Retail
Food Waste 2/3
Focus on consumer food waste is "deflecting attention" from the supply chain says Tristram Stuart
in, not only in terms of minimising
wasteful practices around food waste,
but demonstrating transparency? It's
hard to know,when to a large degree the
data is fudged - or lacking - according
to a leading voice in this field, Tristram
Stuart.
Stuart heads up Feeding the 5,000
- a global campaign that works with
governments, businesses and society
to catalyse change in social attitudes
and help engineer solutions to deal
with the food waste crisis. An ardent
environmentalist, he travels extensively
around the world with key stakeholders
visiting farms and suppliers to witness
what is going on first hand. What he
sees, he says, is often shocking.
"I went to Kenya in February and
saw farmers out there wasting 40% of
the food they grow because it doesn't
meet arbitrary or overly-strict cosmetic
standards for the supermarkets they
supply. They were cutting beans in half
to fit into specified trays and suffering
from the consequences of cancelled
forecasts," he recalls.
What is happening out in Kenya is
likely being replicated across other
global supply chains. Earlier this
year a report from the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers criticised major
food retailers for not doing enough
to address the issue - with up to half
the world's food estimated to be going
to waste each year (2 billion tonnes),
it called for supermarkets to relax
strict sell-by dates, sell more misshapen
produce and ease up on bulk offers.
However where the real problem lies
