Table Of ContentFood Loss and Waste Policy
This book examines policy responses to food waste and loss, an issue of
signifcant, global concern, with one-third of food produced for human
consumption lost or wasted.
Investigating food waste and loss under an interdisciplinary lens, the
contributors employ a variety of methodological approaches, including
quantitative and qualitative techniques, drawing on in-depth case studies
and action research. The volume is organised into four parts: Understanding
Food Loss and Waste, International Programmes, National Policies, and Local
Initiatives. The frst part introduces the reader to the concept of food loss and
waste, how it can be measured, its causes and consequences, and how it can
be reduced. The second part is dedicated to international and cross-country
case studies, with six chapters reviewing national policies implemented in
France, Italy, Romania, Japan, China, and the United States. In Part Four, three
chapters are dedicated to local food recovery and redistribution initiatives. By
focusing on diferent territories and diferent levels of governance, the book
provides a detailed evaluation of food loss and waste policies, the barriers and
opportunities of implementing the policies, as well as the impact they are
actually having. The chapters are both descriptive and evaluative and draw out
lessons for designing, implementing, and reforming programmes.
This book will be of great interest to students and scholars working on food
waste, food policy, sustainable food systems, agricultural production and supply
chains, and public policy, as well as policymakers involved with developing and
implementing programmes and policies to regulate and reduce food waste and loss.
Simone Busetti is a policy analyst and evaluator and is currently Associate
Professor of Political Science and Public Policy Analysis at the University of
Teramo, Italy. He has worked on local development, public administration
reform, and food policy and served as a professional evaluator for several public
administrations in Italy.
Noemi Pace is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Teramo.
She is also a research fellow at the UCL Centre for Global Health Economics,
UK, and a research fellow in the Center for Economic and International
Studies (CEIS) at the University of Tor Vergata, Italy.
Routledge Studies in Food, Society and the Environment
Resourcing an Agroecological Urbanism
Political, Transformational and Territorial Dimensions
Edited by Chiara Tornaghi and Michiel Dehaene
Food, Senses and the City
Edited by Ferne Edwards, Roos Gerritsen and Grit Wesser
True Cost Accounting for Food
Balancing the Scale
Edited by Barbara Gemmill-Herren, Lauren E. Baker and Paula A. Daniels
Holiday Hunger in the UK
Local Responses to Childhood Food Insecurity
Michael A. Long, Margaret Anne Defeyter and Paul B. Stretesky
School Farms
Feeding and Educating Children
Edited by Alshimaa Aboelmakarem Farag, Samaa Badawi, Gurpinder Lalli and
Maya Kamareddine
The Vegan Evolution
Transforming Diets and Agriculture
Gregory F. Tague
Food Loss and Waste Policy
From Theory to Practice
Edited by Simone Busetti and Noemi Pace
Rewilding Food and the Self
Critical Conversations from Europe
Edited by Sébastien Dalgalarrondo and Tristan Fournier
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
books/series/RSFSE
Food Loss and Waste Policy
From Theory to Practice
Edited by Simone Busetti and
Noemi Pace
Cover image: Getty
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Simone Busetti and Noemi Pace;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Simone Busetti and Noemi Pace to be identifed as the
authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Busetti, Simone, editor. | Pace, Noemi, editor.
Title: Food loss and waste policy : from theory to practice / Simone
Busetti, Noemi Pace.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, [2022] | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifers: LCCN 2022017174 (print) | LCCN 2022017175 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781032129419 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032129358 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003226932 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Food waste. | Food industry and trade. | Food supply. |
Food security.
Classifcation: LCC HD9000.5 .F6635 2022 (print) | LCC HD9000.5
(ebook) | DDC 338.1/9—dc23/eng/20220718
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022017174
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022017175
ISBN: 978-1-032-12941-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-12935-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-22693-2 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003226932
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
List of contributors viii
Is this the era of food waste policy? 1
SIMONE BUSETTI AND NOEMI PACE
PART 1
Understanding food loss and waste 11
1 Assessing food loss and waste: approaches,
methodologies, and practices 13
CLARA CICATIELLO
2 The policy problem: the causes and consequences
of food loss and waste 25
NOEMI PACE
3 Tackling food loss and waste: an overview
of policy actions 42
CHRISTIAN REYNOLDS
PART 2
International programmes 61
4 The contribution of social protection to reducing food
loss and waste 63
QIUSHI YUE, DANIELLA SALAZAR HERRERA, AND
OMAR BENAMMOUR
vi Contents
5 Reducing food loss in rural development projects.
Examples from IFAD’s investments 78
ROMINA CAVATASSI, ROBERT DELVE, AND GIUSEPPE MAGGIO
6 The European Union and the fght against food waste
and losses: from policy to practice 92
FABRIZIO D’ANGELO
PART 3
National policies 107
7 Did France really ban food waste? Lessons from a
pioneering national regulation 109
MARIE MOURAD
8 Food waste policy in Italy: from decision to
implementation 124
SIMONE BUSETTI
9 Food waste policy in Romania: a case study 141
CRISTINA VASILESCU
10 Japan’s practices on food waste reduction 157
CHEN LIU
11 The political economy of anti-food-waste in China:
from anti-corruption to enhancing food security 174
XIAOHUA YU
12 History and legacy of the U.S. Good Samaritan Food
Donation Law 191
EMILY M. BROAD LEIB AND ARIEL ARDURA
PART 4
Local initiatives 207
13 Social innovation for food waste reduction: surplus
food redistribution 209
ANNA R. DAVIES AND ALWYNNE MCGEEVER
Contents vii
14 Mitigating barriers to surplus food donation in Italian
retail and food service 224
GIULIA BARTEZZAGHI, CLAUDIA COLICCHIA, PAOLA
GARRONE, MARCO MELACINI, ALESSANDRO PEREGO, AND
ANDREA RIZZUNI
15 Food waste reduction through food re-distribution
actions during COVID-19 in Brazil 240
LUCIANA MARQUES VIEIRA AND DANIELE ECKERT MATZEMBACHER
What works in food loss and waste policy: suggestions
from the case studies 252
SIMONE BUSETTI
Index 263
Contributors
Ariel Ardura is Policy attorney based in Washington D.C. Her work primarily
focuses on food systems and public health. She currently works as legislative
counsel for the D.C. Council; she previously worked as Senior Fellow at the
Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic.
Giulia Bartezzaghi is Program Manager of the Food Sustainability Lab and
Director of the Food Sustainability Observatory at Politecnico di Milano,
Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering. Her
research is focused on sustainability-oriented innovation and circular econ-
omy in the agri-food sector.
Omar Benammour is Social Protection Specialist at the Food and Agricul-
ture Organization (FAO) of the UN, in the Inclusive Rural Transformation
and Gender Equity division. Previously, he was Social Protection and Safety
Nets Ofcer at the World Food Programme (WFP) and Regional School
Feeding and Safety Nets Ofcer for West Africa.
Emily M. Broad Leib, JD, is Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School,
Founding Director of the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic,
and Deputy Director of the Harvard Law School Center for Health Law and
Policy Innovation.
Simone Busetti is Policy analyst and Evaluator and is currently Associate
Professor of Political Science and Public Policy Analysis at the University
of Teramo. He has worked on local development, public administration
reform, and food policy and served as a professional evaluator for several
public administrations in Italy.
Romina Cavatassi is Lead economist in IFAD. She leads the Impact Assess-
ment and Research, managed the Rural Development Report 2021, and led
the Environment and Climate team. She holds a Ph.D. from Wageningen
University, an M.Sc. from the LSE, and a master’s degree in economics from
the University of Bologna.
Clara Cicatiello is Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics at Univer-
sity of Tuscia, Italy. Since 2020, she is the coordinator of the H2020 project
Contributors ix
LOWINFOOD, focusing on implementation of innovations against food
waste. She is Lecturer in food marketing and development economics and
author of 31 Scopus-indexed articles, with over 500 citations.
Chen Liu, Ph.D., is Senior researcher at the Institute for Global Environmen-
tal Strategies (IGES). Before joining IGES, she worked as an associate pro-
fessor in Nagoya University (2010–2014), Japan. She has worked on a wide
range of environmental issues, including municipal solid waste, 3R policies,
food production, consumption, and waste.
Claudia Colicchia is Associate Professor of Logistics and Supply Chain Man-
agement at Politecnico di Milano, Department of Management, Economics
and Industrial Engineering, and Visiting Fellow in the Faculty of Business,
Law and Politics, University of Hull, UK. She collaborates with the Food
Sustainability Lab at Politecnico di Milano.
Fabrizio D’Angelo is Sustainability Project Ofcer at the European Eco-
nomic and Social Committee (EESC) and at the European Committee of
the Regions (CoR), where he is running a project on food waste monitor-
ing and food donation. He is also a member of the EU Inter-institutional
group on Green Public Procurement.
Anna R. Davies is Professor and Chair of Geography, Environment & Soci-
ety at Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin. She is the princi-
pal investigator for multiple research projects, including the ERC research
project, SHARECITY, which uses a collaborative and trans-disciplinary
approach to assess the practice and sustainability potential of city-based food
sharing economies.
Robert Delve is Lead global technical advisor, agronomy in IFAD, leading
the team in providing technical support to the design, supervision, and
implementation of projects. He holds a Ph.D. degree from the University
of London. Before joining IFAD, he lived and worked in Africa for more
than 25 years.
Daniele Eckert Matzembacher holds a Ph.D. degree in Management from
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil. She has experi-
ence over ten years in the market, working in the public and private sectors
in the management area, project coordination, and team management.
Paola Garrone is Full Professor of Business and Industrial Economics at
Politecnico di Milano, Department of Management, Economics and Indus-
trial Engineering. Paola is the School’s deputy director for Sustainability, and
a co-director of the Food Sustainability Lab. Her research focuses on food
recovery and redistribution, sustainable agri-food start-ups and packaging
innovation.
Giuseppe Maggio is Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of
Palermo, and his research applies spatial models to answer questions in the
