Spain to fight food waste again

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas confirmed on January 9 that a draft law covering prevention of food waste will be placed before Parliament.

Why has it taken so long?

This Bill has been on the cards since 2020 but has never passed into law although on this occasion, the Government is looking for support from all political parties

According to data provided by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, an estimated 30 per cent of all food produced annually is simply wasted.

In the case of Spanish households, waste in 2022 was 1.17 billion kilos which equates to about 65.5 kilos per adult per year.

This incredible amount means that Spanish consumers are paying much more than they need for food they don’t use and companies are losing money when they destroy rather than repurpose a whole range of foodstuff.

Waste as little as possible

The overall plan is to waste as little as possible and to try to ensure that human consumption of food is the priority and failing that, it is used either as animal feed or to create energy.

Rather than destroy food that is still edible (although possibly past sell by date) all stores selling food which occupy more than 1,300 square metres will be required by law to donate this to food banks or charities.

Stores should not reject so called ‘ugly’ fruit and vegetables and farmers should not simply destroy anything that doesn’t fit with normal size and shape criteria.

All establishments which offer food for consumption on the premises will be required to offer customers the option of taking uneaten food or drink away with them in suitable.

Another important plank in the proposed Bill is that where possible, if some food is not suitable to eat as it is then manufacturers and suppliers should consider converting it to another format such as jam or soup.

Order of priority

At the end of the day, the order of priority for the use of food if no longer suitable for human consumption will be for animal feed, by-products in another industry or to create compost or biofuels