Food Waste Intelligence

Consumer awareness of the food waste crisis has more than doubled in the past two years as rising food prices, supply chain challenges, the pandemic, and sustainability concerns are impacting consumer behavior, a new report finds.

The report by Capgemini Research Institute found that 72 percent of consumers are aware of their food waste as compared to 33 percent of consumers before 2020.

#1: How Mount Holyoke College used food waste tracking to quickly adapt to COVID-19 changes

As we all adjusted to the challenges of COVID-19, something notable rose to the surface in foodservice: measuring food waste was no longer just a way to cut costs and be more efficient, it became a key tool for learning and adapting to the new normal. What a kitchen wastes is one of the few real-time data points it can use to understand what's working and what's not.

Our top blog post of the year took a deep dive into how Mount Holyoke, a women's college in Massachusetts, USA, leveraged food waste tracking to its fullest.

The University of Rochester in New York State has 14 dining locations operated by the contract management firm Harvest Table Culinary Group. The program has been run for 16 years by Senior Executive Chef Tony Pignagrande.

The university began tracking and preventing food waste with Leanpath in 2017, leading to a reduction in food waste of 46 percent, and helping the team achieve two corporate goals of conserving resources and reducing carbon emissions.

Sodexo has deployed Leanpath at over 200 sites across the UK leading to the prevention of 280 tonnes of food waste, in line with its pledge to cut food waste across its organization by 50 percent by 2025. That puts Sodexo ahead of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal to halve food waste globally by 2030.

Reducing food loss and waste contributes significantly to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Sodexo's focus on food waste forms part of the organization's commitment to reducing its carbon emissions by 34 per cent by 2025, supporting its journey to a net zero world.

September 29 is the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste. Leanpath is proud to have played a role at the United Nations in creating this designation, now in its second year.

In recognition of this important day, Leanpath CEO Andrew Shakman offers a state of the global food waste fight in this two-minute video. Between one-third and one-half of global food production is still lost or wasted. At Leanpath we understand that the fight against food waste is winnable. We see it every day in kitchens around the world. 

But now is the time for broader action. Watch Andrew’s video for more.