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Reducing food loss and waste — edible food being discarded — is a major issue for Japanese society, which has a low rate of food self-sufficiency. The government and companies must put their ingenuity to use for reduction.
The government has released its new target for reducing food loss and waste. It aims for a 60% reduction of loss and waste in food manufacturing, food services and other businesses by fiscal 2030 from 5.47 million tons in fiscal 2000.
The government initially aimed for a 50% reduction but met this target ahead of schedule, with the amount of food loss and waste having been brought down to 2.36 million tons in fiscal 2022. Given that, it has set a more stringent target by seeking an additional 10% reduction.
In the food industry, there is a business practice wherein products cannot be delivered to retailers after a third of the period from production to the best-by date passes. This practice has now been reevaluated, making it possible to extend the best-by date for processed foods. Such steps appear to have proven effective.
In the future, it will also be necessary to make efforts to optimize supply, using such means as demand projections made through artificial intelligence.
Even so, the food manufacturing sector has generated 1.17 million tons of food loss per year, and annual food waste from the food service sector has amounted to 600,000 tons. Reduction efforts must not be neglected.
To achieve the new target, it will be necessary to reduce food loss and waste by an additional 170,000 tons, but there must still be many things that can be done.
One idea is to make use of food banks, which accept substandard products from food manufacturers and other businesses free of charge and provide these products to welfare facilities and other entities.
The government is working to create a system to certify food safety management and other skills to ensure the quality of food banks.
It is important to encourage businesses to donate food by developing a system that can respond to the persistent issue of not knowing where to give food products, as well as how to handle food poisoning and other concerns.
Due to family circumstances and rising prices, many children have been unable to get adequate amounts of food. The number of kodomo shokudo cafeterias that provide free or low-price meals for children has exceeded 10,000 nationwide. However, as the amount of food donated stands at about 10,000 tons a year, many operators of such cafeterias have struggled with a shortage of aid supplies.
If large donations from businesses and other entities increase, it will be possible to reduce food loss and waste, as well as support people in need at the same time. Why not consider establishing a system to use this food, previously intended to be discarded, for school lunches?
To reduce food waste in the food service sector, it is important not only for consumers to try not to let food go to waste, but also for restaurants and shops to be flexible in catering to consumer requests, such as for smaller portions.
On the other hand, food waste from households amounted to 2.36 million tons in fiscal 2022.
There have been many cases in which people buy excessive amounts of inexpensive groceries, such as tofu and natto, or cook too much food at home and end up throwing away the leftovers. It is crucial for each person to be aware of not buying or cooking too much food.
