Wisely packaged, many foods do not have to go to waste

The International Day against Food Waste on 29 September aims to raise awareness of this issue.

28-Sep-2021 - Austria

Around a third of all food in the world is lost even before it reaches the plate. One fifth of all food wasted in Europe is vegetables and fruit. Milk, fish and meat account for just under a third of the food lost, and cereals account for a quarter. With the help of intelligent packaging, which now not only protects and preserves food, but also the environment and the climate, a reduction can be achieved.

Marita Schmid, Mondi sustainability expert: "Worldwide, it is assumed that one third of all food is lost. Where they are lost varies. In Europe, of the total amount of food that is wasted, more than half is lost at the consumer. Here, of course, packaging can make a significant contribution to reducing that."

Mondi, the international packaging and paper company develops such packaging."As a packaging manufacturer, we have a very special responsibility to ensure that this waste is at least reduced," emphasises Peter Orisich, CEO Mondi Flexible Packaging and Engineered Materials.

"Paper whenever possible, plastic wherever sensible" is the central guiding principle that will help Mondi make all its packaging solutions reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. "We are setting ourselves ambitious sustainability commitments and targets for the next ten years with our MAP2030 action plan. To achieve this, we are developing circular solutions and taking action on climate change!" said Orisich.

UN World Food Programme: Packaging know-how for development aid and for trouble spots

Clever packaging also helps to extend shelf life, which is important, for example, in development aid or in trouble spots, as Virginia Siebenrok, Deputy Head of Food Safety and Quality Assurance at the UN World Food Programme, points out: "Our aid supplies often travel for weeks by ship and then have to be transported to the trouble spot via poor or flooded roads. Sometimes in intense heat or humidity. Packaging is crucial for us to ensure the integrity of the food. Until it reaches the people who need help.“

The UN World Food Programme assists more than 100 million people every year, for example by supporting them with food to the most remote and hard-to-reach places. Since this year, Mondi and the world's largest humanitarian aid organisation have been cooperating to fight hunger with the aim of learning from each other. The partnership focuses on supporting those most in need while reducing food waste, optimising the environmental footprint and leveraging Mondi's knowledge and experience for corrugated solutions, paper bags and flexible consumer goods.

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

https://www.yumda.com/en/news/1172882/wisely-packaged-many-foods-do-not-have-to-go-to-waste.html