Argentina

A national policy on food losses and food waste, coordinated by the Ministry of Agroindustry, was launched in 2015.

China

In 2014, the Chinese Government took several steps to reduce food loss and waste. The Central Committee and State Council issued a joint circular on: Practicing strict economy and fighting against waste (in Chinese). The State Administration of Grain, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine issued a notice on Saving food and reducing food losses among foodstuffs and oil-processing industries (in Chinese).

Turkey

In January 2013 the Turkish Grain Board and the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, together with relevant stakeholders along the supply chains, launched the Campaign for Preventing Bread Waste.

In May 2020, the SAVE YOUR FOOD Campaign was launched in Turkey; in July 2020 the Government released the National Strategy and Action Plan on the Prevention and Reduction of Food Loss and Waste, which was developed in collaboration with FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Turkey. The Campaign takes into consideration the reviews and recommendations of over 100 related stakeholders, ranging from the private sector to NGOs and academia to interest groups.

United States of America

In September 2015 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a national goal to reduce food waste by 50 percent by 2030.

As part of the Winning on Reducing Food Waste Initiative, EPA, USDA, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its FY2019–2020 Federal Interagency Strategy in April 2019, which identified six priority areas the agencies will focus their efforts to reduce food loss and waste in the United States of America. In May 2020, the Federal Interagency Strategy was updated with a list of contributing efforts for each of the strategy’s six priority action areas:

Priority Area 1: Enhance interagency coordination

Priority Area 2: Increase consumer education and outreach efforts

Priority Area 3: Improve coordination and guidance on food loss and waste measurement

Priority Area 4: Clarify and communicate information on food safety, food date labels, and food donations

Priority Area 5: Collaborate with private industry to reduce food loss and waste across the supply chain

Priority Area 6: Encourage food waste reduction by federal agencies in their respective facilities

The agencies also launched partnerships with organizations at the forefront of food loss and waste reduction efforts. In April 2019, the agencies signed an agreement with ReFED, a network of the nation’s leading business, nonprofit, foundation, and government leaders committed to reducing food waste.

In October 2019, another partnership with the Food Waste Reduction Alliance, formalized collaboration on education and outreach efforts with three major sectors in the supply chain: food manufacturing, retail, and restaurant and food service.

Urban Food Policy Pact

On 15 October 2015, 116 cities across the world signed the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon presented the Pact to the United Nations on 16 October, World Food Day. The Pact supports policy coherence and was launched together with its Action Plan and Selected Good Practices.

Recommended actions for food waste reduction and measurement

• Convene food system actors to assess and monitor food loss and waste reduction at all stages of the city region food supply chain, (including production, processing, packaging, safe food preparation, presentation and handling, re-use and recycling); ensure holistic planning and design, transparency, accountability and policy integration.
• Raise awareness of food loss and waste through targeted events and campaigns; identify focal points such as educational institutions, community markets, company shops and other solidarity or circular economy initiatives.
• Collaborate with the private sector along with research, educational and community-based organizations to develop and review, as appropriate, municipal policies and regulations (e.g. processes, cosmetic and grading standards, expiration dates, etc.) to prevent waste or safely recover food and packaging using a “food use-not-waste” hierarchy.
• Save food by facilitating recovery and redistribution for human consumption of safe and nutritious foods, if applicable, that are at risk of being lost, discarded or wasted from production, manufacturing, retail, catering, wholesale and hospitality.