also take the form of dedicated FLW
policies. This is explored in Section 3.3.2.
Finally, as Section 3.3.3 will show, multistakeholder initiatives can play an important role to raise
awareness, advocate and bring all actors together to decide and implement FLW reduction actions
from national to international levels.

77
3.3.1 Consider costs and benefits to overcome “winners and losers”
constraints
The existence of FLW implies costs for various actors, from producers with foregone revenues, to
consumers with useless spending. Considering costs–benefits aspects is essential in order to
overcome “winners and losers” constraints to individual and collective action.
But the mere existence of a potential to reduce losses, and of technical solutions (technologies,
portfolio of measures), at individual and also at collective level, such as those presented in sections
3.1 and 3.2, is not enough to trigger their implementation. Actions to reduce FLW at different levels are
not free of cost. Also, when one compares a situation with food losses and waste with a situation with
less food lost or wasted, winners and losers may appear. Finally, FLW reduction impacts (and related
costs) propagate along the chain, with potentially positive effects for some and negative effects for
others.
As a consequence, when there is a solution or measure taken by any decision-maker to reduce FLW,
the costs and benefits are often borne not only by the decision-maker but also by other stakeholders
along the food chain and in other sectors related to the food markets.
Whether, for each actor, and for the society as a whole, the benefits of FLW reduction outweigh the
costs of the reduction measure are key questions.
From an economic point of view, when the marginal benefit of FLW reduction exceeds the marginal
cost of the measure, it might be optimal to just stay with the losses. As a result, there will always be a
certain amount of food loss and waste (Stuart, 2009), and we have also seen in Chapter 1 that
ensuring the “stability” dimension of food supply might lead to accepting a certain level of FLW.
What is the amount of food losses and waste, which is “optimal” from the point of view of society and
food security? Is there a point where FLW reduction measures prove too costly with respect to the
benefits? What actions, providing the best opportunities need to be pursued in priority? What are the
stages where the costs occur and what are those which benefit from the measure?
Answers to these questions, decisions on implementation of FLW solutions and set-up of FLW
reduction policies would deserve to be based on sound cost–benefit analysis, assessing impacts,
building scenarios and evaluating the situation of winners and losers, so as for example to ensure that
the right incentives or corrective measures are put in place. Models of impacts are very useful to
evaluate ex-post changes and transition to a new organizational or technological pattern (HLPE,
2013).
Several issues bring additional layers of complexities to any cost–benefit analysis on FLW:
1. Costs of actions (e.g. investments to reduce FLW, in harvesting, handling, storage, distributing,
marketing facilities, etc.), or costs induced by the FLW reductions may directly fall on certain
actors, or collectively on a subgroup of them, while corresponding benefits will bear on others. The
reduction might be profitable for some actors and for society as a whole, but how to ensure proper
incentives for action for those who are bearing most costs, and how to compensate for actors
negatively impacted by FLW reduction actions?
2. Actors along the food chain react and adjust their behaviour in response to the consequences of
FLW reduction.
24
For instance, market supply and conditions on the market may change. This
might modify the initial assumptions on costs and benefits. How exactly will producers, various
actors in the middle stream of the supply chain (e.g. processors and wholesalers) and
downstream, retailers and consumers, react? How to account for this in the reasoning?
3. Many of the benefits of FLW reductions are positive externalities (reduced pressure on the
environment, etc.). In the absence of a corresponding pricing system (integrating negative
externalities), how to account for those in the analysis, to be sure it is not distorted?
4. Social, cultural and health (food safety) constraints may limit the amount of FLW that actors may
actually reduce. How to account for those social, cultural and health costs and benefits of FLW
reduction?
24
See for instance Section 3.2.9 for factoring in consumer behaviour.

78
5. Costs and benefits are both uncertain, including those of actions at macro level, such as policy
interventions. How to account for uncertainty to calibrate the appropriate level of action?
6. FLW is not a single variable to optimize: it concerns various foods, involves various stages of the
supply chain, and potentially a wide range of measures at different stages and levels (micro,
meso, macro). The level of information and data ideally required is considerable, whereas
currently the information available is very limited and scarce.
7. Finally, there is a need to factor in the economic aspects of FQLW, as a loss in quality is often
linked to a loss of value of the produce; and as actions reducing FLW often also reduce FQLW
and thus increase the value of the product.
All these elements explain why cost–benefit analysis on food losses and waste is extremely
challenging. It explains why there are so few studies available, and mostly in the form of case studies
circumscribed to a specific product and technology and in a particular local context.
25
Those case
studies are point-based studies and do not document the important effect that “scaling up” might have
to lower the costs. And they are obviously not replicable to other very diverse regional and national
contexts. And they lack comprehensiveness, taking all measures, all products, all actors into account.
There have been some recent attempts to undertake comprehensive cost-benefit estimates at the
level of the United Kingdom in terms of real savings and in the EU for a FLW reduction scenario (see
Box 24), but results remain fragile. By extension, no global study is available.
Box 24 Impacts of FLW reduction along the chain: an economic modeling exercise.
Rutten et al. (2013) used a general equilibrium model to examine the likely impact of reducing food
waste by households and in retail in the EU. This builds on a simplified theoretical economic framework
of food losses and waste reduction and welfare impacts on producers and consumers. According to the
simulation, a reduction of consumer food waste by 40 percent – assuming this reduction is at zero-cost
– would result in household welfare increase and annual savings of €123 per person, or 7 percent of the
average EU-household budget spent on food. Non-food sectors would benefit from the reallocation of
saved household expenditures on food, and food sectors would lose. However, assumptions of a zero
cost of food waste reduction may lead the modelling to overestimate the real impacts.
These results have to be taken with caution as there are known limitations to the use of the currently
available portfolio of economic modelling tools (e.g. market simulation models, partial equilibrium model,
general equilibrium models) to perform such analyses: difficulties to appropriately capture changes in
the technology and in the behaviour of actors, failure to account for “physical” food fluxes along the food
chain, difficulty to account logistic and spatial issues, difficulty to tackle situations of imperfect
competition or existence of “big players” in a sector (HLPE, 2013).
The same lack of quantitative evidence holds for relationships between FLW and food prices, a key
food security variable, particularly important for the poor. These relationships can be quite complex,
and impacts go both ways.
First, the price of food is likely to impact FLW levels: the higher the price of food, the more care is
taken not to lose or waste food. Low food prices are a disincentive for farmers to produce and also a
disincentive for consumers to reduce waste.
Second, FLW levels can influence food prices by several mechanisms. At micro-level, initial
investments and unit costs of FLW reduction measures and investments can act to push prices up.
At macro-level, reduction of post-harvest losses can lead to increases in market supply of food and in
actors along the food chain being more resource efficient, which would result, everything else being
equal, in lower prices for both producers and consumers. In situations of imperfect or traditional
markets, often dominated by intermediaries, the food security benefit – through lower prices – of a
reduction of losses at production and distribution stages would not carry over all benefits to the
households, due to imperfect price transmission and eventually financial gains from the reduction in
losses could be concentrated in a few middle chain agents with no benefit for the final consumer
(Vavra and Goodwin, 2005). Lower prices in turn may also lead to consumers wasting more, creating
a negative “counter” feedback loop to FLW reduction.
25
At micro-level, only a few techniques and practices are documented in terms of cost, such as evaporative coolers to
extend the shelf life of food, plastic storage bags and small metal silos to reduce loss in storage, and plastic crates for
handling and storage (Lipinski et al., 2013).

79
The overall effects, relationships (and counter feedback loops) between FLW reduction and food
prices remain therefore largely undetermined and ultimately will depend on the balance between
technological, market and consumer behaviour factors, including product/food substitution issues both
at the farm and at the consumer level.
Ideally, analysis of FLW reduction measures should consider potential winners and losers in the whole
food system, whether or not the poor producers and consumers gain from FLW reduction. It should
also consider how FLW was used (e.g. used as feed for animals) or disposed of. It should finally
consider all the impacts of the proposed change to reduce FLW; see the example (Box 10) of change
of food containers in Brazil.
Given the uncertainties depicted above, one no-regret measure, prior to implementation, is to seek to
lower the costs of FLW reduction measures (or to increase their efficiency in terms of FLW reduction
levels). FLW reduction starts by providing information and knowledge on solutions. Providing
information and knowledge has its own costs, but lack of information and knowledge can increase the
cost of adopting measures, hinder the ability to access technology and other measures. Government,
public and private institutions could play important roles in providing immediate market and other
information affecting an individual’s decision-making.
3.3.2 Integrate FLW concerns in policies
Integrating FLW concerns in policies can take two ways, which are complementary: (i) integrate FLW
concerns in all policies which can have an impact on them; (ii) devise a specific FLW reduction policy
to address the interdependencies of actions that end up creating FLW.
Agriculture, the food chain and consumption are fields where numerous public policies interact:
policies directed to agricultural development, investments, support to various food system actors,
regulations of the food chain, fiscal policies, trade regulations, food safety and consumer protection
regulations, social protection and food security policies, and sustainable development policies and
environmental protection policies, just to cite the main ones. This broad spectrum varies in orientation
from country to country. Policies are also often key for data collection. We have seen (Section 2.2.3)
that there is still little consideration for impact on FLW of policies of diverse nature that shape or
regulate the food system. Conversely, when looking at country-level situations, integration of
considerations in diverse policies in order to reduce FLW is currently still limited. Finally, there are few
policies that are specifically aimed at fighting FLW.
In this section, we review the current state of policies that have an impact on FLW. We make a
particular case of waste policies, and of those policies (or component of policies) put in place to
prevent specifically food losses and waste.
Waste policies are the first having an immediate direct link to food losses and waste. In OECD
countries (OECD, 2014), existing legal frameworks with a FLW component are mostly focused on
waste management and environmental concerns in general, and aspects of prevention and improved
re-use of waste, all waste taken into account, the food parts within the waste being only one aspect of
the problem.
One of the roles of policies is to set priorities or to coordinate actions of various actors or sectors. One
of the important dimensions of such priorities is to give clear directions among the “competing” uses of
food left over. Many “food use hierarchies” have been developed in the literature.
26
In line with an
overall pattern of waste management, they all more or less follow the same structure, depicted in
Figure 7, which aims to: first, support FLW prevention; second, facilitate the distribution of still edible
but not marketable food such as by means of food banks or other institutions to that effect (see
Section 3.2.8); third, for what is left, use as animal feed; and fourth, use as compost and/or energy
(see Section 3.2.10), and using disposal in landfills as the least preferred option.
26
Such as the Food Waste Pyramid for London, presenting a hierarchy of approaches to tackle food waste, in order of
priority (http://www.feeding5k.org), or the food recovery hierarchy developed by the US Environmental Protection
Agency. Other examples are the Netherlands Ladder of Moerman, OVAM (Public Waste Agency of Flanders)’s food
waste hierarchy, Food Drink Europe’s food waste hierarchy. It prioritizes reduction at source and presents a list of
preference for use, re-use, recycling and waste treatment. The US-EPA and London hierarchy are both rough
simplifications of the flow of food residues, presented to make the communication to the public easier.

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Figure 7 A food-use-not-waste hierarchy to minimize FLW
Source: adapted from www.feeding5k.org
FLW as an element of waste policies
Waste policies often tend to apply to food the same “logic” as applied to all other waste in terms of
defining its objectives and the hierarchies of priorities. Though there are some subtleties across
countries, a general pattern can be found in the hierarchy of such waste policy objectives: (i) avoid
waste generation; (ii) manage waste as a resource; and (iii) ensure efficient, safe and environmentally
sound treatment, reuse, and, ultimately, if needed, disposal of waste (see Figure 7).
However, waste policies often do not explicitly deal with food. For instance, unspecified taxation of
general waste does not specifically provide an incentive to reduce food waste.
Some impact on FLW can be found in waste policies promoting waste separation, such as in Scotland
since 2014, which has imposed separation of food waste from other waste, enabling its valorization for
energy in anaerobic digesters and/or compost. These policies are generally associated with landfill
bans (such as in the Republic of Korea, Norway, Sweden) or landfill taxation for organic or
biodegradable waste (as in the United Kingdom).
The Republic of Korea has added concrete FLW measures and regulation to its waste policy. From
1995, the Government started to collect food waste separately from other municipal waste. In 1998,
the Food Waste-to-Resource Plan was established to reduce discharge of food waste by more than 10
percent and recycle as a resource more than 60 percent of the discharged food waste until 2002.
Landfill of food waste has been prohibited since 2005 (OECD, 2014). In 2010, the Master Plan for
Food Waste Reduction was put in place, a nationwide policy that introduced a volume-based food
waste fee system, charging residents according to the weight of food thrown away, with the official
goal to eventually reduce total national food waste by 20 percent, thereby cutting waste treatment
costs. This included investments in high-tech public waste bins, which open after household
identification through radio frequency identification cards (RFID) containing the user's name and
address. The bins give a numerical reading of the waste's weight and computes disposal cost, billed
monthly to households. According to the Korean Ministry of Environment, based on the monitoring of
Micro/meso/macro solutions
including redistribution of food to
feed people in need through charity
and food banks
Food not fit for human consumption
directed to animal feed
Food waste (including non-edible parts of
foods) used for composting, to produce
fertilizer or provide energy sources
To be used as least preferred option
FLW prevention
Food redistribution
Feed
Compost and
renewable energy
Disposal

81
the performance of the pilot RFID system from January to May in 2012, on average, food waste has
been reduced by 25 percent. The Government will scale up the RFID system and spread across the
country, with national funding to support local governments in the transition (OECD, 2014).
In Japan, a law for the promotion of Recycling and Related Activities for the Treatment of Cyclical
Food Resources aims at preventing food waste and at promoting recycling of food waste into animal
feed and fertilizers as well as energy recovery. This legislation stipulates a hierarchy for food waste
treatment: first reduction at source, then use for feed, then for heat recovery, and reduction in weight
by drying (OECD, 2014).
In Ireland, a Household Food Waste Regulation promotes the segregation and recovery of household
food waste, directing separated food waste to composting, and imposing obligations on waste
collectors as well as on households. Furthermore, through the Waste Management Regulations of
2009, the catering sector has obligations in terms of segregation and processing of food waste
(OECD, 2014).
One important characteristic of waste policies, such as the German example shows (Box 25), is their
decentralization: the overall framework and objectives are generally set at national level, but
management, funding and implementation is often operated under the responsibility of local authorities
and municipalities that oversee waste collection, management and recycling services.
Box 25 The German National Waste Reduction Programme of 2013
The German National Programme of 2013 (“Abfallvermeidungsprogramm des Bundes unter Beteiligung
der Länder”) to reduce waste recommends 32 measures to be initiated by many stakeholders: local
authorities, state governments, the federal government, public authorities and private firms. It has
specific food losses and waste components (measures 17 and 28), and a specific programme “Too
good for the bin” (“Zu gut für die Tonne”) highlighting the need for concerted actions all along the food
chain. The catalogue of measures includes research in the field of loss-reducing processes,
development of benchmark indicators, awareness campaigns and dissemination of information,
advisory services for enterprises, cooperation among enterprises to reduce loss and waste, voluntary
agreements between stakeholders and concerted actions between food industry and retailers.
Source: Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety
(http://www.bmub.bund.de).
FLW as an element of food policies: food labelling rules, food safety rules, food standards
rules, food redistribution policies and food subsidies
Given the lack of formal definitions or standardization across date labeling policies and practices (see
Section 2.2.4), and as the unreliable signal it can give to consumers is a worldwide issue, the Codex
Committee on Food Labelling, following a proposal by New Zealand, is currently considering the
possibility of revising its General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods to address issues
on date marking. The European Commission wants to help consumers cut food waste by making “best
before” and “use by” dates (see Section 2.1.4) clearer on the packaging and setting
clearer labelling rules for consumers, often misinterpreted due to the lack of understanding on the
distinction between the “best before” date (quality criteria) and the “use-by” date (safety issue).
Good design and implementation of food safety regulations and procedures can play an important part
in reducing food losses and waste at national and international level. In some countries, there is a
need to update and revise the existing legal framework regarding food quality and safety. Simplifying
regulations and procedures can be key. Regulations governing food standards are often lacking or
outdated. Good food control policy and institutions can support actors in implementing good practices
to reduce safety risks and improve quality. Increased reliability of food safety institutions and practices
at national and international levels can reduce control delays, increase the trust of all actors in the
quality and safety of food products, facilitate trade and reduce waste. Improving design and
implementation of intraregional trade regulations would reduce FLW due to delays, breaks of cold
chain or additional handling (FAO, 2013d).
In 2008, the European Commission approved the phasing out of regulations on marketing standards
on the size and shapes of fruit and vegetables (EC, 2008): it reduces the aesthetic requirements for
many fruits and vegetables, bringing more choice to consumers and preventing fruits and vegetables
with slight aesthetical abnormalities from being thrown away.

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At national level, food safety considerations can sometimes hinder donation of food, because donors
may fear being reliable for any consequence if the food ends up being unsafe or harms the
beneficiary. The United States of America and Italy have a “Good Samaritan” clause in food donation
acts. For instance, the 1996 US Good Samaritan Food Donation Act encourages the donation of food
to non-profit organizations for distribution to people in need. It protects the donor from liability should
the product donated in good faith end up harming the recipients, setting a floor for “gross negligence”
for voluntary and conscious misconduct.
Some authorities have incentivized the redistribution of food to people in need by integrating relevant
disposition in their fiscal policies. The EU allows its members to exempt from value added tax the food
donated for charitable purposes (VAT directive, Articles 16 and 74). In the United States of America,
where food redistribution is well developed, the Internal Revenue Code 170(e)(3) provides enhanced
tax deductions to businesses to encourage donations of fit and wholesome food to qualified non-profit
organizations serving the poor and needy. Qualified business taxpayers can deduct the cost to
produce the food and half the difference between the cost and full fair market value of the donated
food. The US Federal Food Donation Act of 2008 specifies procurement contract language
encouraging federal agencies and contractors of federal agencies to donate excess and otherwise
discarded wholesome food to eligible non-profit organizations to feed food-insecure people in the
United States.
Within food policies, particular attention has been given to FLW of subsidized bread, such as in Egypt
and Iran (World Bank, 2010; FAO, 2013d; Shahnoushi et al., 2013) and the way to reduce them by
fine-tuning the policy itself, and the related control and interventions, as the example of the reform of
the complex Baladi bread supply chain in Egypt shows (USDA, 2014).
Specific policies to prevent FLW
Some governments have started to define specific targets for FLW reduction: the United Kingdom
(2000), Republic of Korea (2008), Japan (Food Recycling Law in 2001), the Netherlands (2009),
France (2013), Spain (2013) and Austria (2012). Sweden has set a national target that half of the food
waste from households, shops and restaurants needs to be separated and treated biologically and
that 40 percent is handled for energy recovery (OECD, 2014).
“Specific” FLW reduction policies can use economic instruments: taxes for waste disposal and
treatment (landfill and incineration), pay-as-you-throw systems, producer responsibility schemes, or
“softer” measures such as communication and awareness raising, or the creation of dialogue platforms
among actors (see Section 3.3.2 for some examples).
They can also take the form of assisting the post-harvest sector. There are few examples of integrated
post-harvest losses reduction policies, pointing to this area as a major policy gap within agricultural
development. In China, several policies aiming to improve the efficiency of the agricultural sector
specifically address post-harvest losses, especially storage (Liu, 2014). Another example is the 2011
Rwanda National Post-Harvest Staple Crop Strategy and Action Plan, put in place to coordinate efforts
by several ministries and agencies to more effectively address issues of post-harvest staple crop loss.
The strategy
27
is a policy framework that assists with strengthening the harvesting, post-harvest
handling, trade, storage and marketing within staple crop value chains in Rwanda, in an effort to
improve markets and linkages for farmers, and reduce post-harvest losses. Its Strategic Axes of
Intervention include:
1. Information available for public and private sector decision-making.
2. Efficient and equitable transport systems across staple crop producing areas.
3. Reduce staple crop post-harvest losses at producer and first aggregator level.
4. Strengthen private enterprise in staple crop value chains.
5. Increase private sector post-harvest investment.
6. Enhance structured staple trade.
7. Transparent strategic grain reserve supporting food emergency needs and liberalized
markets.
FLW reduction policies, when they exist, are often part of broader strategies towards resource
efficiency, sustainable production and consumption, and the sustainability of food systems. In that
27
http://www.minagri.gov.rw/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/Publications/National%20Post%20Harvest%20Strategy%20-
%20Nov%2022.pdf

83
context, FLW targets are driven by other objectives such as the reduction of general waste in volume,
or resource efficiency (by analogy to the energy sector, “more with less”).
For instance, the European Commission (2011) has set a target to reduce FLW by 50 percent in 2020
as part of the flagship resource-efficient Europe, the initiative under the Europe 2020 Strategy (EC,
2011), which calls to “find new ways to reduce inputs, minimise waste, improve management of
resource stocks, change consumption patterns, optimise production processes, management and
business methods, and improve logistics", with an implementation “roadmap” highlighting the food
sector as a priority area for action, calling for “incentives for healthier and more sustainable production
and consumption of food and to halve the disposal of edible food waste in the EU by 2020". EU
Member States have been encouraged to include food waste prevention policies and targets in their
National Waste Prevention Programmes.
Another example is the recent Chinese circular issued in March 2014 by the General Office of the
Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council. According
to Vermeulen (2014) “The Chinese have a deep history and relation to food... (Food waste in
restaurants is, ironically, emblematic of the value placed on food – providing more than enough to
guests shows your respect to them). It also translates into the sincere actions by the state to reduce
waste” (Vermeulen, 2014). The circular targets ending dining waste of official events, promoting frugal
meals in all canteens, reducing government and public institutions’ spending on official and business
meals, particularly food banquets and receptions, pursuing healthy food consumption patterns,
enhancing efforts to reduce FLW in all stages along the food supply chain, advancing reutilization of
discarded food, intensifying awareness raising and education, speeding up the legalization process to
set up new laws and regulations against food losses and waste, and strengthening supervision and
inspection of FLW.
These FLW policies often focus only on some specific segments of the FLW problem (part of the food
chain, or level of solution), which makes them well targeted but not necessarily comprehensive.
Specific policies to prevent FLW are often combined with national multistakeholder initiatives (see next
section).
3.3.3 Mobilize all actors and consumers for awareness and action
There is a growing number of initiatives around the world that focus on reducing FLW, at national,
regional and local levels. In this section we list some of these initiatives, which are very diverse in
terms of scope, or also with regard to their multistakeholder character, or their relation to an existing
underlying policy framework: the ForMat project in Norway (see Box 26), the Sustainable Food
Alliance in the Netherlands (see Box 27), “More food, less waste” in Spain (MAGRAMA, 2013),
“National pact against food waste” France (MAAF, 2013), the US Food Waste Challenge, the UK
Courtauld Commitment at national level; at regional level with the FUSIONS research project in
Europe; and at global level with the SAVE FOOD initiative.
They generally gather public and private actors, in a multistakeholder setting, often with a significant
engagement of the private sector.
The US Food Waste Challenge, which was launched by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and
the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in June 2013, calls on entities across the food chain to
reduce food loss and waste in the United States of America, recover wholesome food for human
consumption and recycle discards to other uses including animal feed, composting and energy
generation. The goal of the US Food Waste Challenge is to lead a fundamental shift in how food and
food waste is managed in the country. To join the Challenge, participants list the activities they will
undertake to help reduce, recover or recycle food waste in their operations. The challenge includes a
goal of 400 partners by 2015 and 1 000 by 2020. The US Food Waste Challenge is bolstered by the
EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge, which offers participants access to data management software and
technical assistance to help them quantify and improve their sustainable food management practices.
Again in the United States, the Food Waste Reduction Alliance, established in 2011, brings together
30 business groups from the food industry, the food retail sector and the food service industry to
reduce the food waste generated, increase food donation and recycle and divert food waste from
landfills (OCED, 2014).

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Box 26 Collaborative project in Scandinavia
The ForMat project is a business-driven initiative to reduce FLW in Norway. It is funded by a combination
of private sector and state organizations working within the food and beverage industry, retailers and
suppliers and environmental protection organizations. A three-year project (2010–2013), the end goal is
to reduce food losses and waste by 25 percent by not only industry players, but end-consumers as well.
The ForMat project consists of four parts: (1) quantitative analysis; (2) network cooperation between
businesses in the food sector; (3) communication and dissemination; and (4) actions to reduce food
losses and waste.
The quantitative analyses were finalized in 2013. The data was collected using systematic uniform
methods in order to ensure the best possible comparability over time. The ForMat project is quite unique
in analysing trends in the development of food losses and waste over time. The project also
demonstrated how consumer behaviour and attitudes regarding food waste change over time, and how
this may help to reduce food waste in Norway (Hanssen and Møller, 2013).
A collaborative approach in Scandinavia is ongoing to reduce food losses and waste and is supported by
the Nordic Council of Ministers (Marthinsen et al., 2012; Stenmarck et al., 2011).
Box 27 Alliance for supply chain collaboration, joint strategy, action plans and R&D
The Sustainable Food Alliance was launched in 2012 as a partnering coalition to improve sustainability in
the Dutch agrifood chain. Members are the main organizations covering farm to fork: the Dutch
Federation of Agriculture and Horticulture, Dutch Food Industry Federation, Royal Dutch Hospitality
Industry, Dutch Federation of Catering Organisations and the Dutch Food Retail Association.
The Sustainable Food Alliance and the Ministry of Economic Affairs together developed the Sustainable
Food Agenda 2013–2016 (SFA, 2013). Reducing food losses and waste and optimizing waste streams is
a priority area, with the ambition to also contribute to the government objective to reduce FLW by 20
percent in 2015. The Alliance launched 2014 as the “year against food wastage”. The main activities
concentrate on the increase of consumer awareness, organization of a help desk for industry to optimize
waste streams, with the objective of supporting the transparency of the food chain by collecting reliable
data on FLW.
The collective retail and food industry sector invested in 2012–2017 in a pre-competitive research
programme to design and develop a decision support system (DSS) for integral cost–benefit analysis,
with the main goal of facilitating the implementation of business cases for solutions in supply chain
cooperation. The DSS will simulate the impacts and effects of solutions and interventions to reduce food
FLW for perishable products, such as salads, fresh meat, bread and dairy products.
Source: SFA (2013)
One successful example targeted at food and packaging waste is the Courtauld Commitment
28
in the
United Kingdom, one of the first initiatives on food waste, which started in 2005. It is a government-
funded voluntary agreement aimed at improving resource efficiency and reducing loss and waste
within the country’s grocery sector, including food and packaging. It supports the government’s policy
goal of a “zero waste economy” and climate change objectives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
WRAP, a UK not-for-profit company acting on waste, is responsible to work in partnership with leading
retailers, brand owners, manufacturers and suppliers who sign up, and to support the delivery of the
targets, among others, by helping manufacturers, the grocery sector and households to reduce FLW,
such as through improving packaging design and recycling. To estimate household waste, WRAP
uses household food waste data collected by local authorities and food waste composition studies.
Phase 1 (2005–2009) achieved a UK-level reduction of 13 percent of food related (including
packaging) waste,
29
from 8.3 million tonnes to an estimated 7.2 million tonnes. Phase 2 (2010–2012)
led to a further reduction of 10 percent of the impact of packaging, a reduction of 3.7 percent of food
waste at household level, and a reduction of 7.4 percent of losses in the supply chain. Phase 3 was
launched in 2013 and aims at a further 5 percent FLW reduction in households (and 3 percent in
grocery supply chains) by 2015. A range of factors explain this result: success of the Courtauld
28
Source: http://www.wrap.org.uk
29
These data include packaging and also “unavoidable” discards (inedible parts, such as meat bones, egg shells,
pineapple skin, tea bags, etc.); both do not enter in the definition of FLW used in this report. Waste of edible parts of
food was reduced by 18 percent. This shows that reducing FLW stricto sensu can lead to co-benefits in reduction in
packaging waste and also on discards of other, non-edible, parts of produce.

85
Commitment, but also increasing food prices, difficult economic conditions and changes to food waste
collection systems. Determining the extent to which each of the various factors have played a role is
extremely challenging. A quantitative modelling study by Parry (2013) examined the interplay between
macro factors such as food prices, economic conditions and the raising awareness on food waste,
suggesting that increasing food waste awareness (as measured using the proxy of media mentions)
accounted for between 29 and 40 percent of the observed reduction, with higher real food prices and
low growth in real incomes accounting for the rest.
In recent years, many countries and initiatives have focused on raising consumers’ awareness to the
importance of FLW reduction (see Section 3.2.9). We give a few examples of them in Box 28.
Other national-level multistakeholder initiatives have been launched in Japan, with a working team
composed of manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers to review and improve its business practices in
order to reduce food waste; in Spain, including retailers and food banks operators to facilitate reuse
and recycling of food (MAGRAMA, 2013); and in France to prepare the National pact to fight against
food waste (MAAF, 2013).
Box 28 Campaigns against food waste
China: “Empty Plate” Campaign – This campaign draws people’s attention to food waste. The campaign
was initially targeted on public food consumption and reception and banquets. Anecdotal evidence
suggests that since the start of the Campaign in January 2013, there has been a significant reduction in
restaurant food wastage. It includes mobilizing public media, national level and state-run TV station CCTV
as well as a number of TV stations at provincial level with a series of public advertisements against food
waste.
Republic of Korea: “Half-bowl” Campaign and a New Container – This campaign encourages people
to order half a bowl of rice to reduce food waste in restaurants. It was expected to reduce restaurant FLW
by 20 percent by the end of the year. Some companies invented a new kind of food container, which adds
an extra layer inside to exclude air and moist in order to slow down the rotting process.
Japan: Delivery Date Extension Experiment - Japan experimented on extending the delivery date to
reduce FLW. Customs in the Japanese food industries requires a “1/3 rule”, which says food products that
exceed one third of the expiration time cannot be delivered to retailers. Participating companies will extend
the food delivery date to half expiration time.
United Kingdom: Love Food Hate Waste - Following this campaign in West London avoidable food waste
decreased by 14 percent in just six months. The campaign and approach were developed using the “4 E’s”
behavioural change model: enabling people to make a change; encouraging action, engaging in the
community and exemplifying what’s being done by others. For households that reported they were aware of
the campaign and other food-waste messaging and claimed to be doing something different, the reduction in
avoidable food waste was 43 percent, a statistically significant change (WRAP, 2013).
Netherlands: FoodBattle - This initiative focused on tackling food waste in households. Recognizing that
information on its own is not enough, the concept encourages people to actually experience the amount of
food that is thrown away at home. This involved keeping a diary on how much food is wasted over a three-
week period, which is combined with practical tips and specific interventions. The role of social
environment (neighbours, societal groups, shopping locations, etc.) is a specific aspect of the FoodBattle
intervention. The first FoodBattle in the Netherlands resulted in participating households wasting 20
percent less food in a period of three weeks (Bos-Brouwers, 2013). The second FoodBattle in 2014
together with a national women’s organization Vrouwen van Nu resulted in a reduction of edible food waste
of 30 percent.
Denmark: Stop wasting food - This Danish NGO consumer movement against food waste is set up by
consumers for consumers. It seeks to increase public awareness by organizing campaigns, mobilizing
media, and encouraging discussion, debate and events of all kinds, all with the aim of decreasing FLW. It is
empowering consumers to take action and to take individual initiatives such as cooking leftovers, shopping
more wisely and distributing surplus food. It contributes to the Initiative Group Against Food Waste under
the Danish Minister for the Environment.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-21711928;
2
http://e-
jen.net/html/newpage.html?code=1;http://intl.ce.cn/sjjj/qy/201307/15/t20130715_566223.shtml;
http://www.stopspildafmad.dk/inenglish.html

86
At the regional level, in Europe, the Directorate-General SANCO has compiled up a database of
current EU FLW initiatives, at various levels, from individual businesses to multistakeholder
initiatives.
30
Among the latter, the “Every Crumb Counts” initiative involves on a voluntary basis,
businesses in the food supply chain, committing to work towards preventing edible food waste, and a
life-cycle approach to reducing FLW. Another major European initiative is the 2012–2016 EU research
project FUSIONS,
31
bringing together universities, knowledge institutes, consumer organizations and
businesses to improve the knowledge base, targeting improvements in FLW monitoring, social
innovative measures for optimized food use in the food chain and the development of guidelines for a
possible EU-wide FLW policy to support EU FLW reduction objectives.
In 2013, FAO, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners launched the
Think.Eat.Save: reduce your foodprint Campaign
32
to support the SAVE FOOD initiative (see Box 29)
in the area of prevention and reduction of food waste. The Campaign is also part of the FAO-UNEP
Sustainable Food Systems Programme
33
that has emphasized the importance of food loss and waste
management and recycling and the need to mobilize all stakeholders in industrialized, emerging and
developing countries as part of improving the sustainability of food systems.
Finally, one of the major initiatives at global level is the UN Secretary-General’s Zero Hunger
Challenge, launched in June 2012 on the occasion of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable
Development, also known as Rio+20. The challenge includes addressing sustainability of all food
systems and the aim of zero food loss and waste. It has been adopted by the 22 multilateral
organizations that constitute the High-Level Task Force for Global Food Security (HLTF)
34
as a guide
for a coherent systemic approach to food and nutrition security.These multistakeholder initiatives can
fit multiple purposes; they have the potential to: raise awareness; initiate a dialogue between diverse
stakeholders; be a means to share information and best practices at various levels; contribute to
initiate a common understanding on drivers and main causes of FLW; and catalyze interest of actors,
in order to initiate a more organized approach to food losses and waste reduction.
One of the challenges is often to transform awareness raising and initial dialogue towards more
concrete action. Public authorities (including at international level) can play a lead role in convening
this action-oriented dialogue among private actors and other concerned stakeholders.
Box 29 SAVE FOOD, a Global Initiative on food loss and waste reduction
At global level, one of the key initiative is the Global Initiative on food loss and waste reduction (also
called SAVE FOOD), launched in 2011 by the FAO and Messe Düsseldorf GmbH. SAVE FOOD, in
partnership with donors, bi- and multilateral agencies, financial institutions, public, private sector and
civil society, enables and facilitates: (i) awareness raising; (ii) collaboration and coordination of
worldwide initiatives, in a global partnership of public and private sector organizations and companies
that are active in the fight against food loss and waste; (iii) evidence-based policy, strategy and
programme development; and (iv) technical support to investment programmes and projects
implemented by private and public sectors. This includes technical and managerial support for, as well
as, capacity building (training) of food supply chain actors and organizations involved in food loss and
waste reduction, either at the food subsector level or policy level. SAVE FOOD is conducting a series of
field studies on a national–regional basis, combining a food chain approach to loss assessments with
cost–benefit analyses to determine which food loss reduction interventions provide the best returns on
investment. Further, the initiative undertakes studies on the socio-economic impacts of food loss and
waste, and the political and regulatory framework that affects food loss and waste. Studies have already
been conducted in Kenya and Cameroon on will cover several countries on cereals, fruits and
vegetables, roots and tubers, milk and fish (FAO, 2014cd).
Source: http://www.fao.org/save-food/savefood/en/; http://www.save-food.org
30
http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/sustainability/good_practices_en.htm
31
www.eu-fusions.org
32
http://www.thinkeatsave.org
33
http://www.fao.org/ag/ags/sustainable-food-consumption-and-production/en/
34
http://www.un-foodsecurity.org/structure

87
---
Reducing food losses and waste thus requires identifying causes (see Chapter 2) and selecting
potential solutions adapted to local and product specificities. It includes evaluating potential costs and
benefits of various options for different actors along the chains. The implementation of the selected
solutions could require the support or involvement of other actors, inside the food chain or at broader
levels. This often calls for coordinated action of multiple stakeholders. It also calls for actions at policy
level.
To various extents, for post-harvest losses, the organization of causes to FLW, and especially meso-
and macro-levels (Chapter 2), mirrors the individual and collective challenges and constraints to
investments and to best practices in agriculture and food chains, and to agricultural development in
general. Therefore, very often, finding ways to implement solutions to reduce post-harvest losses
invites revisiting, in an often very tangible way, the very large and often abstract questions posed by
agricultural development in general.
A similar rapprochement between FLW and broader sustainable development issues can be made for
losses in retail and consumer waste: constraints to FLW reductions are often the very same
constraints to improvements in resource-efficiency and sustainability of distribution and consumption
systems. Therefore, solutions leading to FLW reductions are to be seen in the context of sustainable
food systems, and as part of actions leading to more sustainable food systems.
We propose in the following chapter a way to approach the design of appropriate, situation specific
strategies to reduce FLW, for more sustainable food system, and for food security and better nutrition.

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4 ENABLING THE CHANGE: A WAY FORWARD TO FOOD
LOSSES AND WASTE REDUCTION STRATEGIES
This report confirms that reducing food losses and waste is one concrete way to improve the
sustainability of food systems, towards food and nutrition security. As such, reducing FLW goes much
further than just optimizing the functioning of the food system: it can be part of broader systemic
changes towards more sustainable food systems and global food security.
To contribute to this enterprise, the present report clarifies the question of definitions of FLW, including
by introducing the notion of food quality losses and waste (FQLW), and it highlights the importance of
sound methodologies for data collection, as currently available estimates are often still fragile. The
HLPE defines sustainable food systems in relation to food security and nutrition. The report further
describes the impacts of FLW on food systems and food security in its various dimensions (Chapter
1). “Reducing FLW” can be a simple message, speaking to many actors in the food system, to
understand SFS and FSN, and to address them with actionable levers.
There are many causes to FLW. The report shows that for a diagnosis leading to solutions, it is crucial
to identify causal links to FLW, as well as constraints to implement solutions. To enable this exercise,
one of the report’s main innovations is to propose a “hierarchy” of causes to FLW (Chapter 2), which is
important to guide action and understand the different levels of solutions (Chapter 3).
There are proven solutions, at different levels, to reduce FLW and the report presents some of them.
The report shows that solutions need to take into account that there are different levels of causes, and
that the causal links have to be considered and addressed. This calls often for coordinated action. This
is why the report proposes three levels of solutions. However it is not so simple to implement them.
Context-specific causes of FLW means that solutions to reduce FLW are also very context-specific.
The specificities of the food systems, local conditions of agriculture, fisheries, and animal husbandry,
infrastructure, transport and retail, as well as “cultural” habits and modes of consumption make any
package of solutions very much context-dependent. There is no one-size-fits-all package to fight food
losses and waste.
Deciding what strategy to adopt, at individual and collective level, adapted to specific contexts, which
can be very diverse between countries, necessitates a thorough analysis of causes and the
consideration of winners and losers, and of costs and benefits for all involved. It also necessitates the
promotion of individual and collective action of many actors along the food chain, and in support of
them.
Addressing FLW goes with a stronger emphasis on the value of food and on the need to preserve it. It
goes with changes towards more efficiency and sustainability, and to reconcile economics with the real
value of resource use. Key to it would be to recognize an economic value to food that can still have a
use in spite of having lost some of the expected qualities, as food, feed or for energy. In addition co-
products and food-related waste can also be better valorized.
Based on this, the HLPE proposes here a “way forward” for an impetus at country level, for all actors
to build, together, locally-adapted and properly coordinated food losses and waste reduction
strategies. This way forward is not prescriptive of the ultimate package of solutions, which will have to
be locally adapted, at national level, but also at the level of a sector, or of a business, or at household
and individual level. Rather, what is recommended here is a method for enabling change.
4.1 A way forward to reduce FLW in different contexts
The proposed way forward accounts for the fact that any solution at actor level to fight food losses and
waste will be more effective (if not only) when accompanied by concerted actions among various
actors and effective policy changes. Throughout all these steps, three fundamental dimensions of
coordination are identified: across governmental departments, multi-actors, and public–private.
The need for concerted action stems from the fact that food losses and waste happen at one stage of
the chain often because of the action of other actors (see Chapter 2). Also at micro-level, actor specific
technical solutions to reduce FLW, or the improvement of practices, can take place, but often it does
so only provided adequate investments are put in place, or provided behaviour change is facilitated.

90
Figure 8 The way forward to food losses and waste reduction strategies
Agree on scope of FLW definition (global level)
Agree on protocols for measure (all levels)
Collect data, and promote transparency and corporate social responsibility (all levels)
1 Gather information and data
Identify hotspots of losses and waste (all levels)
Identify the causes at different levels (all levels, see Appendix 1)
Identify solutions (all levels, see Appendix 2)
Identify costs and benefits for all actors (all levels)
Decide on implementation path and plans of action, what to do effectively at actor level
and concerted actions at collective level
2 Diagnose and develop strategies
Raise awareness and support multistakeholder initiatives (all levels)
Roll out the actor-level, individual and collective plans of action, for all actors,
producers, businesses, and consumers (see Table 2):
- Investments
- Good practices
- Behavioural change
- Coordination inside food chains
- Valorization of food and by-products
Consider systemic evolutions, including drivers of change (economic, social and
cultural)
Experiment and learn lessons
3 Act, individually and collectively
Set an enabling environment
Support capacity building
Integrate food losses and waste concerns, and a food chain approach,
in agricultural policies and development programmes
Adapt other policies
Build specific FLW policies
Set FLW reduction targets
4 Coordinate policies to reduce FLW
for SFS and FSN

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One difficulty stems from the fact that the cost of so doing might fall on one actor, while the benefit of
the action will fall on another. This calls for means to share costs and benefits along the chain,
towards a positive outcome for all, including social, economic and environmental benefits. It also calls
for public policies to support or incentivize the action of all actors to fight food losses and waste.
The way forward that the HLPE proposes for enabling change comprises four main stages: (i)
information and data; (ii) diagnosis and strategy; (iii) action; and (iv) coordination of policies – see
Figure 8. The categorization and hierarchy of causes of food losses and waste shown in Chapter 2
can guide the diagnosis and analysis of food losses and waste in a given context and situation. The
review carried out in Chapter 3 of the potential solutions to the different levels of causes can give
ground to deciding the most adapted strategies and plans of action whose implementation will involve
multiple levels and actors.
No measure is ex-ante prescribed. What is proposed is rather a method and areas for actions, to
tackle all stages of the food chain where food losses and waste happen, to address all levels of
causes, micro-, meso and macro.
The three first stages of this “way forward” are relevant to various levels: these stages can be rolled
out as such by one particular sector or actor, business or household; they can be rolled out, in
addition, collectively at national level, within a process that will put all food chain actors at the table,
fostering coordination among actors, public–private actions and coordination between sectoral
policies.
4.2 How to construct the way forward?
This section details how to construct the way forward, including how to use elements of this report,
and provides relevant recommendations to all actors.
35
4.2.1 Improve data collection and knowledge sharing on FLW
A definition of FLW is proposed in this report. Addressing FLW starts with a mutual understanding of
what it is all about. To do so:
All stakeholders should agree on a shared understanding, definition and scope for FLW (1a).
There is a need to harmonize, across commodities and different stages of the supply chain, the
measurement frameworks for FLW, to allow for structural, reliable and comparable data about the
amount of FLW within countries but also at global level, to facilitate exchanges of information and
experiences. The use of standardized criteria is key to measuring FLW and to assess where to take
action to reduce FLW. These criteria must be scientifically supported and validated by stakeholders in
order to reconcile the different situations regionally and over time. Different initiatives currently exist
and there is a need to harmonize the work on measurements. To support this:
FAO could consider developing common protocols and methodologies to measure FLW and
analyse their causes. This should be done through an inclusive and participatory process,
taking into account product, country and all stakeholders’ specificities and building upon FAO’s
experience (1c).
This effort should be science-based and inclusive, applying to (and being usable by) all actors in the
food system. The work should include a critical look at the reliability of data and methods used for
assessment and projections. This approach should also aim to define the conditions for certified
procedures.
Collecting reliable data on FLW is key to identify hotspots and priorities of action. Often detailed data
are available within the companies, however, with the exception of a limited number of leading retailing
and food processing companies, hardly any food chain company is currently transparent about the
levels of FLW. Transparency can be encouraged by policy and be organized in collaboration with
statistical offices (to harmonize the reporting of data), the private sector (along food chains, traders,
etc.), organizations (to be able to collect detailed information about specific commodities and supply
35
The Summary and Recommendations section of this report provides, for each of the stage of the “way forward”,
recommendations as directed to different categories of actors: these recommendations are here highlighted in italics
and their numbering is shown between parenthesis.

92
chains) and academics (to guarantee independent and transparent processes). Companies and
private sector organizations need to be involved in this process, on the basis of their assessment of
the levels of FLW in their operations, using standard transparent methods. Harmonized measurement
protocols and easy-to-use manuals dedicated to specific user groups are key in this context. To do so:
All stakeholders should improve the collection, transparency and sharing of data, experiences
and good practices on FLW at all stages of food chains (1b) and FAO should invite all
stakeholders, international organizations, governments, the private sector and civil society to
collect and share data on FLW in a coherent and transparent manner at all stages of food
chains (1d).
This could form a global initiative to collect primary data on actual food losses and waste at different
levels and different stages through national statistic offices, NGOs, companies, the research
community, etc. It should be based on the above pool of harmonized methodological tools and linked
to the global strategy to improve agricultural and rural statistics, considering FLW as a key area for
data. FAO could host the relevant collected data and make it available to all.
4.2.2 Diagnose and develop effective strategies to reduce FLW
The identification of FLW hotspots and of different levels of causes, of the relevant solutions and how
to implement them, should take a multistage approach that includes: (i) micro-level solutions (physical
and technical) to be adopted by individual actors; (ii) coordinated solutions to be adopted in a
harmonious manner by multiple actors along a supply chain, adopting an interprofessional approach;
and (iii) systemic solutions that require action of all, often with necessary support and incentives at the
policy level by governments and institutions.
The suitability and effectiveness as well as the urgency of implementing the solutions to reduce FLW
should be context-specific, taking into account constraints (including systemic), costs and potential
direct and/or indirect impacts. Food losses and waste result from often numerous and interrelated
causes including technological limitations, inappropriate practices, poor infrastructure, poor
organization, poor linkages among supply chain actors and poor governance. FLW often reveal a lack
of relationships inside the food chain/system, lack of communication, lack of valorization/recognition of
efforts needed/made at one stage to reduce FLW at another stage (downstream or even upstream).
This calls for improved governance inside food chains, involving all actors (including public and private
ones), to organize collective understanding and action, and to appropriately share efforts/benefits of
FLW reduction. There is a need to identifying the actors who will be directly implementing solutions,
the costs they will be bearing, potential benefits and beneficiaries. It also requires identification of
constraints to implementation of the solutions and possible interventions to overcome them. There is
also a need to overcome the fact that there is today no large-scale scoping study on the list of existing,
adopted measures/investments for FLW reduction, with details on cost–benefit among those
measures/investments along the food supply chain for the specific products and actors, and by
location in both developed and developing countries.
In this context, in order to pose a proper diagnosis and develop appropriate strategies for FLW
reduction:
States should convene an inclusive process to identify hotspots, causes of losses and waste
at different levels (see Appendix 1 of this report), potential solutions (see Appendix 2) and
levels of intervention. This requires identifying the actors who will directly implement solutions,
individually or collectively, identifying the costs they will bear, as well as potential benefits and
beneficiaries. It also requires identifying constraints (including systemic constraints) and how
they would be addressed (infrastructure, technologies, changes of organization in the food
chain/system, capacity building, policies and institutions) (2a).
Based on this:
States should determine a plan of action in a manner that includes all stakeholders (2b), and
FAO should support these national processes in collaboration with partners to devise
methodological guidance adapted to countries’ specificities, and needs and priorities of
various actors (2c).

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4.2.3 Take effective steps to reduce FLW
Each actor individually, and each actor collectively with others, needs to take actions to reduce FLW.
The States have a key role in enabling FLW reduction actions. In particular, especially in developing
countries all actors need to be able to invest in integrated post-harvest management infrastructure,
and the private sector will need support, including to allow products to meet phytosanitary, veterinary
and food safety standards for trade and export. This includes support to institutions and public
infrastructure on logistics, extension services, education for professionals at multiple levels – including
train-the-trainer approaches, customs and phytosanitary control, food safety authorities, research and
development infrastructures, etc. Strengthening research and development in post-harvest systems is
key. A collaborative approach among governments, the private sector, funding organizations, civil
society organizations and knowledge institutions is needed. Often practical solutions for post-harvest
loss reduction can come from knowledge transfer and lateral spread of good practices, which needs to
be thought jointly with the knowledge of local farmers and food chain actors, to ensure that the end
result is adapted, acceptable and affordable. To support producers and food chain actors to reduce
post-harvest losses, in particular:
States should invest in infrastructure and public goods to reduce FLW and to ensure
sustainable food systems such as storage and processing facilities, reliable energy supply,
transport, appropriate technologies, improved access and connection of food producers and
consumers to markets (3a). States should take measures to support smallholders to reduce
the FLW by organizing themselves in ways that yield economies of scale and allow them to
move towards high-value activities in the food supply chain (3c). States and other
stakeholders, including international organizations, the private sector and civil society, should
invest in research and development to minimize FLW (3l), and especially design adequate
research and extension services, including towards small transport, transformation and
distribution enterprises (4e). National and international research and development
organizations should increase investment in technological innovations at post-harvest and
consumption stages for effective reduction of FLW as well as for adding value to agricultural
products in the whole food value chain, for example through the extension of shelf life while
protecting nutritional value (3r).
FLW occur within the private sector, in the food supply chain, down to consumers. A major
responsibility to reduce FLW lies therefore within the private sector organizations. Governments do
have a role to play to facilitate and support strategies. They may have a convening or facilitating role in
organizing the debate, dialogue towards setting an agenda, focusing not only on food supply chain
organizations, but including also suppliers to the sector (e.g. technology suppliers, financial
institutions, interventions to reduce barriers). In addition, to support concerted actions by the private
sector (from global multinational companies to medium and small enterprises), retailers and
consumers towards FLW reduction, a proper enabling environment is key. It includes regulating
contractual arrangements along the food chain, organization of markets, and managing instabilities of
the food system, including dealing with seasonality aspects (HLPE, 2011). To enable this and
concerted actions along the food chain:
States should implement an adequate framework including regulation, incentives and
facilitation so that the private sector (e.g. wholesaler, retailer, catering and other food services)
and consumers take robust measures to tackle unsustainable consumption patterns. This
framework should also ensure that the private sector better incorporates negative externalities
of their activities such as damage to natural resources. (3b) States should create an enabling
environment for the reduction of FLW including by encouraging sustainable patterns of
consumption among the population, as well as food and non-food investments promoting food
security (3d). States should encourage sector-based audits of FLW (3e) and design and
introduce procedures to ensure higher corporate accountability standards for FLW, and
monitor reductions in FLW in the food processing and retailing sectors (3g). Finally, States
should reform public food procurement policies to reduce and minimize FLW while ensuring
food safety (3h).

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As seen in Chapter 3, coordinated and concerted levels of actions are key to reduce FLW. This will not
take place without specific enabling measures. Therefore:
States and other stakeholders, including international organizations, the private sector and
civil society, should carry out training and capacity building to strengthen the coordinated use
of appropriate technologies (3h). In line with this, all stakeholders should improve
communication, coordination and recognition of efforts needed/made at one stage to reduce
FLW at another stage, downstream or upstream (4i).
Experimental innovations or pilot projects can be key to FLW reduction. They need support. In some
cases, States can act as a “launching customer” to change business practices and behaviour (e.g.
public procurement, in the criteria for sustainable catering, efficient waste management). States can
also create experimental environments, e.g. to temporarily reduce barriers to facilitate implementation
of interventions (for example gleaning networks, food hygiene regulations). In line with this:
States should promote experimentation and the exchange of good practices regarding FLW
(3i).
Macro or systemic levels of causes (Chapter 2) often call for systemic approaches to reduce FLW. It
often starts with the recognition of the diversity of food systems and how they relate to FLW. In this
regard:
civil society, should recognize the plurality of food systems in their diverse contributions to
FLW and various potentials to reduce them (3j). They should also enable and support
multistakeholder initiatives to improve governance along food chains and organize collective
understanding and action to reduce FLW (3k).
Consumers will have to play a great role in the reduction of FLW. Household waste results from a
complex set of drivers and factors such as income level, household size, urbanization, infrastructure,
the structure of the food supply chain, food cultures, trust in businesses and institutions (including in
food safety regulations), and awareness levels, etc. Reduction of consumer waste will result from
more sustainable buying, cooking and eating behaviour. Different type of interventions can support
this, such as awareness-raising campaigns, experimental interventions, social community approaches,
education of young urban and rural people, and women empowerment. Attempts to restore the true
value of food, and to restore consumers’ recognition of how food is produced and valued in the supply
chain, will also lead to reduced consumer waste, as rural–urban movements such as the Slow Food
presidiums can show, or as “pick and pay” self-picking initiatives demonstrate. To enable reduction of
consumer waste:
civil society, should improve the dissemination of accurate information and advice to
consumers to minimize FLW (3m), and encourage civic engagement of all actors, including
consumers, to act concretely to reduce FLW in particular through public campaigns, education
of youth and children (3n).
The private sector in many cases is the first loser when FLW happen (as in the case of the post-
harvest system), but its practices and standards can often indirectly lead to FLW, within the food chain
and at consumer level (see Chapter 2). To set the ground for FLW reduction by all actors and to
enable finding solutions that can benefit all actors:
The private sector should develop and implement corporate responsibility policies to diminish
FLW including by collecting and sharing data on FLW and ensuring that the costs and benefits
of FLW reduction are appropriately shared (3o). It should get involved with collective actions
and initiatives for reducing FLW, including by mobilizing companies to change their practices
in order to reduce FLW in households (3p). Finally, the private sector should reform
supermarket and food retailer practices such as product standards used to accept or reject
farmers produce (e.g. size and shape of foods as well as cosmetic standards for fruit,
vegetables, livestock products). This can be done, for example, by introducing differentiated
pricing to prevent economic and nutrition value losses (3q).

95
4.2.4 Improve coordination of policies and strategies in order to reduce
FLW
Different sets of policies impact FLW (Chapter 2) covering food and agriculture, development, industry
and businesses regulations, food safety, bioenergy, waste policies, research and education, social
affairs, sustainable consumption and production, health and dietary guidelines, etc. Therefore an
important part of the solutions to reduce FLW can be found in other policies (Chapter 3). For example,
addressing food waste at consumer level calls for a variety of approaches, and links to a wide set of
policies, from food safety and sustainable consumption policies, organization of the relationship with
business, and waste valorization policies. At global level, the Codex Alimentarius Commission has
started considering taking on the challenge of possibly revisiting its regulatory orientations in light of
their impacts on FLW. At national level, FLW reduction strategies will need coordination among
various sectors and sectoral policies, including those managed by different ministerial departments. In
agricultural and food policies (such as for instance those covering capacity building, training,
extension, food safety management, development projects, etc.) there is often a lack of consideration
of an integrated food chain approach. To build FLW reduction strategies and to overcome currently
limited consideration of FLW in food, agricultural and other policies:
States should ensure a holistic food chain approach (4e) and integrate FLW concerns and
solutions, and a food chain approach, in agricultural and food policies and development
programmes, as well as in other policies, which could impact FLW (4a). They should
strengthen the coherence of policies across sectors and objectives, e.g. sustainable food
consumption, dietary guidelines, food safety, energy, and waste (4b). Finally they should
support efforts for coherence, clarification and harmonization of the meaning and use of food
dates labelling, at national as well as international level, taking into account the principles of
the Codex Alimentarius (4d).
There are potentially many uses for agricultural produce and food (Section 3.2.10). The food-use-not-
waste hierarchy (Section 3.3.2) serves as a general orientation.
In line with this, to minimize FLW, optimize the use of resources, and guide policy harmonization
efforts to reduce FLW:
States should introduce enabling economic policies and incentives to reduce FLW, through a
“food use-not-waste” hierarchy, i.e. prevent, reallocate food for feed, recycle for energy
through anaerobic digestion, recover for compost, disposal, and ultimately, if no other solution
is available, place in landfills (4c).
Setting aspirational targets to reduce FLW, as in the UN Secretary-General’s Zero Hunger Challenge,
which contains zero FLW and 100 percent sustainable food system objectives, can be an effective
means to increase the level of actions, the sense of urgency and related commitments (including
incentive and penalty procedures). Target setting also leads to awareness raising, and therefore:
States should set targets of FLW reduction (4c).
Shared learning, and sharing of experiences, is key to FLW reduction. Campaigning also has a
positive impact on changing consumer awareness and attitude towards the issue of FLW. Social
innovation approaches, many started bottom-up and as grassroot initiatives, could potentially have
positive effects on attitudes. Also sector-level corporate associations/organizations have set up
initiatives to exchange information among members. There is currently a growing number of
multistakeholder initiatives at global, continental, national, sectorial or regional level to reduce FLW,
with different approaches (see Chapter 3). There is a continuous need for: (i) a dialogue between
them; (ii) coordination; and (iii) identification of synergies and leverage actions points, etc. To support
this, and to enable collective solutions, better coordination and cooperation among all actors, including
raising awareness, changing attitudes and behaviour for food consumption:
States should support coordination of efforts through multistakeholder initiatives, such as the
global “SAVE FOOD” initiative (4f).

96
FLW reduction is country and context specific, and there is a considerable added value at global level
to share common methods, to learn from other contexts and to share experiences. For instance,
developing countries could learn from other developing countries on how to reduce post-harvest
losses. Also, with respect to consumer waste, there is a concern to prevent the rise of food waste in
countries in transition towards more western life styles. Both developed countries and countries in
transition can learn from each other, towards a global level repository of analysis and solutions. To
enable sharing methods, learning from other contexts and sharing experiences:
The CFS should raise awareness of the importance of reducing FLW and disseminate this
HLPE report to international organizations and bodies (4j). It should develop guidelines to
assist governments in an assessment of their food systems with a view to reduce FLW (4i)
and consider convening an inclusive meeting to share successful experiences, challenges
faced and lessons learned from FLW initiatives (4h).

97
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%20report%20july%202008.pdf).
WRAP. 2009. Household food and drink waste in UK. Banbury, UK
(http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Household%20food%20and%20drink%20waste%20in%20the%20UK
%20-%20report.pdf).
WRAP. 2010. Cross sectoral work programme to reduce food waste arising in the retail supply chain. WRAP
Project RSC010-001. Report prepared by James Tupper, ECR Learning & Change Manager, and Peter
Whitehead, Agribusiness Project Leader, IGD
(http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/WRAP_IGD_supply_chain_report.pdf).
WRAP. 2011a. Investigation into the possible impact of promotions on food waste. Banbury, UK.
WRAP. 2011b. Consumer insight: date labels and storage guidance (http://www.wrap.org.uk/content/consumer-
insight-date-labels-and-storage-guidance).
WRAP. 2013. The impact of Love Food Hate Waste. Household food waste prevention case study: West London
Waste Authority in partnership with Recycle for London.
(http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/West%20London%20LFHW%20Impact%20case%20study_0.pdf)
WRAP. 2014. Household food and drink waste: A product focus.
(http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/household-food-and-drink-waste-a-product-focus.pdf)
Yes Bank. 2012. Report on cold chain management of India.
Yusuf, B.L. & He, Y. 2011. Design, development and techniques for controlling grains post-harvest losses with
metal silo for small and medium scale farmers. African Journal of Biotechnology, 10(65): 14552–14561.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The HLPE warmly thanks all the participants having contributed with very valuable inputs and
comments to the two open electronic consultations, first on a proposed scope of the study, and
second, on an advanced draft (V0) of this report. The list of contributors, as well as the full
proceedings of these consultations, is available online at the HLPE website:
http://www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe.
The HLPE wishes to acknowledge the important feedback received from five peer-reviewers on a pre-
final draft of this report. The list of all HLPE peer-reviewers is available at the HLPE website.

107
APPENDICES
A1 Causes of FLW by stages in the food chain
Identification of causes of FLW is primordial for the identification of solutions to reduce FLW, and
priorities for action. FLW can result from a very wide range of antecedents, ranging from biological,
microbial, chemical, biochemical, mechanical, physical, physiological, technological, logistical,
organizational, to psychological and behavioural causes – including those induced by marketing, etc.
Identifying the causes of FLW requires an integrated perspective along the food chain. Hereunder are
listed some frequent causes of FLW, organized by stages in the food chain.
Pre-harvest
36
External drivers (floods, drought, extended rains, pests).
Choice of varieties for location and target market).
Poor agronomic and cultural practices (water/nutrient/pest management, pruning,
staking/propping, etc.). General lack of information on good production, harvest and post-harvest
handling practices due to poor agricultural extension services, especially for smallholders.
Poor market access.
Poor organization among farmers into groups/cooperatives/associations to access services and
facilities; and to pool their produce for better market access or to meet contractual obligations.
Harvest and initial handling stage
Premature or delayed harvesting; due to poverty, fear of theft, lack of information on maturity
indices, labor shortages.
Poor harvesting techniques leading to spillage, mechanical injuries, heat injury.
Improper drying of grains resulting in fungal infection during storage.
Poor choice of containers, packaging materials appropriate for the harvested commodities.
Poor implementation of sanitation and hygiene standards especially for containers used to pack
and transport the produce.
Improper use of agro-chemicals such as post-harvest treatments leading to damage to the
produce or unsafe residues; lack of enforcement of existing laws/regulations on safe use of agro-
chemicals.
Lack of knowledge and capacity on good post-harvest handling practices and applicable
technologies among the value chain actors (growers, traders, transporters).
Lack of access to processing facilities in the production areas forcing the farmers to transport
their produce to distant processors.
Lack of schemes that promote or facilitate utilization of unmarketable foods e.g. donation, cottage
processing industries in production areas, farmers markets.
Poor infrastructure for roads, energy and markets.
Storage
Lack of proper storage facilities for shelf-stable foods such as grains resulting in losses from pest
damage, fungal infection including aflatoxin contamination.
Lack of cold storage facilities for highly perishable commodities such as fruits, vegetables, fish,
meat, dairy products.
Failure to use post-harvest treatments/pesticides/dressing that would prevent against damage
from storage pests (lack of information).
Poor storage conditions; poor ventilation, poor sanitation, gas composition, lighting.
Mixing different produce which favours deterioration and/or contamination. Lack of curing for root
and tuber crops.
36
Losses of (potential) produce at pre-harvest do not enter into the scope of definition of FLW (see Chapter 1).
However pre-harvest conditions or operations can also indirectly (meso effect) lead to FLW at harvest or at a later
stages in the food chain (see Chapter 2), and are therefore mentioned here.

108
Poor storage conditions for root and tuber crops leading to greening and sprouting.
Failure to use applicable post-harvest technologies that slow down deteriorative processes during
storage.
Processing
Errors during processing resulting in defects (chain).
Trimming to achieve desired shape and size.
Contamination along the processing line.
Lack of processing facilities; lack of capacity for existing processing units, especially for seasonal
commodities.
Lack of packaging.
Distribution and transport
Rough handling of produce during packing and loading/off-loading to transport trucks.
Use of inappropriate containers/packages such as sacks, polythene bags during transport.
Poor ventilation during transport.
Poor transport infrastructure; roads, refrigerated trucks.
Delays at the off-loading docks where no cooling facilities are provided.
Delays at port of entry for imported products due to inspection for phytosanitary, veterinary or
food safety regulations compliance.
Non compliance to phytosanitary, veterinary or food safety regulations.
Retail outlets
Pressure to stock/display “perfect” and fresh products.
Injudicious use of regulated chemicals to maintain fresh appearance leading to unsafe residue
levels.
Use of unregulated chemicals, e.g. calcium carbide for ripening.
Wasteful displays: large piles, mixed produce (at different ripening stages).
Regular replenishing of stocks, leading consumers to select most recent products.
Management of ready/processed food by retailers.
Inadequate packaging.
Large pack sizes which force some consumers to buy what they may not use.
Marketing strategies, product promotions and bulk discounts that lure consumers to buy produce
they may not use such as “2 for 1”, or “buy 1 get 1 free”.
Stock management inefficiencies, overproduction, product and packaging damage (farmers and
food manufacturing).
Inability to predict the demand, difficulty to anticipate the number of clients (catering).
Lack of alternative markets for products that do not display a perfect aspect or are close to
“consume by” dates.
Lack of donation possibilities.
Consumption
Attitudes.
Lack of awareness.
Lack of shopping planning.
Confusion about "best-before" and " use-by" date labels.
Lack of knowledge on how to cook with leftovers (households).
Inadequate storage.

109
A2 Solutions at different stages of the food chain
The identification of causes, and of links between micro, meso and macro causes (see Chapter 2)
enables the design of pathways for all stakeholders to identify and implement solutions to reduce FLW
adapted to the specific conditions and context. We list hereunder an array of such potential solutions,
distinguished in three broad categories: (i) those that can be implemented by a single actor (micro
solutions), often technical by nature; (ii) those that require a collective action, either of actors at the
same stage, or along the food chain; and (iii) those that require collective action at a broader level
(national or subnational), generally with the involvement of public authorities.
I) Solutions that can be implemented by individual actors (micro level)
Harvest / Production stage
Choice of right varieties for location (to achieve best quality) and target market (to mature when
there is demand in the market).
Disease and stress-resistant varieties of crops.
Proper agronomic and cultural practices to ensure high quality products – reduce losses from
culls.
Proper harvest timing and scheduling for target markets.
Proper sorting/grading after harvest; with separation based on size, injury and diseased/pest-
infestation, different ripeness for fruits to facilitate packaging for delivery to different markets or for
different uses.
Improve storage facilities for perishables at the farm level.
Use of clean and appropriate containers for the commodities.
Post-harvest handling and storage stage
Slow down post-harvest deterioration by managing contributing factors (temperature abuse,
ethylene, microbial load, solanization, sprouting, contaminants).
Adapt applicable low-cost post-harvest technologies to local conditions and promote their use
among chain actors.
Promote innovative storage options such as warehouse receipting systems (WRS).
Processing and packaging
Promote and support cottage industries in production locations to reduce the cost of transport and
losses incurred in long-distance transport to far off processors.
Encourage and support fabrication of locally suited processing units.
Re-engineer manufacturing processes to ensure efficient use of resources.
Improve packaging to increase shelf life.
Better inventory management, waste audits and measurements.
Packaging, labeling and types of packs as per buyer’s requirements, consumer needs of
importing countries.
Development of cheap reusable and/or degradable packaging for developing countries.
Development of adapted packaging facilities in developing countries.
Transport, distribution and market
Logistics of refrigerated cargo for shipping to overseas markets.
Develop good storage facilities in wholesale/retail markets and supermarkets.
Promote proper organization and display of produce in the retail outlets (avoid mixing and piling
of produce, temperature abuse by mixing produce with different temperature requirements in one
common cold room etc).
Change in-store promotions that encourage impulse/wasteful purchases.
Improve in-store inventory, better inventory management, waste audits and measurements.

110
Retailing
Promote seasonal consumption.
Reduce portion sizes.
Food service organizations such as hotels, restaurants, catering establishments to relook at
serving sizes as per customer/consumer demand and requirements adhering to food safety
norms.
Use of differentiated pricing for products arriving near the use-by date or when food products
have lost quality (be it freshness, shape, colour, consistency, taste), in order to avoid them being
lost.
Distribution of excess food to charitable groups.
Consumption
Improve meal planning.
Consume before buying.
Buy only what is going to be consumed.
Implement good storage practices.
Correctly interpret ‘sell-by, best before’ dates.
Effective use of leftovers and food products after “best before” dates.
II) Concerted and collective actions to reduce FLW (meso level)
Preharvest
37
/Production stage
Strengthening (including through capacity building) primary producer organizations/Farmers
Associations in Good Agricultural Practices, Good Harvest Practices, Good Storage Practices,
Good Manufacturing Practices and food loss prevention etc.
Improve availability of agricultural extension services for small holder farmers to disseminate
information needed for good production and post-harvest handling.
Good harvest practices; training farmers on proper maturity indices and their importance to
nutritional and economic value.
Diversification to hedge against poverty which sometimes forces the farmer to harvest their
produce prematurely.
Horizontal integration (farmer organizations/cooperatives) which can receive credit/advance
payment on their produce rather than harvest prematurely due to poverty. Organization of small
farmers for up-scaling of their production and marketing.
Improve linkages (vertical and horizontal integration) among value chain actors to improve
efficiency; reduce risk of overproduction by farmers to hedge against failure to meet contractual
volumes.
Facilitate utilization of unmarketable foods, e.g. donation, cottage processing industries in
production areas.
Handling and storage stage
Improve access to low-cost handling and storage technologies (e.g. evaporative coolers, storage
bags, metallic silos, crates).
Train growers, traders, transporters on good post-harvest handling practices and technologies.
Train actors all along the food chain on good storage practices such as ethylene and microbial
management.
Ensure pest control protocols are followed along the food value chain.
Public–private partnerships to improve storage facilities (including cold rooms, silos, warehouses)
and transportation facilities such as refrigerated trucks for perishables.
37
Actions at pre-harvest stages can indirectly (meso effect) lead to FLW reduction at harvest or at a later stage in the
food chain (see Chapter 2) and can therefore be part of FLW reduction strategies.

111
Promote joint/group storage facilities for small-holder farmers who cannot afford the facilities as
individuals.
Enforce good practices on safe use of agro-chemicals.
Train supply chain operators and raise awareness of all actors on food safety practices, proper
use of post-harvest treatments and general hygienic practices to ensure consumer protection and
minimize losses from discarding unsafe foods.
Develop and/or strengthen linkages between farmers and processors e.g. through contracts.
Improve the supply/demand balance for processing facilities, including through alternative uses to
avoid losses of seasonal products by lack of transforming capacities.
Create an enabling environment for processors to encourage more private sector investment in
processing.
Improve supply chain management.
Develop and/or ensure processors adherence to set standards of processed foods to ensure high
quality and safe foods for the consumers and reduce FLW due to sub-standard products.
Transport, distribution and markets
Facilitate linkages between producers and markets.
Promote commodity associations/organizations/cooperatives to improve market access and
efficiency of their operations.
Clarify food date labeling practices to avoid misunderstanding by consumers.
Provide guidance on food storage and preparation to consumers.
Develop markets for substandard products.
Facilitate increased donation of unsold foods.
Consumption
Conduct consumer education on meal planning, good storage practices, food preparation, reuse
of leftovers in recipes, proper interpretation of “sell-by, best before” dates.
Advertisement–corporate messages about food waste prevention , recycling of waste and
packaging materials.
Educate consumers to better plan their buying, buy only after having consumed, and according to
planned meals.
Fight against the practices and messages that devalorize food: 3 for the value of 2, free item
added to a menu.
Food consumers in urban areas to relook their buying habits of foods and food products.
Cross-cutting measures
Develop capacity of all supply chain actors to identify critical control points for FLW reduction.
Training, building capacity of all supply chain actors in good practices.
Exploration of alternate uses of food wastes, composting.
Systemic solutions
Putting all actors together.
Creation of national/regional food loss prevention platforms in association with farmers
organizations, industry associations.
Identify and monitor critical points for losses in the supply chains of the different products.
Elaboration at national and/or sector level FLW prevention guidelines and protocols.
Food chain efficiency.
Promote production efficiency in food manufacturing units in both unorganized and organized
sectors and better turnout of input: output ratio. Promote good inventory management (e.g FIFO,

112
First In First Out, or FEFO, First Expired, First Out) by the food producers and food processors
and other actors in production/ manufacturing activity in the food chain.
Encourage organization and management innovations for production planning, sorting, grading,
logistics.
Valorize waste or by products at all levels.
Development of method/systems to valorize food waste and food-related waste, including
modifications of systems in place.
Promotion/encouragement of technological innovations in utilization of by-products in food supply
chains for food and non-food uses.
Promote short chains and local solutions.
Promote local sourcing of raw materials and local transformation.
Promote traditional/local technology innovations for prevention of food losses.
III) Enabling the change: solutions at macro or systemic level, towards
FLW policies and towards consideration of FLW in other policies
Preharvest
38
/Production stage
Improve market access; encourage and support formation through farmer groups, cooperatives,
associations and link them to markets, encourage contractual farming and long-term contractual
agreements between growers and processors.
Create alternative markets for the rejects/culls, e.g. regular farmer markets/shops close to the
consumers.
Handling and storage stage
Improve infrastructure for roads, energy and markets especially in rural areas where most of the
production occurs.
Facilitate local transformation, including by encouraging investment.
Transport, distribution and market
Develop efficient market systems especially for perishables.
Consumption
Education on food waste, if possible integrated in a broader perspective on food use and
nutrition.
Ensure home economics taught in schools, colleges and communities to enhance better
utilization of food.
Businesses and institutions such as schools, colleges, educational institutions, hospitals and
other business organizations to create awareness on prevention of food waste, food wastage
footprint, green concept.
Cross-cutting measures
Building capacity (human and infrastructural) of institutions in developing countries for research;
so as to develop appropriate (local) solutions to reduce postharvest losses.
Build capacity of extension agents (in post-harvest handling) and facilitate their access to small
holder farmers.
Professional education and formation in good practices and food safety. Education on food
waste, if possible integrated in a broader perspective on food use and nutrition.
38
Actions at pre-harvest stages can indirectly (meso effect) lead to FLW reduction at harvest or at a later stage in the
food chain (see Chapter 2) and can therefore be part of FLW reduction strategies.

113
Systemic solutions
Putting all actors together.
Raise awareness on the impact of, and solutions for food loss and waste.
Collaboration and coordination of worldwide initiatives on food loss and waste reduction.
Policy, strategy and programme development for food loss and waste reduction.
Support to investment programmes and projects, implemented by private and public sectors
involved in food loss and waste reduction.
Facilitate access to credit for small holders and other actors/stakeholders in the food chain.
Organize mapping of food value chain/food supply chain in order to have a clear understanding
on structure of chains, key players and their roles, products and services, marketing channels etc.
Global harmonization of measurement protocols, frameworks.
Organize networks to collect primary measurements and data.
Quality/standards dimension.
Develop markets for multi-graded commodities/products.
Promote adherence of quality standards for perishables such as horticultural crops, meat, fish
and poultry.
Revisit food laws and standards to facilitate prevention and reduction of FLW.
Food chain efficiency.
Adopting a food chain perspective in agriculture development projects (where is the produce
going to be consumed, how is it going to be transported, transformed, etc.).
Facilitate adherence to International standards, and food standards of the importing countries,
including sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures for export of food items/products.
Valorize waste or by-products at all levels.
Selective waste collection.
Development of cold chain for perishables.
Building evidence for policy making.
Support research projects to quantify food loss and wastes to provide a basis for policy making.
Support cost/benefit analysis for proposed interventions/solutions for FLW reduction.

115
A3 The HLPE project cycle
The HLPE has been created in 2009 as key element of the reform of the Committee on World Food
Security (CFS), which is the foremost inclusive international and intergovernmental platform for a
broad range of committed stakeholders to work together in a coordinated manner and in support of
country-led processes towards the elimination of hunger and ensuring food security and nutrition for all
human beings.
39
HLPE’s key functions are: to assess and analyse the current state of food security and nutrition and its
underlying causes; to provide scientific and knowledge-based analysis and advice on specific policy-
relevant issues, utilizing existing high quality research, data and technical studies; to identify emerging
issues, and help members prioritize future actions and attentions on key focal areas.
The HLPE receives its mandate from CFS and reports to it. It produces its reports, recommendations
and advice independently from governmental positions, in order to inform and nourish the debate with
comprehensive analysis and advice.
The HLPE has a two-tier structure:
A Steering Committee composed of 15 internationally recognized experts in a variety of food
security and nutrition related fields, appointed by the Bureau of CFS. HLPE Steering
Committee members participate in their individual capacities, and not as representatives of
their respective governments, institutions or organizations.
Project Teams acting on a project specific basis, selected and managed by the Steering
Committee to analyse/report on specific issues.
To ensure the scientific legitimacy and credibility of the process, as well as its transparency and
openness to all forms of knowledge, the HLPE operates with very specific rules, agreed by the CFS.
The project cycle to elaborate the reports, in spite of its being extremely time constrained, includes
clearly defined stages. Starting from the political question and request formulated by the CFS, the
HLPE organizes a scientific dialogue, policy-oriented. This includes the work of a topic bound and time
bound Project Team under the Steering Committee’s scientific and methodological guidance and
oversight. It includes also external open consultations and an external scientific peer-review on a pre-
final draft. The report is finalized and approved by the Steering Committee during a face-to-face
meeting (Figure 9).
The HLPE runs two open consultations per report: first, on the scope of the study; second, on a V0
“work-in-progress” draft. This opens the process towards the experts HLPE roster (there are currently
more than 2000 of them), and all experts interested and as well as to all concerned stakeholders,
which are also knowledge-holders. Consultations enable the HLPE to better understand the issues
and concerns, and to enrich the knowledge base, including social knowledge, thriving for the
integration of diverse scientific perspectives and points of view.
The final approved report is transmitted to the CFS, published and translated in the 5 other official
languages of the UN (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish), and serves to inform
discussions and debates in CFS.
All information regarding the HLPE, its process and all former reports are available at the HLPE
Website: www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe.
39
CFS Reform Document, available at www.fao.org/cfs

116
Figure 9 HLPE project cycle
CFS Committee on World Food Security
HLPE High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition
StC HLPE Steering Committee
PT HLPE Project Team
CFS defines HLPE mandate at plenary level
StC defines the project’s oversight modalities, and
proposes scope for the study
Draft scope of the study is submitted
to open electronic consultation
StC appoints a Project Team, and finalizes
its Terms of References
PT produces a version 0 of the report (V0)
V0 is publicly released to open electronic consultation
PT finalizes a version 1 of the report (V1)
HLPE submits V1 to external reviewers,
for academic and evidence-based review
PT prepares a pre-final version of the report (V2)
V2 is submitted to the StC for finalization and approval
Final approved version is transmitted to the CFS
and publicly released
The HLPE report is presented for
discussion and policy debate at CFS
CFS
CFS
CFS
StC
StC
StC
PT
PT
PT

Cover photos: ©FAO/Giulio Napolitano, ©FAO/Fabio Ricci
I3901E/1/06.14
Secretariat HLPE c/o FAO
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla
00153 Rome, Italy
Website: www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe
E-mail: cfs-hlpe@fao.org
According to FAO, almost one-third of food produced for human
consumption – approximately 1.3 billion tonnes per year – is
either lost or wasted globally. Food losses and waste (FLW)
impact both food security and nutrition and the sustainability
of food systems, in their capacity to ensure good quality and
adequate food for this generation and future generations.
This report adopts a systemic perspective to analyze the
impacts of FLW on the sustainability of food systems and on
food security and nutrition. It reviews the wide range of causes
of FLW, identifying broad categories and levels of causes.
The report is deliberately oriented towards action. It provides
practical elements for all concerned actors to identify,
individually and collectively, their own set of possible solutions.
It includes numerous examples, and proposes a “way forward”
for actors to build strategies to reduce FLW in diverse contexts
and situations.

FAO Food Security High Level report June 2014

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FAO Food Security High Level report June 2014