The latest food waste figures, published by UK’s giant supermarket Tesco revealed of all the bagged salads produced in the country, 68 % are never consumed.
The latest food waste figures, published on the 21st Oct. 2013 by UK’s giant supermarket Tesco revealed of all the bagged salads produced in the country, 68 % are never consumed. The supermarket first ever food waste figure revealed in the first six months of this year 28,500 tonnes of food wasted in its store and distribution centers.
Tesco group Commercial director Matt Simister in his interview with Theguardian admitted that Tesco should start with its own operations to cut food waste. “Tesco as a big player in the industry of food have the responsibility to reduce food waste” he said. The director noted that Tesco’s effort to reduce the waste is not an end, however he urges customers and the suppliers to work together to bring huge cut to the food wasted.
As a result of the findings, to help customers to cut food waste the retailer is to end multi-buys on large bags of salad and is developing mix-and-match promotions for smaller bags. It is also removing "display until" dates from fresh fruit and vegetables, using smaller cases in stores and rearranging 600 in-store bakeries to reduce the amount of bread on display, with the aim of better stock control and less waste.
However, according to MarketingWeek UK charities criticize to Tesco for its delayed action and for not go far enough to tackle the amount of food that gets thrown away, while rivals claim they have already adopted most of the changes Tesco is putting in place. Oxfam dubbed the amount of food that gets wasted a “scandal”, while Friends of the Earth says it needs to go much further in tackling the issue.
The charities slam complements FAO director-general José Graziano da Silva reaction to the report : “In addition to the environmental imperative, there is a moral one: we simply cannot allow one-third of all the food we produce to go to waste, when 870 million people go hungry every day.”
The research found that “every family in the UK wastes an estimated £700 a year throwing away food, according to Tesco, which is launching a campaign to help curb the problem.The value of the food households throw away every year is £2.5 billion.
Around 40% of apples are chucked away, a quarter of grapes are wasted between the vine and the fruit bowl, and a fifth of all bananas are unused - with customers throwing one in 10 in the bin. The amount of food wasted in UK homes each year is 7.2 million tonnes.
Tesco in collaboration with the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) tracked 25 best-selling products to give an overall food waste "footprint" for each item – looking at what was wasted both inside its supermarkets and in the homes of its customers.
Sources:
- http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/oct/21/food-waste-tesco-reveals-most-bagged-salad-and-half-its-bread-is-thrown-out
- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/tesco-vows-to-act-after-study-confirms-huge-food-waste-8893015.html
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/10393981/Tesco-food-waste-Why-half-of-your-shopping-basket-may-end-up-in-the-bin.html
- http://news.sky.com/story/1157269/tesco-vows-to-cut-waste-food-mountain