The EU Platform formulated key recommendations for action of the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste in food waste prevention, which were published in December 2019.
In line with the integrated, holistic approach needed to tackle food waste without compromising food safety, the Platform recommendations address action required by public and private players at each stage of the food supply chain (including food redistribution).
The recommendations also include a set of horizontal or ‘cross-cutting’ recommendations, which are common across various stages of the food value chain, often involve multiple actors and are needed to achieve the global food loss and waste targets (SDG Target 12.3).
The exercise was led by 6 rapporteurs, from the Platform's sub-group on 'Action and Implementation', who proposed an initial set of actions, which were then further developed through a wide consultation process involving all members of the Platform.
The recommendations for action will play a key role in helping to scale-up action across the EU, mobilising Member States, food businesses and civil society, as called for by the Farm to Fork Strategy.
The Platform recommendations build on the work of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC) to develop a common evaluation framework for food waste prevention actions.
Voluntary agreements on food loss and waste prevention
The Action & Implementation sub-group has been discussing the role of Voluntary agreements (VAs) on food loss and waste prevention in order to drive further action in this area and to progress faster towards the global SDG 12.3 Target. Following discussions in the first meeting in June 2022, members agreed on creating a report with key learnings from members' implementation of VAs in order to help and inspire other members who would like to start a new VA or to improve an existent one. For this exercise, we focused on public-private partnerships, in line with the Platform's key recommendations for action and the mandate of the A & I sub-group.