'Fresh produce needs to be sold loose to break UK’s food waste habit'

Despite being a nation of food lovers, when it comes to food waste, fresh produce are the UK’s most binned items, states a recent report, recommending that more fresh produce needs to be sold/bought loose to help break the "UK’s £1,000 a year food waste habit".

In Food Waste Action Week, Love Food Hate Waste publishes its annual Household Food Management Survey giving a snapshot of the nation’s behaviours and attitudes towards food.

Each year in UK homes an estimated 510,000 tonnes of potatoes are binned, representing 46 per cent of all potatoes bought.

The largest and longest running survey of its kind, the latest Love Food Hate Waste Household Food Management Survey show that self-reported food waste has increased to 21 per cent for the four key food items monitored (bread, milk, potatoes and chicken), meaning a fifth of these end up in the bin.

The rise in self-reported food waste recorded coincided with the easing of several key pressures that had kept food waste in check over recent years, including food price inflation and concerns about the cost-of-living and food availability.

But Love Food Hate Waste says one reason why so much fresh produce ends up in our bins is because most is sold packaged, denying shoppers a chance to buy an amount closer to their needs.

In the UK, only 19 per cent of fresh produce is sold loose by large retailers.

Jackie Baily, Senior Campaign Manager Love Food Hate Waste, “We see fresh produce as the real kitchen victim when it comes to food waste. Because most fruit and veg is sold packaged, we have to buy what we’re given not what we need, and that means a lot goes to waste.

"As a result, our bins have a diet that most nutritionists would envy. And we’re a long way from breaking our food waste habit because of this packaging.”

Ahead of the roll out of separate food waste collections in England, Love Food Hate Waste is keen to help people reduce the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables ending up in the bin through better access to loose produce.

An estimated 60,000 tonnes of food waste could be prevented if all apples, potatoes and bananas were sold loose, representing 8.2 million shopping baskets’ worth of food.

Love Food Hate Waste is using Food Waste Action Week to show the growing public demand for more loose fruit and veg in the fresh produce aisles. And WRAP, the environmental action NGO behind Love Food Hate Waste, is also calling for a consultation for a potential ban on packaging for 21 products in the fresh produce aisles.

Food waste made flesh

Love Food Hate Waste found that our ability to judge how much is the right amount to buy has weakened slightly for the first time in several surveys and that except for bread, most people find judging the right amount of fresh produce trickier than any other product – particularly potatoes.

When it comes to buying loose, people enjoy not having a date label on loose fresh produce and we’re happy to use judgement alone on when fruit and vegetables are still good to eat far more than a Best Before date - most noticeably for onions (75 per cent).

Outside of the fresh produce category, people use date labels (Use-By) for items for which food safety is an issue, such as fresh chicken and pork. But for milk, we’re evenly split between using our judgement or a date label.

On a per capita basis, the latest survey suggests that 27 per cent of UK citizens classify as ‘higher’ food wasters. In addition, Love Food Hate Waste found a disparity between people’s perception of their own waste and the reality, with nearly 8 out of 10 interviewees believing they waste less than the average.

Food waste occurs across all sociodemographic groups in the UK, without exception. But Love Food Hate Waste warns that certain groups are more prone to falling into the high food waste category.

Higher levels of food waste were concentrated among younger people, those with children and those with a higher number of displaced meals (when plans change last minute, or something happens meaning we don’t eat the food we’d planned at home).

In addition, Love Food Hate Waste found a link between people who use alternative methods of food shopping and higher levels of reported food waste, albeit a far lesser number.

This includes those who use Click and collect (38 per cent higher food waste), fruit and veg box schemes (48 per cent), subscription delivery (47 per cent) and delivery companies (40 per cent).

Love food Hate Waste has put forward a range of recommendations to help mitigate against household food waste.

These include making it easier to purchase the right amount of food through better access to loose produce, introducing smaller pack sizes at comparable prices and curbing in-store promotions encouraging over-purchasing for perishable foods (e.g., impulse-driven multibuy offers).

And enhancing individual citizens’ skills in meal planning and portion estimation.