NWO funding for project ‘Food Waste, from Excess to Enough’

Hungry? There is always food nearby... The food sector aims to provide people with food anywhere, anytime. People themselves have a tendency to focus on having plenty of food in inventory at home, just in case. This ensures that people have food when they want it, but comes at considerable societal costs due to inefficient resource use. The huge amount of food wasted shows the need for a system change in food provisioning. This is where a new project comes in. Professor Jenny van Doorn is one of the researchers involved.

Estimates are that worldwide a third of the food that is produced for human consumption is waste. A third. And it’s not just the food itself that is wasted – resources are expended to grow, cool, transport, and stockpile food. All that goes to waste if the food is thrown out instead of being eaten.

A food system with minimal food waste

Our new project “Food Waste: from Excess to Enough” aims to develop a roadmap towards a food system with minimal food waste. We will focus on three lines of research, examining

1. dynamics in the food system
2. the demand side (consumers)
3. the supply side (retailing).

The specific focus on consumers and retailing is because, on the one hand, most food waste occurs in households, and, on the other hand, the retail sector has a pivotal role in the food system.

Project partners

This project receives funding from NWO. Project partners are Wageningen University, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, TU Delft, Voedingscentrum, Stichting Samen Tegen Voedselverspilling, Hello Fresh, ACV, Levarht, Iglo, Hak, EFMI, and Capgemini.

More information

Contact: Jenny van Doorn