WINTER 2022 SURPLUS FOOD Food waste occurs along the full length of the supply chain, but businesses must follow strict regulations on how it is dealt with WASTE NOT, WANT NOT According to the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap), 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted globally each year, which equates to a third of all food produced for human consumption. As consumers, we produce food waste by not keeping an eye on the use-by dates of items in the refrigerator, not eating all that we cook, or just buying too much food. The food waste produced by food businesses tends to fall into two categories: surplus food and co-products. A surplus food product is food disposed of by a food business for commercial reasons for example, unsold food and misshaped products. Co-products are by-products of a manufacturing process, such as spent grains from brewing or rape seeds from oil production. Current options include sending food waste to anaerobic digesters, processing it into animal feed, or giving it to charity or food banks. !With the cost-ofliving crisis, the need for better redistribution of surplus food has never been more important Wrap has created a Hierarchy of Food Waste that suggests prioritising waste prevention and redistribution of surplus. It estimates that more than 200,000 tonnes of surplus food could be redistributed every year and, with the current cost-of-living crisis, the need for better redistribution to charities and food banks has never been more important. The Food Standards Agency, in collaboration with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and Wrap, has published advice for food businesses entitled Surplus Food Redistribution Guidance (April 2020). This covers date labelling and storage instruction for surplus food, plus guidance on freezing and re-labelling fresh food. Further guidance on the safe redistribution of surplus food can be found by contacting your local trading standards department. Below redistribution on Wraps Hierarchy of Waste is feeding or processing into animal feed. Approximately 650,000 tonnes of former foodstuffs are processed as animal feed every year, mainly by specialist processors who ensure that it is safe for animal consumption. Food businesses are changing the way they think about waste instead of the cost of disposal, they can think about generating an income stream, with environmental and social benefits too. Co-products from crisp manufacture, bakery waste and confectionery waste are already being processed into feed. It is important that systems are in place to ensure products prohibited for use in animal feeds do not enter the farmed livestock feed chain, and there are strict legal requirements. Defra also offers detailed guidance on supplying and using animal by-products as farm animal feed. Farm animal feed must not contain products of animal origin for example, meat, fish and shellfish, raw eggs, unprocessed milk or milk products, or ruminant gelatine. Waste of any such foods must be segregated from other waste food and not used as an animal feed. Businesses that supply food stuffs for animal feed must be registered for feed hygiene (not just food hygiene) with their local authority. Credit: Kath Simpson, Trading Standards officer Image: iStock / VectorMine Contact your local trading standards department for further information. Mind your language on the label The lack of English-language labelling on food and drink supplied to customers may be putting their lives at risk and could seriously impact you, the food business operator. As a retailer, you must make sure you only place correctly labelled food on your shelves. As a wholesaler, you must ensure the food you supply has the required English labelling. More and more products are being found on retail and wholesale shelves without an English label. Business operators think it is the responsibility of those supplying the products to make sure they are labelled correctly but as soon as you expose them for sale or supply, you are responsible. Certain information on a label is required to be present and in English by law, irrespective of who the customer may be. The label provides a wealth of information to the customer for example, ingredients listings with specific allergenic ingredients required to be highlighted within that list. To an allergy sufferer or someone with an intolerance to certain foods, this information is essential to prevent illness and, in some cases, death. If you are selling or supplying-on non-English-labelled food, you are committing a criminal offence. Should the food be consumed and result in the death of an allergy sufferer, you could be investigated by the police and charged with manslaughter. Items not correctly labelled should be removed from sale and the products returned to the supplier. If the supplier keeps sending incorrectly labelled foodstuff, let your local authority trading For further information, please contact your local Trading Standards Service For up-to-date news stories and information, follow us on standards or environmental health team know, so they can refer the issue to the suppliers local authority for further checks. Credit: Emily Fellows, team leader, Environmental Health, City of Wolverhampton Council Image: iStock / 97 Anonymous Hotline 0300 303 2636 Is your sector being undermined by unscrupulous traders operating outside the law? Report them via Trading Standards Anonymous Hotline or online and help level the playing field for honest businesses.