Unprecedented pressure on supply chains has led to food buyers in the UK’s biggest companies reporting a 60% increase in food waste over the last six months, a new study has revealed.
This comes as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, Covid-related labour shortages and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
According to a report by Sodexo, 35% of respondents warned they will be forced to continue increasing their prices due to the difficulties in managing their supply chain, with 32% believing heir supply chain will not return to optimum efficiency for a full year.
Some 44% revealed they are impacted by labour shortages and 38% claim they are impacted by freight challenges in their supply chain.
However, 85% of food supply chain heads said the pandemic has caused long-term damage to their supply chain, from which they are “yet to recover”.
READ MORE: Almost 200,000 tonnes of food wasted in supply chain
“The first step towards cutting food waste is tracking and monitoring,” Sodexo UK and Ireland director of corporate responsibility Claire Atkins-Morris said.
“More broadly, we urge government to take a holistic approach to all areas which will determine the success of net zero policy making, including food waste, carbon reduction and supply chain resilience.”
The report comes as Sodexo partnered with WRAP last year in support of the first ever Food Waste Action Week.
WRAP’s head of policy and insights, Keith James, added: “Every business can make a difference by instigating the Target-Measure-Act approach, but not all have the flexibility to adopt strategies quickly with competing pressures.
“That is why WRAP published new Scope 3 protocols for measuring GHG emissions linked to the food we make, sell and eat.”
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