As FOLOU partners are finalising analysis of European food loss policies. It becomes evident that the project’s frontrunner region Catalonia is indeed a leader in the fight against food loss. The Catalan Law 3/2020 on Food Loss and Waste prevention was one of the first in Europe containing a definition of food loss and addressing it systematically.

Over the past two years, PROMAN, ARC and DARPA with inputs from ACR+, FOLOU partners and external experts have analysed policies on food loss and waste and policies directly or indirectly impacting generation of primary production food loss (e.g. agricultural policies, food quality and safety standards, etc.) from the European Union and beyond.

EU policy to date is focused on food waste, neglecting primary production losses such as food remaining unharvested or ploughed back into the field, animals ready for slaughter falling victim to disease, accidents or predators, etc. Consequently, food loss is also underrepresented in policies in the EU Member States. In practice, there is however no sharp distinction between production losses, food loss and food waste in primary production. Therefore, measures implemented to minimise food waste along the food supply chain always have impacts on food loss as well. Moreover, agricultural and fisheries policies, marketing and food safety standards and policies regulating trading practices between suppliers and buyers may have significant impacts on food loss generation and prevention. As long as food loss is not dealt with and especially quantified systematically, these synergies and trade-offs remain unclear though.

Meanwhile, the Catalonian Law 3/2020 on Food Loss and Waste prevention was already adopted several years ago. It was among the first in Europe to adopt a definition of food loss, treats the whole food supply chain in an integrated manner, contains mandatory requirements for food loss quantification and reporting and supports its prevention. Other countries and regions have initiated action on food loss prevention, but do not reach the same level of comprehensiveness. For instance, in Spain a law modelled after the Catalan example is currently under preparation but lacks behind in obligations for food loss quantification. France requires all food supply chain actors to develop food loss and waste prevention plans but remains unclear in the meaning of the terms. To the contrary, the Italian Legge Gadda provides a clear definition of food loss, but only addresses it in few of the provisions. Flanders and Great Britain, on the other hand, follow a holistic approach of food loss and waste prevention in voluntary strategies / agreements, which are, however, not backed up by binding legislation. Nevertheless, even the Catalan law does not contain any specific food loss reduction targets to date.

Overall, the assessment revealed a need for an integrative approach covering production losses, food loss and food waste along the whole value chain. Latest proposals for an amendment of the EU Waste Framework Directive and for the development of a Sustainable Food Systems Directive can be seen as a first step in this direction. Thus, policy action on food loss and waste is expected to gain significant traction over the next years. Great efforts will be needed on harmonizing data collection and fostering collaboration among Member States to align the policies that lead to a sustainable food system. FOLOU will support these efforts through the development of practice guidelines and policy briefs, which will be in focus during the second half of the project.