WASTEWISE contributes to OECD food waste discussions

WASTEWISE participated in the OECD Food-Chain Analysis Network meeting in person, which took place in Paris on 13 and 14 November 2025. The meeting focused on the important issue of how to evaluate strategies for reducing food loss and waste, including what to measure and how, as well as how to engage stakeholders.

The WASTEWISE team was well represented by Hanna Hartikainen (Natural Resources Institute Finland), scientific coordinator; Mattias Eriksson (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences); Berta Vidal (Fundació Espigoladors); and Felicitas Schneider (Thünen Institute), a member of our External Advisory Board. Some other partners, such as Cristian Popescu (NUSTPB) also attended the meeting remotely.

One of the key topics discussed was the need to assess the environmental and broader impact of food waste, which is at the heart of WASTEWISE’s research. Specifically, Berta Vidal participated as a speaker in a session that addressed the main challenges in developing effective assessment frameworks for national food loss and waste (FLW) strategies. Participants discussed practical solutions and explored ways to strengthen the design and implementation of FLW assessments.

During the closing session, Felicitas Schneider shared her insights on the importance of international collaboration in overcoming challenges related to food loss and waste prevention, including the absence of harmonised indicators and assessment methodologies.

During the event, our researchers heard many inspiring presentations on measuring food waste, stakeholder engagement and innovative solutions to reduce food waste. ‘It was very valuable to exchange ideas with experts from around the world and learn from their successes and challenges,’ says Hanna Hartikainen, WASTEWISE’s scientific coordinator.

In the framework of the OECD event, an online session was organised on 20 November, entitled “Food loss and waste: From ambitions to outcomes“, which was attended by Cristian Popescu from the National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest. In this session, the status, tools and policies regarding food waste in France, Brazil and Japan were presented. 

Among the ideas that were discussed, Cristian Popescu from this participation pointed out that the main limitations regarding waste reduction and prevention include having unclear targets, fragmented policy commitments and limited co-ordination across government entities.