Spain’s wasted food

SPAIN throws away an annual 7.7 million tons of food – 163 kilos for every man, woman and child. Considerably below the EU average of 179 kilos, Spain is still one of Europe’s most wasteful countries, after Germany, Holland, France, Poland and Italy.

Every link in the food chain was responsible for this, from producers down to the domestic consumers who alone accounted 42 per cent of the total, claimed European MP Salvatore Caronna

“Lack of awareness, bad packaging and confusion over sell-by dates are the culprits,” he said.

“And with more than 70 million Europeans affected by poverty we have to solve this problem.”

Waste began at source, with 39 per cent lost during agricultural production, according to Caronna, although this was questioned in Spain by farmers and growers association, UPA.

Produce was never thrown away, said UPA president Lorenzo Ramos, unless the market collapsed as it did during last summer’s E.coli scare and many tons of cucumbers had to be dumped. “Normally everything is picked and delivered,” he said. “But the fruit and vegetable dealers pronounce what is suitable and what is not.”

Rejected produce never reached the counter but was not returned to the growers, he explained. Spain has 85,230 restaurants and the 63,000 tons of food they throw away each year is double that of 20 years ago.

Around 60 per cent is wasted because caterers fail to estimate orders accurately while another 30 per cent is wasted during preparation. Clients’ leftovers account for only 10 per cent.

Small restaurants and bars buy on a day-to-day basis, but some catering chains now use computer programmes to calculate orders. One – Vips – sells off its remaining sandwiches, wraps, salads and cakes at €1.50 each from 11pm onwards.

And although donating unused food and produce to organisations like the Bancos de Alimentos de España is one answer, this is still not a viable solution.

“We can’t collect it all. We need better infrastructure, more lorries and cold storage,” lamented Javier Espinosa, the group’s president for the Madrid region.

Photo credit: sporkist
By Linda Hall