Brazil develops policies to reduce food waste

Embrapa presented solutions during the Sweden-Brazil Innovation Week.

Nov 23, Brasilia: About 30% of the world's food is lost or wasted every year. Estimates show that approximately 1.3 billion tons of food waste are produced each year worldwide. The data are from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and were discussed at the Sweden-Brazil 2020 Innovation Week, which brought together experts from both countries.

“This agenda of losses and food waste is a global agenda, linked to the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda, and Brazil is well-positioned to advance this reduction”, points out Gustavo Porpino, an analyst at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) Food and Territory.

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Some of the solutions presented by Embrapa to reduce food losses at the event, which took place from 9 to 19 November, were:

- Strengthen public policies for food and nutritional security; and

- Strengthen the network of food banks, such as supply centers, known as Ceasas; and expand them to the municipalities not yet served that have higher food insecurity rates.

“When we increase the food supply by reducing losses, whether it is a loss that occurs on the farm or in the supermarket or at fairs or at Ceasas, we are able to expand the offer. And, by expanding the offer, the possibilities to fight food insecurity and to bring food to those who need it most increase ”, explains the Embrapa analyst.

He also recalled that Brazil recently passed a law that provides legal certainty for food donors. "Now, it is easier for a retailer, a supermarket or for Ceasas to connect with food banks and strengthen this important network that has 168 units (public and private) in Brazil", says Porpino.

According to him, another suggestion to reduce food waste in the country is to focus on nutritional education, from early childhood, with sustainable and healthy consumption projects.

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“If we move forward in this connection of food and nutrition security, of these public policies connected with the reduction of food waste, and if we make a great national effort to increase nutritional education from early childhood, we will be building citizenship and people will be more aware of the importance of agricultural research, of food in their lives, and will be able to adopt healthier and more sustainable diets ”, he concludes.

Sweden-Brazil Innovation Week

The Sweden-Brazil innovation weeks provide a platform for the strategic partnership between the two countries in the areas of science, technology and innovation. The goal is to promote Sweden as a long-term innovation partner for Brazil.

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In 2009, Sweden and Brazil signed a Strategic Partnership and the Bilateral Agreement for Cooperation in the areas of innovation and industrial high technology.

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