Tesco’s chief executive Dave Lewis has called on the global food industry to be transparent and publish their food waste data.
Speaking in New York as the Chairman of Champions 12.3, Lewis called for action and announced that twenty seven of Tesco’s biggest suppliers, as well as Booker, who Tesco merged with earlier this year, will publish their food waste data for the first time. These suppliers include poultry and egg suppliers Moy Park, Cranswick and Noble Foods.
Ten of Tesco’s branded suppliers including Mars, Unilever and General Mills have also agreed to commit to target, measure and act and publish their food waste data within the next 12 months.
Dave Lewis said: “Every year, a third of the world’s food goes to waste. That’s the equivalent of 1.3 billion tonnes of food being thrown away and we think that’s simply not right.
“We hope every country, major city and company involved in the food supply chain publishes their own food waste data, so that together we can take targeted action to reduce waste.
“We believe that what gets measured gets managed. Ultimately, the only way to tackle food waste is to understand the challenge – to know where in the supply chain food is wasted.”
Tesco became the first UK retailer to publish the amount of food wasted in its operations in 2013. The retailer is over 70% of the way towards its target that no food, safe for human consumption, goes to waste.
Tesco published figures for its Republic of Ireland and Central European businesses for the first time last year.