Italy launches food waste prevention program

In the First Italian Food Waste Prevention Day on Wednesday, the country's organizations involved in the agri-food supply chain met in Rome to outline a national program aimed at combating food waste.

Representatives of some 200 organizations, led by a task force of experts from scientists to writers, were called upon by the Italian Environment Ministry to compare food waste data, analyze the causes and examine the optimal solutions to be adopted to combat waste, which has a significant social and economic impact.

The group work was set to produce over the next few months a "National Food Waste Prevention Program for Italy (PINPAS)" aimed at introducing effective solutions in terms of waste reduction at the source, Environment Minister Andrea Orlando said at the conference.

"Wasting food is an insult against mankind and against the environment," Orlando said. Waste statistics in Italy are "unacceptable," he added calling on his country to prevent food waste in order to fight global hunger and save precious natural resources.

According to a 2013 report, every Italian family averagely casts away about 200 grams of food worth roughly 7 euros (9 U.S. dollars) per week.

Last Minute Market, a spin-off of the University of Bologna helping the recovery of unsold goods, has estimated that Italy could recover 1.2 million tons of crops as well as more than 2 million tons of food from the agri-food industry every year.