EU Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis Speaks at Inaugural Event : First Meeting of EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste
Lithuanian Commissioner, Vytenis Andriukaitis, has called for an end to “unethical” food waste at the launch of the ‘EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste’.
“There are days in the life of people and societies which mark a turning point, between a ‘before’ and an ‘after’; I am convinced that when it comes to that absurd unethical and anti-economic situation which we call 'food waste' this is one of those days,” he said.
The Platform has been established by the Commission to lead EU efforts to fight food losses and waste from farm to fork and make solid progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of halving food waste between now and 2030.
The commissioner called the “needless” loss of natural and nutritional resources in the food value chain is “unethical and immoral”.
“It is shameful to throw away food in the world where more than eight hundred million people go to bed hungry,” he said. “It carries substantial environmental, economic and indeed -humanitarian consequences that are simply unacceptable.”
According to Andriukaitis, by clarifying and monitoring resource flows in the food value chain, including food waste, the platofrm can help to identify input materials for other industrial uses, thereby promoting bio-economy.
“We all know the facts. In the EU, around 88 million tonnes of food waste are generated annually with related costs estimated at EUR 143 billion,” he continued. “88 million tonnes is a huge number. Even replacing it with elephants, airplanes or Eiffel Towers it remains just as incomprehensible.”
He also noted that while 20% of food produced in the EU is lost or wasted, 55 million people are not able to afford a quality meal every second day.
“We are all responsible,” he argued. “Every person – and every country— needs to minimise food waste as part of the fight against poverty and hunger. Fighting food waste requires us to ‘rethink’ collectively how we produce, market, distribute and consume food.”
“The Platform will represent the cornerstone of the outlined strategy to fight food waste by providing advice, experience and expertise to the Commission and Member States with the view to improve the coherent implementation and application of EU legislation, programmes and policies,” said the commissioner.
“To fight food waste and promote the circular economy, we need to redesign our food supply chain, minimising waste and optimising resource use to generate value for consumers, producers and society,” he concluded.
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