Consumer Goods Forum Tackling Upstream Food Loss Across the Supply Chain With Free Tool
Approximately 15% off all food produced around the world each year never makes it off the farm, according to a 2021 report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Tesco, wasting large amounts of water and energy and creating big losses for growers and buyers.
The Consumer Goods Forum has teamed with WWF to tackle this problem by launching a Global Farm Loss Tool that helps growers track the volume of unharvested products and whether it is marketable, non-marketable or spoiled. It can estimate how much surplus food was left in the field and what was lost in later stages of the supply chain such as processing and packing.
The first public version of the tool can be used for all crops but is especially geared towards fruits, vegetables and tree nuts.
CGF supported the Global Farm Loss Tool’s beta testing through its Food Waste Coalition, a group of 18 top food brands, retailers and manufacturers including McCain Foods, Tesco, Ahold Delhaize, and General Mills established in 2020 with the focus of halving global food loss and waste by 2030 to work towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
The goal of the free tool is to help identify and address the causes of food loss and find new channels to use what is grown but never makes it to market. It’s said to be compatible with leading reporting programs and will be integrated into existing farm sustainability reporting frameworks.
McCain Foods and Tesco were among the member companies that trialed the tool. It’s expected to be instrumental for McCain’s partners as they work to identify and reduce food loss from the field, said Max Koeune, president and CEO, in a statement.
“As an industry, we must continue to increase efforts to tackle food loss and waste throughout the entire supply chain, including on-farm. At Tesco, we are proud that over 100 of our growers are now measuring and tackling their in-field and production food loss, and through collaboration with WWF, many have contributed to the testing of the Global Farm Loss Tool,” added Ken Murphy, CEO of Tesco. “With collaboration across retailers, farmers and suppliers, we can help identify the causes of post-harvest food loss and reduce its environmental impact, while getting more of the food we grow to humans.”
The Consumer Goods Forum said it will continue to work with the WWF to assess the tool’s impact, improve its user experience, and introduce it to more growers and suppliers to expand its use across various food types.
“Growers are vital to helping ensure a sustainable food system,” CGF director of health and sustainability Sharon Bligh said. “The CGF is committed to supporting our members to help growers in their supply chains to track, address and ultimately reduce the footprint of agriculture. This data is essential for accelerating our transition to a more efficient and circular food system.”
