Working paper/research report

Authors list: Jensen, Jørgen Dejgård; Teuber, Ramona

Publication year: 2018

ISBN: 978-87-93768-01-7

URL: https://static-curis.ku.dk/portal/files/209141039/IFRO_Report_279.pdf

Title of series: IFRO Report

Number in series: 279

Abstract: 
Food losses and waste (FLW) have recently been debated as one of the major aspects to focus upon in order to achieve a more sustainable food system. Thus, FLW has been addressed, to a steadily increasing degree, in scientific literature as well as on regional, national and international policy agendas. In this context, the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food requested this report with the aim to receive science-based support regarding potential FLW prevention strategies. For this purpose the current report aimed at (i) providing a review of the current state of the art in assessing FLW prevention strategies and (ii) providing own cost-effectiveness estimates for different prevention strategies to reduce FLW in Denmark. More specifically, different FLW prevention strategies were evaluated in terms of their expected FLW prevention potential (expressed in tonnes), monetary costs and benefits as well as the associated environmental benefits in terms of prevented GHG emissions. The results indicate the following: First, in line with previous studies, the results show that FLW strategies targeting the food service and household level are estimated to be the most beneficial strategies to prevent FLW. This result is driven by the fact that in high-income countries such as Denmark, FLW occurs predominantly at later stages of the food supply chain (FSC) and that food at these stages embodies more value-added and a higher environmental foot print in comparison to previous supply stages. Second, the report shows that different FLW prevention strategies will reduce different FLW compositions and thus will have different associated environmental benefits. For example, improved knowledge about date labels among consumers is expected to reduce FLW within food product categories that possess a relatively high CO2-equivalent burden on a per-unit basis, such as dairy and meat.

Harvard Citation style: Jensen, J. and Teuber, R. (2018) Food waste prevention: State of the art in impact assessment and empirical evidence for Denmark. (IFRO Report, 279). Frederiksberg: Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen. https://static-curis.ku.dk/portal/files/209141039/IFRO_Report_279.pdf

APA Citation style: Jensen, J., & Teuber, R. (2018). Food waste prevention: State of the art in impact assessment and empirical evidence for Denmark. (IFRO Report, 279). Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen. https://static-curis.ku.dk/portal/files/209141039/IFRO_Report_279.pdf