Tackling food waste pays off!

Reducing food waste in your business generates a triple win: for your wallet, for the environment and now for maintaining your FSSC 22000 certification.

Did you know that research by Wageningen University showed that 2811 kilotons of food is lost in the Dutch food chain every year?

That's not just a waste. Less waste is also better for the environment - because it reduces_{CO2 emissions} and the use of raw materials, for example - as well as saving your company money. These costs are not only in purchased raw materials that are thrown away and in waste costs, but also in unnecessary labor hours.

Research by Champion 12.3, a coalition of governments, businesses, research institutes, civil society and farmer organizations, has shown that every euro invested in stemming waste pays for itself. Sometimes even up to the multiple!

FSSC 22000

FSSC also recognized the importance of this and added food waste reduction as a new element to the latest version of the FSSC 22000 requirements last April.

Section 2.5.16 of this standard states that an organization's policy should set objectives and define a strategy to combat food loss and waste within its own organization and in the chain. Furthermore, the safety of "residual or by-product streams" that are given alternative uses must obviously be ensured; examples of alternative uses mentioned are the animal feed sector and donations to non-profit organizations.

How can Précon help?

We understand that there is a tension within a company between product quality and hygiene requirements on the one hand and the prevention of food waste on the other. Moreover, we see in practice that the costs of food loss in business processes are often hidden and not made explicit. These two aspects make it logical that there is less attention within a company for targeted measures to combat food waste.
How can Précon help you with this in practice? We assess with a fresh, but also critical eye the current business processes and investigate in which phase(s) of the process there is food loss and/or waste. This applies not only to a company's internal processes, but possibly also to those in the chain. A good review followed by a root cause analysis provides a reliable picture of current practices and forms the basis for the strategy to be set up to combat food loss and waste and the payback time involved.

The new paragraph in the FSSC standard may initially lead to extra work, but it also offers clear opportunities, both in terms of cost savings and where sustainability is concerned. And you ensure that you remain compliant with the FSSC-2200 standard. So triple win, right?

Questions?

Wondering what the new paragraph on food waste means for your business? Précon's consultants are happy to discuss this topic with you. Contact us at info@precongroup.com, NL +31 (0)30 65 66 010 or BE +32 (0)11 26 99 07.