EC Library Guide on food waste: Selected articles
A selection of research articles
- Consumers' perception of suboptimal food: Strategies to reduce food waste
E. Varese, M.C. Cesarani, M. Wojnarowska. In: British Food Journal, vol. 125 (1), 2023.
The purpose of this paper is to review, through a systematic literature review, the different perspectives from which imperfect, ugly and suboptimal food products lead to food waste, as well as to ascertain which are the already proposed improvements, and to present further solutions to develop more sustainable food production and consumption.
Results reveal that, among 188 papers, only 49 fit the aim of the literature review, analysing what strategies can be used to ameliorate consumers' perception of suboptimal food in order to fight food waste. Specifically, four different interventions are suggested: on the supply chain, on personal experience and awareness campaigns, on promoting circular economy, and on marketing and advertising campaigns.
- Conversion of food waste to renewable energy: A techno-economic and environmental assessment
Y. Chen, et al. In: Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 385 (C), 2023.
This study is focused on the techno-economic and environmental assessment of food waste to energy via anaerobic digestion in order to fill this gap. Four anaerobic digestion pathways are considered in this study: flare, pipeline natural gas, combined heat and power, and combined cycle for efficient power generation.
Using a city of 1 M people the results show that renewable natural gas from food waste could supply the natural gas usage for 1.9% of residential use, 2.7% of commercial use, 1.1% of industrial use, 167.5% of the compressed natural gas vehicle fleet, 0.7% of electric power generation, or 2.5% of industrial high-temperature heating processes. All pathways except pipeline natural gas will have a positive net present value in the baseline scenario, and the pipeline natural gas pathway will become economically viable with a net present value of 31 USD/t of food waste with renewable energy credits. Lastly, all of the pathways achieve negative greenhouse gas emissions, which indicates that anaerobic digestion is a more environmentally friendly method for the handling of food waste than landfills.
- The dark side of convenience: How to reduce food waste induced by food delivery apps
S. Talwar, et. al. In: British Food Journal, vol. 125 (1), 2023.
Food delivery apps (FDAs) have altered people's eating behaviour. The convenience of FDAs may cause consumers to order more food than people's level of hunger warrants, leading to food waste. Food waste is a grave societal problem, which, the authors argue, represents the dark side of FDAs. However, the tendency of consumers to order more food than required, or to engage in food over-ordering behaviour, has remained under-explored in the context of FDAs.
The authors' results confirm the positive association of attitude, subjective norms and leftover reuse intentions with over-ordering behaviour. The moderation effect of age and gender on the relationship between subjective norms with over-ordering is also confirmed.
- Date labels, food waste and supply chain implications
B.J. Rickard, S-T Ho, F; Livat, A. M Okrent. In: European Review of Agricultural Economics, vol. 50 (1), 2023.
We developed a survey to collect information on consumers’ intentions to discard 15 food products when exposed to different date labels. Results show that the use of certain date labels has the capacity to reduce food waste, but the reductions would happen differentially across food groups. When we examine the nutritional implications, we find that a shift from the ‘Best by’ date label to the ‘Best if Used by’ date label would increase total household purchases of energy and lead to a disproportional increase in purchases of fats, cholesterol and protein.
- Emotions and food waste behavior: Do habit and facilitating conditions matter?
F. Jabeen, et. al. In: Journal of Business Research, vol. 155, 2023.
This study investigated the drivers of food delivery app (FDA) users’ attitudes against food waste and their behavioral intentions to reduce it. Specifically, the study employed the theory of interpersonal behavior (TIB) to explicate the role of emotions in driving attitude and intentions. Data collected from active FDA users (N = 561) were analyzed to test the proposed associations.
The other two key variables in the TIB framework – habit, operationalized in this study as ordering more food than necessary to take advantage of special offers, and facilitating conditions, captured through belief that food ordered via FDAs often goes to waste – are conceptualized and examined as moderation variables. The results confirmed the positive association of attitude and negative emotions with intentions, as well as the positive association of negative emotions and attitude. However, the negative association of positive emotions was confirmed with attitude only. In addition, attitude mediated the negative emotions-intentions association. Finally, the analysis revealed that the variable belief that food ordered via FDA often goes to waste moderated the association of positive and negative emotions with intentions. The findings of the study offer significant inferences.
- European Union's policymaking on sustainable waste management and circularity in agroecosystems: The potential for innovative interactions between science and decision-making
C. Duquennoi, J. Martinez. In: Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, vol. 6, 2022.
This paper aims at analyzing EEC and EU's policymaking on waste management and circularity in agroecosystems as compared with other sectors of waste management (e.g., municipal, industrial, construction waste, etc.). Even if founded on the same general principles, and especially the precautionary principle, policymaking on waste and by-product management in agroecosystems differs from waste management in other sectors. In particular, agricultural waste management has been excluded from the European Waste Framework Directive, from its start in 1975 to this day.
- Feeding food losses and waste to pigs and poultry: Implications for feed quality and production
Boumans, Iris J. M. M., et al.In: Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 378, 2022.
Feeding food losses and food waste (FLW) to livestock can reduce the environmental impact of livestock production, but practical implications for feed quality and feed production systems are currently unclear. The aim of this paper is to address the potential implications for pigs and poultry feeding systems when FLW would (fully or partly) replace conventional ingredients of animal feed within the European Union.
FLW streams, such as (prohibited) animal-based foods or household waste, constitute a substantial and valuable part of available FLW. Feeding FLW, however, also includes challenges regarding the (anti-) nutritional value, physical and sensory characteristics, and contamination risks of animal feed. Mixing various FLW streams can be a solution for the large variability in nutritional value and physical characteristics, but more knowledge is needed about the various properties of FLW streams, best handling and processing methods, validated analysis techniques and inclusion levels in animal feeds. We discuss the scale and location of processing FLW, as well as the required infrastructure for dealing with supply and demand. Different approaches may be taken to increase the use of FLW into livestock diets and transition into a sustainable and circular food system. How this could be best implemented will likely be a trade-off between costs and benefits. It should be discussed both among direct users and within the wider society which costs and risks are acceptable.
- A quantitative sustainability assessment of food waste management in the European Union
P.F. Albizzati, D. Tonini, T.F. Astrup. In: Environmental, Science and Technology, vol. 52 (23), 2021.
In an endeavor to make Europe carbon-neutral, and to foster a circular economy, improving food waste management has been identified by the European Union (EU) as a key factor. In this study, we consider 21 pathways, covering: (i) prevention; (ii) reuse for both human consumption and animal feed; (iii) material recycling as an input into the food and chemical industries; (iv) nutrient recycling; and (v) energy/fuel recovery.
To include all types of impact, a sustainability assessment, encompassing environmental, economic, and social pillars, is performed and complemented with societal life cycle costing. The results indicate that after prevention, reuse for human consumption and animal feed is the most preferred option, and, in most cases, nutrient recycling and energy recovery are favored over material recycling for chemical production. While highlighting that the food waste management hierarchy should be supported with quantitative sustainability analyses, the findings also illustrate that biochemical pathways should be improved to be competitive despite the fact that food waste valorization has the potential to satisfy the EU demand for the chemicals investigated. Yet, the results clearly show that the potential benefits of improving emerging technologies would still not eclipse the benefits related to food waste prevention and its redistribution.
- Save near-expired food: Does a message to avoid food waste affect food purchase and household waste prevention behaviors?
Y. Zhang, E. van Herpen, Erica, E.J. Van Loo, M. Pandelaere, M. Geuens. In: Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 384, 2023.
This research examines one retail strategy aiming to reduce food waste—a message about food waste avoidance (without discounts). Specifically, four experiments (N = 1196) using various measurements of food waste prevention behaviors and one single-paper meta-analysis reveal that a message about food waste avoidance increases consumers’ willingness to buy near-expired food through increased moral satisfaction.
After purchasing near-expired food, consumers engage in more waste prevention behaviors for it than for other food regardless of whether consumers encounter the food-waste-avoidance message. In addition, we find indications that increased moral satisfaction deriving from the food-waste-avoidance message motivates consumers to conduct more household waste prevention behaviors for the purchased near-expired food. Together, these findings suggest that a message about food waste avoidance can be a potentially effective strategy to reduce the waste of near-expired food. This research extends our understanding of the purchase and consumption of near-expired food and supports retail messages about food waste avoidance to sell near-expired food..
- Resourcefulness of chefs and food waste prevention in fine dining restaurants
V. Filimonau, et. al. In: International Journal of Hospitality Management, vol. 108, 2023.
The challenge of food waste in top-end, luxury foodservice provision is understudied, especially from the chefs’ perspective. This is a major knowledge gap as (in)effective management of food waste depends on chefs’ (dis)engagement. This exploratory study employs practice theory to examine how chefs (dis)engage in food waste prevention in kitchens of UK fine dining restaurants.
17 in-depth, semi-structured interviews reveal that chefs have good awareness of food waste and understand its negative socio-economic and environmental implications. Chefs have access to professional equipment enabling them to waste less food. However, the competencies of chefs in resourceful cooking are often limited while corporate policies and procedures discourage resourcefulness in the kitchen. The study’s findings suggest that resourceful cooking should become an integral element of hospitality teaching curriculum and chefs’ training. Corporate policies and procedures of fine dining restaurants should be streamlined to encourage more active engagement of chefs in food waste prevention.
- The true cost of food waste: Tackling the managerial challenges of the food supply chain
C. Martin-Rios, et al. In: Trends in Food Science & Technology, vol. 131, 2023.
The article opens up a discussion on true cost theory and its application to food waste. Additionally, it provides directions for future research in four specific areas: the broad food value chain, social policy, social sustainability aspects, and final consumers.
- True to type? EU-style date marking and the valuation of perishable food
D’Amato, Alessio, et al. In: Food Policy, vol. 114, 2023.
Date marking is intended to help consumers make informed food safety and quality choices when confronted with perishable food products. We provide causal in-store evidence on how EU-style date marking (best before and use by) influences consumers’ valuation of perishable food around the expiry date. In a preparatory survey (), we first identify perishable food items amenable to experimental manipulation.
A modified multiple price list (MPL) experiment () then tests shoppers’ valuation of perishable food with expiry dates in the future and the past. We vary date mark type (use-by versus best-before) and information status (with and without education) while preventing free disposal censoring. We find that expiry dates affect consumer valuation. Variation in date mark type has little practical relevance. Educating consumers about the meaning of date mark types reduces willingness to pay for potentially unsafe food, but does not increase it for more durable items. An attentiveness experiment () finds that inattention and consumers’ native understanding of current date marks can explain the evidence from the modified MPL experiment. Jointly, these results help explaining existing observational evidence and assessing the prospects of consumer education campaigns.
- What influences students’ food waste behaviour in campus canteens?
H. Wang, B. Ma, D. Cudjoe [et.al]. In: British Food Journal, vol. 125 (2), 2023.
This study aims to test an extended theory of planned behaviour that incorporates moral norm, food taste and campus food-saving climate to understand the influence factors of food waste behaviour on campuses
The findings suggest that (1) attitudes towards food waste, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control have a significant influence on intention to reduce food waste; (2) Moral norm and food taste are shown to have a favourable effect on the intention to reduce food waste; (3) Food waste behaviour is significantly determined by intention to reduce food waste; (4) Campus food-saving climate negatively moderates the relationship between intention to reduce food waste and food waste behaviour.
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