Bakery is one of the worst offenders in terms of food waste, according to WRAP. The UK government funded body said bakery goods account for 14.1 per cent of the total £10bn cost to UK households of food wastage.
This amounts to a total of 782,000 tonnes of wasted bakery products, of which 400,000 tonnes is bread. Over 90 per cent of this bread is thrown out having never even been buttered or toasted.
WRAP will work now with Premier Foods to uncover the reasons why.
Consumer research
The work will involve consumer research looking at behaviour and attitudes in order to understand what causes bakery food to be wasted. This will mean looking at purchasing, storage and eating habits.
"Reasons thought to be contributing to consumer bread waste are pack sizes being too large, the product staling or going mouldy as a result of incorrect storage and not being confident around freezing bread," said WRAP spokesperson Viki Coppin. "All these will be explored through the project and solutions developed."
Once the results of the research are in, Premier Foods and WRAP will draw up a strategy to help reduce waste.
Premier Foods' spokesperson Neil Macfarlane said: "Through this innovative consumer research project, we will gain a better understanding as to why UK consumers waste so much ‘good food'.
"We will apply the learnings taken from this research to inform new ways of engaging consumers to encourage a reduction in food waste".
Key players in the food industry such as Tesco and Asda have also teamed up with WRAP to develop new category-specific innovations in packing storage, distribution and retail to reduce waste.
Waste problem
WRAP said results from the projects will be released later in 2009 and next year.
"This innovative research, which spans the entire supply chain through to the consumer, will reduce costs and waste for retailers and food manufacturers," said WRAP spokesperson Charlotte Henderson.
The decision to set up these industry partnerships comes after the government revealed earlier in the year that £10bn worth of food is squandered annually in the UK.
