Save food? Safe food!

‘Safe food’ and ‘save food’ are inextricably linked – at social, economic and political level. In late May two reports were published containing new figures about food waste in the Netherlands (www.rijksoverheid.nl). They indicate a reduction of just 15% over the space of six years, which falls way short of achieving the targets. 

The topic is high on the agenda in Brussels too. More than 100 million tons of food are wasted in Europe each year, and these figures do not even include agricultural losses and fish discards. Waste occurs in all links of the food chain: production, processing, wholesale, retail, catering services, restaurants and consumers’ homes. And all the studies confirm that, of all of these links, consumers waste the most.

As part of its strategy for the efficient use of raw materials, the EU wants to halve the amount of edible food wasted by 2020. One of the instruments in achieving that aim (and which has been unanimously accepted by the European Parliament) is the promotion of a Europe-wide ‘weekly leftovers day’. That idea made me smile. Another suggestion is to better explain the difference between the Best Before and Use By dates (inspired!), and one study is currently investigating the idea of leaving the Best Before date off certain products. Even in Brussels, they understand that tackling food waste without putting food safety at risk is a pretty tough challenge.
 
The dangers of unsafe food lurk everywhere, especially in the summer when chicken fillets and other meat products are left too long at ambient temperature in shopping bags, where the lack of refrigeration allows explosive growth of microorganisms and moulds. During barbecues, the same plates are used whether the meat is raw or cooked – not to mention that the meat is often impatiently consumed when it’s only half done. A few days later, the consumer is the one who suffers. Gravely ill, he points the finger of blame at the manufacturer.

But even if consumers are the champions in wasting perfectly good food and furthermore excel at producing food-unsafe meals (even without reheating leftovers), you – the manufacturer – are required to not only produce and supply sustainable, food-safe products, but also to be able to prove it. Products, retailers and foodservice outlets are under ever-tighter scrutiny – not only from the likes of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), but also from increasingly proactive customers and suppliers. Is that burdensome? Or is it simply to be expected? 

If you want to avoid product recalls and to reduce waste, it’s always possible to make things even better, cleaner and safer. Enjoy reading how this month!

Judith Witte
 
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