At the meeting, Commissioner Kyriakides said: “As the world continues to deal with an unprecedented health crisis, we are focussing our efforts to deliver a green and sustainable recovery through the European Green Deal. Tackling food loss and waste is crucial in order to achieve a sustainable food system and Member States and businesses should make such actions an integral part of their recovery plans. At EU level, the Commission will propose targets to reduce food waste across the EU, as well as the revision of EU date marking rules for better consumer understanding of these dates.”

During the meeting, the Commission provided an update on flagship actions to reduce food waste under the Farm to Fork Strategy, such as work on food waste measurement and the setting of EU-level targets for food waste reduction as well as activities related to date marking. Member States and private sector organisations explained how the work of the Platform and its recommendations for action have supported their activity on the ground. International organisations updated the Platform on recent developments at global level, including preparatory work ahead of the United Nations Food Systems Summit 2021.

The full speech of Comissioner Kyriakides is available here.