We refer to Vanessa Liu’s commentary on food waste (How to make a nation of food lovers value food, Jan 5). We agree with Ms Liu that businesses might not be managing their food waste because they may not be aware of its true cost. NEA’s food waste minimisation guide books for food retailers, supermarkets and food manufacturers recommend that these businesses conduct waste audits as a first step. This will help them better understand the amount of food waste generated and the associated costs. This food waste data will also be the most accurate, as any data that NEA can collect will invariably be aggregated with some assumptions and estimations made. NEA constantly works at collecting more and better data to inform our policies and improve our plans and programmes. Collecting accurate food waste data from supermarkets alone is not straightforward. However, not having this data should not detract from other measures we can take to minimise food waste, not just for supermarkets but also commercial and industrial premises which also generate large amounts of food waste.... Continue Reading