Federal interagency strategy focuses on six key areas to reduce food loss and waste throughout 2020
By NACS Online // April 22, 2019
WASHINGTON — Three federal agencies, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have released a new strategy to fight food waste, according to Forbes.
The Winning on Reducing Food Waste Federal Interagency Strategypresents six key priority areas the three agencies will work on. For the next year, efforts will focus on increasing consumer education, improving coordination and guidance and improving federal agency office waste reduction. Work also will be done to clarify issues around food safety, food date labels, and food donation. This newly released strategy is part of a Winning on Reducing Food Waste Initiative launched by the three agencies in October 2018.
“As the world’s population continues to grow to nearly 10 billion people by 2050 and the food systems continue to evolve, now is the time for action to educate consumers and businesses alike on the need for food waste reduction,” said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. “Our nation’s agricultural abundance should be used to nourish those in need, not fill the trash.”
The strategy aims to reduce food lost and waste by 50% by 2030. In the United States, 30-40%of all available food goes uneaten through loss or waste. It’s the single largest type of waste in our daily trash.
Businesses can join the EPA’s Food Recovery Challengeand pledge to improve their sustainable food management practices.
