New research published this week by WRAP (the Government’s Waste & Resources Action Programme) suggests that up to £12BN of wasted food and drink could be saved each year through better use of home fridges and freezers.

The Findus Group supports WRAP’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign as an important initiative which should encourage all of us - industry, government and consumers – to play our part in reducing food waste.

Ian Hagg, director of corporate social responsibility at the Findus Group says;

“Reducing food waste is not only good for the environment but makes sound financial sense - WRAP calculates that reducing food waste could result in a saving of as much as £480 per year for a typical household.

“Frozen food can make a real difference in helping households keep food waste to a minimum. It’s rarely wasted because it has a long life in the freezer, unlike chilled which is so frequently discarded because it has gone out of date. Plus with frozen you can choose how much to eat and save the rest for another day. We specifically design many of our frozen products to help people select precise portions of the foods they want – such as our Findus big pasta bags or Young’s bagged meals, scampi or frozen fish fillets.”

Some of the statistics in this latest WRAP report are startling.

• 2.2 million tonnes of food waste a year are created by people cooking and preparing too much food.

• 40% of this waste (almost one million tonnes) isn't touched and a tenth (340,000 tonnes) is in date.

• Unused food represents 55% of avoidable waste – or 2.9 million tonnes

As Ian points out, “Your freezer is your green friend in the fight against food waste. It gives you more control over planning and eating the food you buy – and what’s more can save you a considerable amount of money in the process!”

“The Findus Group recognises it has an important responsibility to help households reduce their food waste and we prioritise waste reduction within our product and packaging development programmes. That’s why we support WRAP and its research in this area and will continue to work with them to address their recommendations.”

Background information
WRAP’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign aims to raise awareness of the benefits of reducing the amount of food that we throw away, and offers helpful tips and advice on planning, storing and preparing food so we make the most of the food we buy. It makes a number of key recommendations:

- To increase the use of the ‘snowflake’ logo on fresh and refrigerated food - indicating that the food can be frozen

- To move away from ‘freeze on day of purchase’ labelling where appropriate

- To increase the availability and visibility of fridge thermometers, cool bags, freezer labels and pens and storage containers in-store

- To include tips and guidance on importance of good temperature control to help keep food at its best

The latest WRAP research report can be downloaded
here.


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