SAVE FOOD: Global Initiative on Food Loss and Waste Reduction

FAO and Messe Düsseldorf lead the SAVE FOOD - Global Initiative on Food Loss and Waste Reduction

FAO and Messe Düsseldorf are collaborating with donors, bi- and multi-lateral agencies and financial institutions and private sector partners (the food packaging industry and others) to develop and implement the programme on food loss and waste reduction.

Our Mission

In close collaboration with FAO, Messe Düsseldorf intends to make a contribution to the fight against global food losses. The SAVE FOOD initiative aims at encouraging dialogue between industry, research, politics, and civil society on food losses. For this purpose, the initiative will regularly bring together stakeholders involved in the food supply chain for conferences and projects and will support them in developing effective measures. Another goal will be to raise public awareness of the impact of food waste.

Our Objectives

At the initial presentation of the initiative in May 2011, Werner M. Dornscheidt, President and CEO of Messe Düsseldorf GmbH, explained the objectives of the initiative: "Our goal is that in industrialized countries less food gets disposed of and that consumers plan their purchases carefully, but most importantly we need to raise awareness at the industry level on the issue of food losses which is a priority for the future.”

The Global Initiative four pillars:

  • Awareness raising on the impact of, and solutions for food loss and waste. This will be achieved by a global communication and media campaign, the dissemination of Save Food programme findings and results, and the organization of Regional SAVE FOOD Congresses. Important goals are increased knowledge and changed behaviour of actors and consumers in the food chains, and promotion of the SAVE FOOD initiative to attract partners.
  • Collaboration and coordination of world-wide initiatives on food loss and waste reduction. SAVE FOOD is establishing a global partnership of public and private sector organizations and companies, that are active in the fight against food loss and waste. In order to develop, plan and implement interventions and use resources most efficiently, it is essential that all these initiatives are being coordinated well, so that everybody knows what is happening world-wide, that information, problems and solutions can be shared, and that methodologies, strategies and approaches will be harmonised.

  • Policy, strategy and programme development for food loss and waste reduction. This includes a series of field studies on a national-regional basis, combining a food chain approach to loss assessments with cost-benefit analyses to determine which food loss reduction interventions provide the best returns on investment. Further, the Initiative undertakes studies to the socio-economic impacts of food loss and waste, and the political and regulatory framework that affects food loss and waste.

  • Support to investment programmes and projects, implemented by private and public sectors. This includes technical and managerial support for, as well as capacity building (training) of food supply chain actors and organizations involved in food loss and waste reduction, either at the food subsector level or policy level.

FAO welcomes partners – private or public – to join the SAVE FOOD Initiative and support its programme.

To join the SAVE FOOD initiative, click on Get Involved.