Thematic area: Climate, Environment and Energy. Sector: Sustainable Food Systems
Reduce Food Waste Campaign
Partners: 
Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation / 
DG SANTE.
Year: 2017
Project Overview:
Coordinated by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) in collaboration with WWF-Brazil and with support from the EU-Brazil Sector Dialogues Support Facility, this project was included in the Top-Down category as it is a priority area for political exchanges between the European Union and Brazil. The goal is to foster a discussion on the actions required to reduce food waste in Brazil as a way of positively influencing the decision-making process in the public, retail and industrial sectors.
Through dialogues between EU countries and Brazil on best practices on food waste reduction in terms of public policies, the retail sector and consumer awareness campaigns, it is expected to have a positive impact on the outcome of draft laws under review at the Brazilian Parliament with a focus on food waste reduction in Brazil, as well as engaging new retail and industrial players in the fight against food waste. It is assumed that the involvement of producers, retailers and the food industry, policymakers, and consumers will be conducive to win-win solutions for the benefit of society as a whole.
As part of this project, a mission will visit Europe and a seminar with European experts, Brazilian researchers and members from retail and industrial sectors will be held. The purpose is to learn about and share best practices in fighting food waste at the end of the food chain, in addition to awareness campaigns and the public-private platforms that have been set up in some EU countries.
One of the challenges in Brazil over food waste is the lack of quantitative data. The statistics available so far are from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and refer to the whole of Latin America – 28% of losses occur at the beginning of the process and 28% at the end of the chain –, problems faced by Brazil, but these percentages are not yet known.
In order to bridge this data gap, one of the expected outcomes of the project will be a survey to measure food waste, which may use the methodology developed by the Wageningen University, which focuses on the search for information that could inform public policies that encourage the fight against food waste throughout the chain and allow the creation of awareness campaigns that prompt the public to act.
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