Food industry joins forces to fight food waste with Australian Food Pact
The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) welcomes the launch of the Australian Food Pact today and congratulates the manufacturers and retailers who have joined as inaugural signatories in this important step towards halving food waste in Australia by 2030.
The Australian Food Pact is a voluntary agreement bringing organisations from across the nation’s food supply chain together in a collaborative, pre-competitive effort to address the issue of food waste, a problem estimated to result in $36 billion in economic losses each year.
The AFGC, the peak body for food and grocery manufacturers in Australia, is a supporting partner in Stop Food Waste Australia, an organisation established with funding from the federal government, which brings together federal, state and local governments, as well as the food industry and charities, to drive collaboration on reducing food waste.
AFGC CEO Tanya Barden congratulated the inaugural Food Pact signatories, which include AFGC member companies Goodman Fielder, Mars Australia, Simplot Australia, McCain and Mondelez Australia, as well as major retailers Coles and Woolworths Group.
“The Australian Food Pact represents a whole-of-supply-chain determination to reduce food waste and, in the process, make the nation’s food production and retail systems even more innovative and sustainable,” Ms Barden said.
Stop Food Waste Australia CEO Dr Steven Lapidge said food waste is a local, national and global challenge.
“Australians waste 7.6 million tonnes of food each year, equivalent to more than 300kg of wasted food per person per year,” Dr Lapidge said.
“The Australian Food Pact represents a major step forward in our bid to reduce food waste, and I commend all the signatories for their commitment to take action.”
The Australian Food Pact brings together organisations from “farm to fork” from across the Australian food industry, covering primary production, processing, manufacturing as well as wholesale, retail, hospitality, institutions and households. Stop Food Waste Australia will work with signatories on initiatives that may include sustainable product design and sourcing, supply chain optimisation, projects to influence business and consumer behaviours and increasing opportunities for food rescue and donation.