"Low-Hanging Fruits" against Food Waste and Their Status Quo in the Food Processing Industry

Food processing companies have a financial interest in saving resources. However, they have different perceptions of the relevance of the issue of food waste. Hence, companies deal with the topic of waste in different ways. Some companies do implement measures systematically, others do not. The aim of this study is to analyze which recommendations against food loss and waste are effective, easy to implement, and are already part of the status quo in the food processing industry. For this purpose, based on the results of a previous exploratory study, a standardized questionnaire was developed and sent to food processing companies. From the 82 participating companies, 19 of 53 recommendations were classified as basic recommendations and 22 of the 53 recommendations were classified as 'low-hanging fruits'. The results showed that companies rated the recommendations that were best implemented as very effective and easy to implement. Moreover, the results showed that the food processing industry's strength in preventing food waste relate to the internal processes. However, at the borders of the value chain, there are still deficits in terms of exchange and communication with other stakeholders.