Brussels, 19/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 19 January, in Strasbourg, the European Parliament recommended measures aimed at halving food wastage by 2025, and at improving EU citizens' access to food. The report by Salvatore Caronna (S&D, Italy) on a more efficient food chain, was endorsed without amendment by the Parliament in plenary (see EUROPE 10503). A European Commission study points out that, if nothing is done, food wastage will increase by 40% by 2020.
MEPs above all suggest that educational courses on food should be introduced, especially in schools. The EP invites the Commission to assess and encourage measures aimed at reducing food wastage upstream, such as dual date labelling (sell-by and use-by dates) and promotional sales of damaged products or of products reaching the expiry date. The EP also calls for retargeting of support measures at EU level regarding the distribution of food products to the Union's least-favoured citizens, Community aid for the supply of milk and dairy products to schoolchildren, and the programme for encouraging the consumption of fruit in schools, with a view to preventing food waste. Finally, the EP invites the Commission to “consider possible amendments to the public procurement rules on catering and hospitality services so that, when contracts are awarded, priority is given to undertakings that guarantee that they will redistribute free of charge any unallocated (unsold) items to groups of citizens who lack purchasing power, and that promote specific activities to reduce waste upstream, such as giving preferences to agricultural and food products produced as near as possible to the place of consumption.” (LC/transl.jl)