Food Companies And Manufacturers In UK Looking To Simplify Food Lab...

It's estimated that the average home in the UK is throwing away at least $600 worth of food every single year.

And more often than not, this food is perfectly edible, yet people continue to throw away at least 12 percent or more of the food that they buy.

Entire food items are being thrown into the trash, it's not just a few scraps. There are whole vegetables, entire packages of meat, and more. And it isn't only personal shoppers who are guilty of this habit but a great deal of restaurants and other businesses are as well.

It's an issue not just in the UK, but in countries around the world, including the US who happens to be credited with being in first place when it comes to food waste.

There is a tremendous amount of food that ends-up at the landfill that doesn't need to, and entrepreneurs have been looking to ways to change that.

A number of projects have been launched to try and address this problem. There is now a wide variety of apps that are available which are looking to pair restaurants and other businesses with consumers, to try and help them to sell their products before they are forced to toss them in the garbage bin.

These apps, by linking that unsold food with those who are interested, are not only helping the businesses to save money from otherwise having to ship that unwanted food themselves somewhere else, but they are also bringing more people to the store that otherwise might have been unlikely to make the visit.

In the UK, some of the largest food companies, brands, and manufacturers in the market are right now coordinating an effort to improve their food labels, in a voluntary fashion, to make it a little easier for consumers to understand.

They think that one of the biggest reasons people are throwing away food is because they don't know how to read the label; it's too confusing for them.

Those behind the changes are working on new guidance that was issued by a food advisory body known as WRAP. They are currently working on making changes to reverse “Use By” labels to now say “Best Before” and they are also going to be adding information along with products that detail instructions on how to best keep them fresh for longer.

As well, the label which states it should be “[freezed] on day of purchase]” will now read “[needs to be put in freezer] before the date shown]” on a variety of meat products.

They are also going to introduce a snowflake logo that will indicate which items can be put into the freezer, and a blue fridge logo for items that can be stored for a longer period of time in the fridge.

For right now, their collective effort and commitment to try and overhaul the marketing of thousands of different products, to help consumers make better choices and keep food out of landfills, is aiming to have these changes implemented by 2025.

Aside from this effort in the UK, there are a great deal of restaurants, hotels, retailers, and other establishments, which have been looking to cut down on their waste in similar ways. Technology has made it convenient and efficient now for these companies to find a way to either sell those products at a discount or donate them to those who could really use them.

Pics:
Pixabay
pixabay
pinterest via pinterest.ca/pin/539939442798692298/
WRAP via sustainablebrands.com

Sources:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42159434
https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2017/12/01/UK-takes-on-food-waste-with-fresh-labelling-guidance
http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/waste_not/sustainable_brands/wrap_releases_date_label_guidance_drive_down_uk_food_was
https://www.hotelmanagement.net/food-beverage/american-hotel-lodging-association-shares-food-waste-project-results-hotel-toolkit
http://metro.co.uk/2017/11/30/food-labels-are-being-simplified-in-bid-to-cut-kitchen-waste-7122319/
https://www.newfoodmagazine.com/news/46635/blue-fridge-waste/
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-food-waste-research-money-1.4425561
https://paloaltoonline.com/news/2017/11/30/ending-the-wasted-food-run-around

Food Companies And Manufacturers In UK Looking To Simplify Food Labels

It's estimated that the average home in the UK is throwing away at least $600 worth of food every single year.

It's an issue not just in the UK, but in countries around the world, including the US who happens to be credited with being in first place when it comes to food waste.

There is a tremendous amount of food that ends-up at the landfill that doesn't need to, and entrepreneurs have been looking to ways to change that.

In the UK, some of the largest food companies, brands, and manufacturers in the market are right now coordinating an effort to improve their food labels, in a voluntary fashion, to make it a little easier for consumers to understand.

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