Abstract
Retail food waste represents a minor fraction of the total amount of food waste produced along the food supply chain (tenfold lower than the quantity of food disposed of by consumers at home). However, the role of retailers is crucial in shaping both the behavior of upstream food chain actors and the preferences of consumers. This paper studies the causes of food waste in retail stores and discusses potential mitigating actions based on the results of nine focus groups held in 2017 with 67 foods category managers. Participants used sticky notes to outline both the causes of in-store food waste and potential actions to address it. Sticky notes reporting 228 causes and 124 actions were collected during the study. Data were analyzed across thematic macro-categories and linked to the responsibility of supply chain actors, including managers at all store management levels. Results revealed that food category managers consider in-store operations (which include their actions and those of their subordinates) to be most responsible for retail food waste. However, when it comes to proposing actions against food waste, they believe that store managers are mainly responsible for the implementation of waste reduction actions. This study suggests that food category managers are key actors to involve in the fight against retail food waste. Greater effort should also be put towards informing and encouraging store managers to take action against food waste in supermarkets.
Highlights
Appropriate food waste management is recognized as an essential element of sustainable development [1]; for this reason, food waste prevention and management is gaining increased attention at both the food supply chain and policy levels [2]
This paper aims to contribute to this stream of research by conducting a direct analysis of the causes of food waste at retail stores based on discussions with food category managers in a wide qualitative study
The retail sector produces a relatively small share of food waste relative to other stages of the food supply chain, increased attention is being paid to food waste at supermarkets
Summary
Appropriate food waste management is recognized as an essential element of sustainable development [1]; for this reason, food waste prevention and management is gaining increased attention at both the food supply chain and policy levels [2]. In the EU, the official definition of food waste is “any food, and inedible parts of food, removed from the food supply chain to be recovered or disposed” [4]. Direct measurement [13]—based on stores’ records of unsold products removed from shelves—is the most frequently used methodology for assessing the quantity and type of food waste at retail stores. These records have shown significant underreporting, and actual food waste quantities may be one-third more than what is usually recorded in stores [12]
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