USDA has joined the Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration in proposing a draft strategy for reducing food loss and waste, with the intention of carrying out the plan in 2024.
Actions outlined in the strategy, released this weekend during the COP28 conference in Dubai, aim to meet the United States’ goal to cut in half food loss and waste by 2030 as well as achieving a 50% recycling rate by 2030. The strategy also fits into the government-wide Global Methane Pledge to reduce anthropogenic methane emissions by 30% by 2030 from 2020 levels.
The draft strategy sets four objectives, including preventing the loss of food and waste of food where possible, increasing the recycling rate for all organic waste, and supporting policies that help accomplish those objectives.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the joint effort will “enhance interagency coordination” to tackle the problem that food loss and waste poses to agriculture, food and the climate.
USDA's proposed steps include investing $30 million in Composting and Food Waste Reduction Cooperative agreements as well as expanding partnerships with the National Institute of Food and Agriculture food system programs and funding additional research and development on new packaging technology to extend the shelf-life of food.
The strategy also calls for utilizing USDA’s Farm Storage Facility Loan Program to provide low-interest financing so producers can build or upgrade facilities to improve on-farm storage.
In addition, by providing outreach on the benefits of using tax credits, USDA can encourage the donation of food as well as provide guidance on the “donation of eligible meat and poultry products to nonprofit organizations,” the strategy says.
EPA plans to support projects “aimed at increasing food rescue and donation models.”
The strategy calls for FDA to work with USDA to “contribute date labeling and food safety advice to inform EPA's national consumer education campaign.” FDA also plans to encourage the adoption and use of digital tracing technologies that more rapidly remove contaminated foods from the marketplace, “while simultaneously reducing food loss and food waste associated with contamination events.”
The strategy says more data is needed to evaluate the current situation, including on-farm food losses and provide more regular updates to track progress.
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“Ultimately, this work will be partially guided toward data analytics that can be used for accurate predictive tools for food loss and waste along the supply chain. Models already exist for what and how these data could be provided so that tracking food loss and waste and seeking opportunities can become proactive rather than reactive,” the strategy says.
To fund the actions outlined in the strategy, EPA will use the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s materials management grants and other resources available. USDA will use American Rescue Plan Act and Inflation Reduction Act funds as well as competitive research, education and extension funding.
The government is taking comment on the strategy for 30 days, starting Tuesday, at Regulations,gov, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OLEM-2022-0415.
FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, wants Americans to “feel empowered and confident” to play a part in educating government officials on the overall strategy.
"We encourage the public to comment on practical ways everyone can play a role in reducing food waste," Califf said in a statement.
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