Cities multiply the food loss and waste problem manifold because of their size, the constant need for availability and relatively low cost of food, the higher incomes of city dwellers compared to rural areas, the lower understanding of food production systems and their environmental impact, and, in developing countries, the lack of refrigerated storage. Already now, food waste makes up over half of the solid waste produced in urban areas and creates a huge environmental, financial and social problem for cities. With increasing rural to urban migration expected in the coming years, these problems will be amplified even more.UNECE’s preventive food loss measures aim at keeping the quality of food to prevent losses along the supply chain, guiding stakeholders on how to handle food and repurpose food otherwise lost to keep as much food as possible in the human consumption chain and helping to maintain a sustainable supply of good quality food. They include:
- Adapting constantly its standards to prevent food loss along the entire supply chain including the end points in cities
- Advocating for maintaining quality from the farm to the city distribution points through international best practice
- A smart mobile App for repurposing food removed from the supply chains
- A Code of Good Practice to prevent food loss
Resources
- Improved use of fruit and vegetables – Trade standards and a UNECE code of good practice
- Fighting food loss through a mobile app
- Management of Leftover Food
- Ugly Vegetables: Waste or an Opportunity for Trade?
- Food waste prevention in the hospitality sector: structural issues and tangible solutions
- Retail Supply Chain Waste Reduction Program
- Food waste and consumer behaviour, Flanders, Belgium (E)
- Gaspillage alimnentaire et comportement des ménages flamands (F)