Provision Coalition tackles industry food waste

Guelph, Ont.-based Provision Coalition has released a new online toolkit to help evaluate and reduce food loss and waste at the processing level.

Although it’s not the primary source of food waste in Canada, Canadian manufacturers and packagers accounted for 20 per cent of the food wasted in 2014, according to a report commissioned in part by Provision Coalition.

“Food loss and waste is not just a pressing economic issue it has a direct connection to Canadian food security and environmental impact from wasted resources. Including food loss and waste in the federal government’s new food policy would go a long way to addressing this issue across the supply chain from farm to consumer,” says Cher Mereweather, executive director with Provision Coalition.

Provision Coalition’s online food loss and waste toolkit has been developed specifically for use in Canada’s 6,000 plus food and beverage manufacturing businesses. It offers manufacturers the ability to quantify avoidable food waste in order to develop, implement and measure cost-effective reduction strategies.

The tool offers three methods to estimate the amount (quantity and dollars lost) of organic waste generated, with each method increasing in the level of detail and precision. Users are able to identify the root cause and develop solutions to take action. It’s available at no cost to industry.

To develop this toolkit, Provision Coalition partnered with industry stakeholders across the supply chain.

To learn more about food loss and waste, as well as Provision Coalition’s role, you can check out this short video in either English or French.