FOOD WASTE SURVEY UNIT

Waste of food has been a concern to MAFF for a considerable period. Recently, because of worries over national and world food supplies, and the necessity for the UK to maintain a healthy import/export balance by making best use of its available materials, there has arisen within academic, industrial, public as well as govrnment circles a wider interest in the manner in which we utilise the basic food materials which we grow and import, and to what extent we actually consume the foodstuffs available. In November 1976, MAFF announced the setting up of a Food Waste Survey Unit “responsible for collecting and collating data on waste as it arises from the point at which food commodities enter into food processing, distribution and consumption, and for reviewing ways in which waste may be reduced or may be re‐cycled within the food chain or otherwise usefully employed”.