European Commission, Joint Research Centre, C. Caldeira, S. Sala, V. De Laurentiis. Publications Office of the European Union, 2019.

This report presents the results of of an assessment of food waste prevention actions. These involved (i) the collection of such actions through a survey distributed to the members of the EU Platform on FLW; (ii) the development of a systematic framework to evaluate food waste prevention actions with selected criteria and indicators, including a calculator for assessing impacts on the basis of life cycle assessment; and (iii) the assessment of the actions reported according to the framework developed. A total of 91 actions have been submitted by different actors (NGOs, local authorities, companies, etc.) covering a wide spectrum of action typologies.

European Environment Agency. Publications Office of the European Union, 2020.

This report provides an overview of bio-waste prevention, generation, collection and treatment in Europe. It aims to support countries by sharing experience and best practice. The focus of this report is on food and garden waste from households and similar public and commercial activities such as food services.

The European Commission, Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy, 2020.

This brief on food waste is one out of a series of Bioeconomy Knowledge Centre briefs which intend to provide independent evidence for EU policy in this field.

European Commission, Joint Research Centre, V. Laurentiis, et al..Publications Office of the European Union, 2021.

This report presents a harmonized modelling system that enables the estimation of food waste generated by European Union Member States and to assess the amounts reported by each country.

European Commission, Joint Research Centre, P. Gurría, et al. Publications Office of the European Union, 2022.

The EU Biomass Flows tool is a visualisation, in the form of Sankey diagrams, of the flows of biomass for each sector of the bioeconomy, from supply to uses including trade. It displays the harmonised data from the various Joint Research Centre (JRC) units contributing to the BIOMASS Assessment study of the JRC3. This edition contains, among others, four areas: migration to EU27 aggregation, redesign of the flows for woody biomass Update of the data with the latest available years and visualisation of food waste flows. The most important changes of this new release are focused on four areas: migration to EU27 aggregation, redesign of the flows for woody biomass Update of the data with the latest available years and visualisation of food waste flows.

European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Boysen-Urban, K., et al. Publications Office of the European Union, 2022.

Healthier, more sustainable and more equitable food systems have a key role to deliver progress on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study aims at assessing the impact of behavioural changes with regard to food consumption with a focus on the objectives of SDG target 12.3. As a stylised representation of our finite planetary resources, the study employs a recursive dynamic global computable general equilibrium simulation model known as MAGNET, which is ideally suited to examining forward-looking medium- to long-term scenarios.

European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, I. Froidmont-Görtz, et al. Publications Office of the European Union, 2020.

This publication frames the deployment phase of the European Commission’s Food 2030 initiative and is relevant to Horizon Europe, the Farm to Fork strategy and European Green Deal, and beyond. The report sets out 10 Pathways where research and innovation can concretely deliver co-benefits to nutrition, climate, circularity and communities, at multiple levels: from local to international.

European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Stummerer, S., Hablesreiter, M. Publications Office of the European Union, 2023.

The Farm to Fork strategy is a cornerstone of the European Green Deal. It strives for a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system fulfilling the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The strategy presents the policy perspective: the case for action; the need to build a new food chain; the imperative for a just and fair transition benefitting all actors within the EU and beyond. Essentially, it puts forward the grand plan for sustainable food systems.

European Commission, Eurostat, Cook, E. Publications Office of the European Union, 2022.

Key figures on the European food chain presents a selection of indicators concerning the food chain, from primary production in agriculture and fisheries through to consumption. Data are presented for the European Union (EU), its individual Member States and European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) countries. This publication may be viewed as an introduction to agriculture, fisheries and food chain statistics.

European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Vittuari, M., García Herrero, L., Caldeira, C., et al. Publications Office of the European Union, 2023.

Consumer food waste at the household level results from a complex set of behaviours. These are influenced by psychological, sociocultural and economic factors such as awareness, attitudes, knowledge, emotions and context-related factors such as available technologies, referred to in this report as ‘drivers’. Opportunities to reduce food waste systematically and practically, referred to in this report as ‘levers’, are distinct from drivers but have rarely been documented in previous studies. The identification of drivers and levers helps in designing effective interventions to tackle consumer food waste. The report aims to review drivers, levers and interventions relating to consumer food waste and to identify potential interventions to stimulate behavioural change.

European Commission, Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

This report provides a extensive overview of voluntary agreements (VAs) on food loss and waste reduction across Europe, detailing approaches, impacts and lessons learned, drawing from information gathered from 13 EU Member States, examples from Norway and the UK, and one international coalition of stakeholders as well as three other forms of collaboration. The primary strength of VAs lies in their collaborative nature, which unites governments, businesses, NGOs, and knowledge providers in a shared objective to prevent and reduce food loss and waste. As the examples from this report demonstrate, the collaborative approach fosters a culture of innovation and empowers stakeholders to develop tailored solutions suited to their specific circumstances. The strength of Vas lies in their capacity to engage stakeholders across the entire food supply chain.

European Commission, Joint Research Centre, V. De Laurentiis, et al. Publications Office of the European Union, 2019..

This publication is a literature review of existing studies quantifying food waste in the European Union's Member States in order to understand the state of play in food waste quantification in these states. This review was carried out in light of the elements defined in the delegated act that has been adopted by the Commission on 3rd May 2019, establishing a common methodology and minimum quality requirements for the uniform measurement of level of food waste generated in Member States.

R. Soldi, S. Cavallini. Brussel: European Committee of the Regions, 2020.

This study investigates food policy governance structures and approaches at the local and regional levels which are used to make territorial food systems more sustainable. The aim is twofold: 1) to understand the role of European local and regional authorities (LRAs) in territorial food system governance and 2) to outline LRAs’ contribution to the European Commission’s Farm to Fork strategy (COM(2020) 381 final).

European Commission, Joint Research Centre, C. Caldeira, V. De Laurentiis, S. Serenella. Publications Office of the European Union, 2019.

This report summarizes the main limitations and data gaps encountered that hinder comparability of the results of a review of studies quantifying food waste at Member State level. Issues identified include: the food waste definition used, the assessment of edible and inedible food waste, the geographical and temporal scope and system boundaries, the quantification of food waste drained as/with wastewater, the choice of the measurement method, the use of primary and/or secondary data, the adoption of sampling and upscaling procedures, and the assessment of the results uncertainty. Additionally, suggestions are provided to support Member States in addressing the limitations and data gaps encountered. Additionally, suggestions are provided to support Member States in addressing the limitations and data gaps encountered. The harmonization of food waste quantification across the Member States is essential to ensure the comparability of the results and to assess the performance of the EU towards target 12.3 defined under the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production.