ABSTRACT
Food waste occurs along the entire food supply chain and gives rise to great financial losses and waste of natural resources. The retail stage contributes a proportionately smaller mass of waste than other stages in the food supply chain but plays an important role as gatekeeper in the chain, significantly influencing upstream and downstream handling of food. In order to reduce food waste, it is important to understand the kinds of food wasted, but also the root causes of this waste. Since food waste is often generated for many reasons, multiple actions are needed to achieve a reduction. Food waste prevention can include technical solutions, such as improved logistics, forecasting and packaging, but also incentive structures that motivate supermarkets to engage in social donations and improved routines. As at other levels of the food supply chain, there is no single waste prevention measure that could solve the problem within retail. There is a raft of measures that could be implemented within companies or together with partners along the supply chain. If these are not introduced voluntarily, compulsory actions could be considered to increase sustainability in the food supply chain.
