The European Commission has put out a consultation asking for opinions about the European food production and consumption system. With some 89 million tons of food wasted every year in Europe, the consultation asks stakeholders, citizens, businesses, NGOs and public authorities for ideas on how to reduce food waste and, more generally, how to ensure our food system is using resources efficiently. The Commission says these will provide input for a Communication on Sustainable Food later this year.
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Food is essential to life. It forms an important part of our cultural identity, and plays an important role in the economy, but a growing number of analyses question the long-term sustainability of current trends in the production and consumption of food. The food system has a significant impact on the environment through, for example, greenhouse gas emissions, the use of land and water resources, pollution, depletion of phosphorus, and the impact of chemical products such as herbicides and pesticides.
That is why the European Commission is asking for opinions about the European food production and consumption system.
Respondents are asked what they think the priorities for action should be, how to measure the impact of food production, the best ways of promoting more sustainable production and supply chains and more sustainable patterns of food consumption, how to prevent and reduce food waste, and what policies would be best suited to address these challenges.
Next Steps
The consultation is open until 1st October 2013. The Commission is planning to present ideas later this year with a strong focus on food waste in a Communication on Sustainable Food. The Communication will look at food waste and reducing resource inefficiencies across the food chain.
Background
On 20 September 2011 the Commission adopted the Roadmap to a Resource-Efficient Europe calling for incentives for healthier and more sustainable production and consumption of food and to halve the disposal of edible food waste in the EU by 2020. The Roadmap states the Commission will assess how best to limit waste throughout the food supply chain, and consider ways to lower the environmental impact of food production and consumption patterns, in a Communication on Sustainable Food, to be presented in 2013.
Questions & Answers
Why talk about Sustainable Food?
Food is essential to life. It also forms an important part of our cultural identity, and plays an important role in the economy. People are aware that the food they eat is an important factor affecting their health, but what is less well known is the impact producing and consuming food has on the world’s resources. Alongside the cars we drive and the energy we use to heat our houses, the food we produce and consume has a significant impact on the environment through, for example, greenhouse gas emissions, the use of land and water resources, pollution, depletion of phosphorus, and the impact of chemical products such as herbicides and pesticides. (EIPRO Report)
A growing number of analyses question the long-term sustainability of the current trends in the production and consumption of food. A leading advisory committee on the future of agriculture, made up of experts from EU Member States (known as the EU Standing Committee on Agriculture Research (SCAR) concluded in their latest report that:
Many of today´s food production systems compromise the capacity of Earth to produce food in the future. Globally, and in many regions including Europe, food production is exceeding environmental limits or is close to doing so. Nitrogen synthesis exceeds the planetary boundary by factor of four and phosphorus use has reached the planetary boundary. Land use change and land degradation, and the dependence on fossil energy contribute about one- fourth of Greenhouse Gas emissions. Agriculture, including fisheries, is the single largest driver of biodiversity loss. Regionally, water extracted by irrigation exceeds the replenishment of the resource.
Price volatility, access restrictions and the interconnectedness of global commodity markets, as well as the increasing vulnerability of food production systems to climate change and loss of agro-biodiversity, will make food even more inaccessible for the poor in the future.
The average Western diet with high intakes of meat, fat and sugar is a risk for individual health, social systems and the environmental life support systems. Obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis, and cancer are wide-spread diet-related diseases. The promotion of a healthy diet also reduces the environmental footprint of food consumption in Europe and globally. (SCAR Report page 132)
What exactly do we mean by ‘sustainable’ food?
There are many different views as to what constitutes a ‘sustainable’ food system, and what falls within the scope of the term ‘sustainability’. Strictly speaking sustainability implies the use of resources at rates that do not exceed the capacity of the Earth to replace them. For food, a sustainable system might be seen as encompassing a range of issues such as security of the supply of food, health, safety, affordability, quality, a strong food industry in terms of jobs and growth and, at the same time, environmental sustainability, in terms of issues such as climate change, biodiversity, water and soil quality. In the questionnaire, you will be invited to give your perspective on this issue.
What is the Policy Background to this work?
The Europe 2020 Strategy – A resource-efficient Europe calls for an increase in resource efficiency, to: “ find new ways to reduce inputs, minimise waste, improve management of resource stocks, change consumption patterns, optimise production processes, management and business methods, and improve logistics.”
The Roadmap to a Resource-Efficient Europe follows up on this, and stresses that our natural resource base is being eroded by growing global demand, highlighting the food sector as priority area for taking action – calling for: “ incentives for healthier and more sustainable production and consumption of food and to halve the disposal of edible food waste in the EU by 2020.”
The Roadmap states that the Commission will assess how best to limit waste throughout the food supply chain, and consider ways to lower the environmental impact of food production and consumption patterns, via a Communication on Sustainable Food, in 2013.
The 2011 European Parliament report on “how to avoid food wastage: strategies for a more efficient food chain in the EU” also strongly supports action in this area.
What drives our food system?
The food system is highly complex and is driven by many economic, cultural and environmental factors. Better understanding these drivers and how they interact could help to improve public policies. In the box below, for information, are some of the key pressures on, and relating to, the food system. You will be given the opportunity to comment and provide you views/expertise on these issues.
