Quantifying food losses and the potential for reduction in Switzerland

Abstract

A key element in making our food systems more efficient is the reduction of food losses across the entire food value chain. Nevertheless, food losses are often neglected. This paper quantifies food losses in Switzerland at the various stages of the food value chain (agricultural production, postharvest handling and trade, processing, food service industry, retail, and households), identifies hotspots and analyses the reasons for losses. Twenty-two food categories are modelled separately in a mass and energy flow analysis, based on data from 31 companies within the food value chain, and from public institutions, associations, and from the literature. The energy balance shows that 48% of the total calories produced (edible crop yields at harvest time and animal products, including slaughter waste) is lost across the whole food value chain. Half of these losses would be avoidable given appropriate mitigation measures. Most avoidable food losses occur at the household, processing, and agricultural production stage of the food value chain. Households are responsible for almost half of the total avoidable losses (in terms of calorific content).

Conceptual framework for the study of food waste generation and prevention in the hospitality sector

“…In more detail, approximately 17% of food was lost during 411 preparation, 7% as customer plate waste and 6% as buffet leftover waste. The total food waste rate 412 was higher than the average 20% reported by Beretta et al (2013), however lower than the maximum 413 food loss they encountered during their study, of 45% at a gourmet restaurant. In Figure 3 the liquid 414 fraction was included within the incoming food, food consumed and food waste and it was not 415 shown separately.…”

“…50 Research tends to focus on household and retail food waste, in order to inform national and local 51 waste management policy (see Parizeau et al, 2015;WRAP, 2013). Emerging literature covering 52 entire food supply chains (Beretta et al, 2013;Mena et al, 2014), the hospitality sector (Pirani and 53 Arafat, 2015), and canteens in workplaces (Goggins and Rau, 2015) provides insights into the 54 somewhat neglected topic of food waste generation outside the household. These gaps in literature 55 exist because the significance of food waste has been recognised only recently, and due to the way 56 food waste has been approached in research (Garrone et al, 2014).…”

“…Food waste has been studied 57 largely from an engineering, technological perspective, with the exception of a small but growing 58 number of researchers from other disciplines (Cohen, 2015;Edwards and Mercer, 2007;Evans, 2014;59 Papargyropoulou et al, 2014). In addition, food waste has predominately been studied either 60 through quantitative (see Beretta et al, 2013) or qualitative (e.g. Evans, 2011) methods; however, 61…”

Determinants of Plate Leftovers in One German Catering Company

“…The fact that overall around 30-50% of produced food ends up uneaten as waste [1] demonstrates that scarce resources are inefficiently allocated. The food systems' impact on natural resources such as water, land and climate, as well as on ecosystems, is undeniable (see e.g., [2][3][4][5]). For example, 70% of fresh water use worldwide can be attributed to the food system [5].…”

“…in the home with those that occur when eating out" for future reductions of food waste [21]. In this context, it should be noted that out-of-home settings in different countries, although to a lower extent than private households, have been found to add a relevant share of total food waste [2,22,23], thus are a relevant field of action to reduce negative environmental effects of food consumption [24]. Falasconi et al [20] could show that a significant driver of food waste in schools is the amount of food processed but not served.…”