Euro Coop enters partnership with FAO

Euro Coop is pleased to announce partnership with FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) on initiative “SAVE FOOD: Global Initiative on Food Loss and Waste Reduction.”

At the first presentation of the initiative in May 2011, Werner M. Dornscheidt, President and CEO of Messe Düsseldorf GmbH, who collaborates with FAO on this initiative, explained the objectives of the initiative: “Our goal is that in industrialized countries less food gets disposed of and that consumers plan their purchases carefully, but most importantly we need to raise awareness at the industry level on the issue of food losses which is a priority for the future.”

The initiative fosters participation in conferences and projects, whilst supporting organisations in developing effective measures and raising public awareness on food waste. The partnership will allow co-operatives to demonstrate their impact on enabling food waste prevention and reduction through the unique business model and through their important role in the community.

The Global Initiative operates on the following four pillars:

• Awareness raising on the impact of, and solutions for food loss and waste. This will be achieved by a global communication and media campaign, the dissemination of Save Food programme findings and results, and the organization of Regional SAVE FOOD Congresses. Important goals are increased knowledge and changed behaviour of actors and consumers in the food chains, and promotion of the SAVE FOOD initiative to attract partners.
• Collaboration and coordination of world-wide initiatives on food loss and waste reduction. SAVE FOOD is establishing a global partnership of public and private sector organizations and companies that are active in the fight against food loss and waste. In order to develop, plan and implement interventions and use resources most efficiently, it is essential that all these initiatives are being coordinated well, so that everybody knows what is happening world-wide, that information, problems and solutions can be shared, and that methodologies, strategies and approaches will be harmonised.
• Policy, strategy and programme development for food loss and waste reduction. This includes a series of field studies on a national-regional basis, combining a food chain approach to loss assessments with cost-benefit analyses to determine which food loss reduction interventions provide the best returns on investment. Further, the Initiative undertakes studies to the socio-economic impacts of food loss and waste, and the political and regulatory framework that affects food loss and waste. 
•  Support to investment programmes and projects, implemented by private and public sectors. This includes technical and managerial support for, as well as capacity building (training) of food supply chain actors and organizations involved in food loss and waste reduction, either at the food subsector level or policy level.