Lebensmittelverluste und ‐abfälle: Einige Hinweise

Summary Food loss and waste ( FLW ) has received worldwide attention, but many studies of the issue do not use explicit objectives or consistent definitions. It often appears that the reduction of FLW is the goal whatever the costs and risks involved. From an economic perspective, the central issue is efficient resource use. Since reducing FLW to zero is unlikely to be costless, it is unlikely to be efficient. Most studies focus on the volume of FLW measured in tonnes or in calories. It makes no economic sense to aggregate different products this way, in fact, the value of FLW needs to be compared with the costs of its reduction. We present three examples which illustrate such costs. Government regulations can cause significant FLW . Instead of targeting volume‐based reductions, governments should focus on reviewing regulations that affect the level of FLW , invest in research and development for more resource efficient technologies, and provide more accurate information on value‐based FLW and the costs and risks of its reduction. Moreover, governments could support private sector activities targeted to reducing food loss. The focus should not just be on reducing FLW , but on the more efficient use of scarce resources.