Australia must adopt a national food waste strategy to ensure the long-term sustainability of the nation’s food supply, the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) said yesterday (3 May) at the launch of the New South Wales government’s Love Food, Hate Waste campaign.

While the AFGC said Australia’s leading food and grocery companies are already reducing waste, the industry body urged all states and territories as well as households to adopt a similar approach and minimise food waste.

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AFGC chief executive Kate Carnell congratulated the NSW Government on the innovative project which aims to reduce the amount of energy, water and resources used to grow, package and supply food.

“AFGC considers food waste as one of the key environmental issues facing the nation,” Carnell said.

An analysis of household expenditure on food, conducted by the Australia Institute in November 2009, showed that Australian households throw away more than A$5bn (US$4.6bn) worth of food each year.

While on average, Australia’s food and grocery manufacturers send the equivalent of less than 1% of finished products to landfill each year, according to AFGC’s 2007-08 Towards Sustainability Report.

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“This level of waste is unsustainable – it’s bad for the environment and for the economy,” Carnell said.

“We need a fundamental shift in thinking and that’s why industry is calling for food waste to be an integral part of Australia’s national waste strategy. Industry is committed to working in partnership with government, retailers and the wider community to ensure Australia’s food supply is sustainable into the future.”

Australia’s food and grocery companies are also helping to reduce food waste by donating vast amounts of products to people in desperate need through Foodbank Australia.

Australian Food News is Australia’s leading resource for the food industry, delivering daily news from the grocery, retail and hospitality sectors to 40,000 professionals each month. http://www.ausfoodnews.com.au/

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