The BSI, the UK’s national standards body, and the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) have launched standardised processes to prevent food waste.
The new global guidance provides standardised processes for organisations across the food supply chain to support them in preventing and minimising excess food, and food loss and waste.
The standard, Food loss and waste management system – Requirements for the prevention and minimisation of food loss and waste across the food supply chain (BS ISO 20001), sets out a management system standard (MSS) that anyone in the food sector can implement.
From farmers and manufacturers to distributors, retailers and food service providers, organisations of all sizes can apply the principles of the standard in their daily operations.
The new global standard aims to enable businesses to plan, implement and document processes to monitor, reduce and report excess food and food loss and waste (FLW).
The standard, developed by global experts from over 30 countries, including environmental action NGO WRAP, builds on existing measuring and reporting approaches. This includes WRAP’s methodologies developed with industry in the UK and globally.
Across the food supply chain, there is growing ambition and action to tackle food loss and waste.
The BSI says it is the first internationally recognised management system standard to give organisations a globally standardised framework to manage, prevent and reduce excess food and food loss and waste.
The standard, developed by global experts from over 30 countries, including environmental action NGO WRAP, builds on existing measuring and reporting approaches. This includes WRAP’s methodologies developed with industry in the UK and globally.
Organisations can use the standard as a framework for continual improvement or assess their progress against its requirements, giving them a consistent way to monitor progress and report it credibly to regulators, customers and investors.
The new standard is designed to support further action on food waste by providing an internationally recognised management system that can complement existing guidance and approaches.
Emily Field, Food Sector Lead at BSI, said: “Across the food supply chain, there is growing ambition and action to tackle food loss and waste.”
Field continued that the new standard builds on existing measurement and reporting approaches by providing a ‘consistent, globally applicable framework’ for organisations.
“Ultimately, it helps embed food loss and waste reduction into the way an organisation operates,” she explained.
“Importantly, it also provides a common language for communicating progress to regulators, customers and investors, helping to build trust and contribute to a more food-secure and sustainable world.”
Catherine David, WRAP CEO, called the new standard an ‘important step’ forward for action on food loss and waste.
“A recognised international standard brings greater focus to organisations systematically monitoring and managing their food loss and waste, helping to make this a more established part of how they operate,” David said.
