"After careful consideration of the responses to the consultation the government has decided that a regulatory approach is not suitable at this time, especially when any additional costs may be passed on to consumers. The government will instead be looking at options to improve the number of food businesses reporting through a voluntary approach. The voluntary approach will remain in place until mid-2025 at a minimum at which point a review will be undertaken. Subsequently, and in order to provide businesses with the certainty they need, any changes to this approach will be made after a minimum of 12 months following that review in mid-2025 or later. "
Source - Defra - Summary of responses and government response Improved food waste reporting by large food businesses in England - Link
If you read our previous blog post "Food Waste Legislation 2023" you can read about the planned changes which may yet come into effect, although now not likely until 2026 from what we can see on the official release.
Food waste reduction will continue to be at the forefront of cost saving and sustainable practices as businesses can significantly benefit from planned waste reduction at all stages of the catering process, in our opinion this is not simply about handling the food waste, or reducing the capacity and collection costs. There is a deeper review required in order to ensure that consideration is given at menu planning and food purchasing stages, through storage and preparation, to effective cooking with yield management and then portion control at the point of service.
There are multiple options for handling food waste but the real winners, as we see it, will be the ones who put it at the forefront of their planning. Why pay for the product and the delivery? The energy to keep it cold? The chef to prepare it? The energy bills to cook and then potentially blast chill it, re store it, reheat it, hold it and serve it just for this product to go into the bin?
Check back again in the coming weeks for any updates, there appears to be pressure mounting on the government regarding the decision and we will endeavor to update with any significant information.