Consumer Goods Forum adopts call to action on food labels

The board of directors for Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), an industry network with the goal of globally adopting practices and standards that serves the consumer goods industry based in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France, unanimously adopted the call to action to simplify date labels, including companies like Tesco, Kellogg, Walmart, Campbell Soup, Bimbo, Pick n Pay, Nestlé, Carrefour and Unilever.

The announcement was made at a Champions 12.3 event at The Rockefeller Foundation during climate week and the 72nd United Nations General Assembly. At the event, Champions 12.3 also launched sustainable development goals (SDG) Target 12.3 on Food Loss and Waste: 2017 Progress Report, which takes stock of global progress to date toward halving food waste and reducing food loss by 2030.

The report finds that countries and companies are setting reduction targets aligned with SDG Target 12.3. Today, 28 percent of the world's population live in a country or region with a target to reduce food loss and waste, and nearly 60 percent of the world's 50 largest food companies have set reduction targets.

The call to action says retailers and food producers should take three important steps to simplify date labels and reduce food waste by 2020:

• only one label at a time;
• choice of two labels: one expiration date for perishable items ("use by") and one food quality indicator for nonperishable items ("best if used by"); and
• consumer education to better understand what date labels mean.

In addition to the labels on products, the call to action recommends companies partner with nonprofit organizations and government agencies to educate consumers about how to interpret date labels. Education efforts could include in store displays, web materials and public service announcements.

A growing number of the 50 largest food companies now have active food loss and waste reduction programs. However, the report finds an insufficient number of governments and companies are measuring and reporting food loss and waste, a key step to identifying hotspots and knowing whether strategies are having impact.

An estimated 1.3 billion tons of food worldwide is lost or wasted each year. The average U.K. household with children spends £700 (around $950) per year on food that's thrown away. In the U.S., that figure is $1,500.

"Now more than ever is the time for business to play a leading role in tackling food waste. This is an issue that can only truly be tackled by collaboration across the value chain. Through our global membership, the CGF is committed to playing a leadership role. We believe simplified and consistent date labelling will help us get one step closer to meeting our resolution to halve food waste by 2025 while also helping reduce confusion for consumers," says Peter Freedman, managing director of the CGF.

Read SDG Target 12.3 on Food Loss and Waste: 2017 Progress Report here: https://champions123.org/2017-progress-report.