Alyse Thompson-Richards  I  Editor-in-Chief

Food waste is a complex issue, but it’s an important one.

It involves all parts of the food industry – not only those in the manufacturing sector. Retailers and foodservice operators also have a role to play in reducing waste in their operations and supply chains.

Many food companies are “talking the talk” on food waste, new research from nonprofit ReFED shows, but are they walking the walk?

In its recent review of publicly available disclosures from the parent companies of 75 manufacturers, retailers, foodservice contractors and quick-service restaurants, ReFED found 73% “acknowledge food waste as in issue” but fewer than one-third (26.7%) have set quantitative targets for reducing it.

For this study, ReFED categorized the sample companies into four tiers:

Tier 1: Those that don’t reference food waste in public reporting

Tier 2: Those that mention food waste but have no established targets

Tier 3: Those that have diversion-based goals

Tier 4: Those that have quantitative food waste reduction targets

When looking by sector, ReFED found gaps between discussion and action. The good news — manufacturing leads, with 40% of represented companies reporting quantitative targets. Specifically, these organizations frequently provide a baseline year, a metric and a reduction target. Another 35% mentioned food waste but did not have a specific target. One in five didn’t discuss food waste at all in public reporting, while 5% listed diversion-based targets.

Quick-service restaurants appear to have the furthest to go, with more than half (55%) making no mention of food waste. Another 25% mentioned food waste but didn’t disclose a specific target. Meanwhile, 10% presented diversion-based goals and another 10% offered a quantitative reduction target.

More than half of foodservice contractors mentioned food waste but did not lay out any reduction targets, while a third did lay out quantitative targets. However, ReFED notes just 15 companies in this category were included, versus 20 in all other categories.

Represented retailers were fairly split among the tiers, with 15% in Tier 1, 35% in Tier 2, 25% in Tier 3 and 25% in Tier 4.

While the food manufacturing sector can celebrate a little, there’s still more to do. ReFED says developing “prevention-focused, quantitative reduction targets” is often the next step.

“Establishing time-bound goals with defined baselines and transparent reporting practices would strengthen credibility and better align corporate action with global best practices,” the ReFED’s report reads. “There are opportunities for companies to strengthen their food waste commitments and public reporting, with the first step being measuring food waste within their business today.” FE